Author and columnist RV Smith recently launched his book on Delhi and shared his encounters, of over 50 years, with poets, common folk and even paranormal beings. By Rupinder Kaur
You might have been a Dilliwallah for long but a copy of Khushwant Singh’s Delhi: A Novel or maybe William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns must be ensconced somewhere on your bookshelf. They’ve told you about the hidden treasures in every nook and cranny. They also narrated tales of those who marched, fought, died (some in vain) and maybe turned into ghosts to haunt the lanes or forts deep in night. You’ve been intrigued and must have even visited a dargah or two and a baoli.
late writer Khushwant Singh, while writing about the city, had said that the people of Delhi who are not involved with it emotionally are not worth knowing.
Then there is author and columnist Ronald Vivian Smith, called “faceless djinn” by the great Delhi master Singh. Septuagenarian Smith Sahab, as he’s referred to by his fellow Dilli-vasis, has covered Delhi for about 50 years as a journalist. He still does not sit tight in an easy-chair but surveys the city, meeting people and learning about unusual stories that also form the grist for weekly newspaper columns.
Smith recently released his new book Delhi: Unknown tales of a city which comprises of his columns written from 1990 to 2011. The launch at Oxford Cha Bar was followed by a talk titled ‘Dilli ke teen yaar’ between writer and activist Sadia Dehlvi and literary historian Rakhshanda Jalil.
She further shared how Smith was known to be the best in the city for his editing skill and would recommend places to visit and get the best of culinary Mughlai delights from.
“He was always throwing these stories at us but more than his editing, Ronnie was known for his romantic skills. He knew all thetawaifs and the rules and ways of the courtesans. He was literally a love guru,” she quipped.
Smith, born in Agra and raised in an Anglo-Indian family, shared that initially he did not find the city interesting but the tales which he learnt by spending time with the city’s connoisseurs, at the monuments and even graveyards, intrigued him.
“I used to go back home every weekend and tell my mother that I don’t like Delhi at all. She would tell me that if I stayed there long enough, I would start liking it. Slowly I did and at that time I was staying in ludlow Castle road with my brother and sister-in-law. I had joined Press Trust of India and the first thing I used to do while I was on night duty was to cycle to the Red Fort where there is a mazaar (shrine) outside. The person sitting inside was Pir Yasin Baig who used to distribute amulets and the women came to him to cure diseases.
I sat with him and he told me stories. One of the stories that he narrated was that on Thursdays after midnight, there would be a procession of royal kings, princes and princesses going around the Red Fort and it was led by Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. later I met the custodian of the Red Fort, Ashgar Ali Khan, who had given a statement saying that on his nightly round, he had come across the spectres in the Diwan-e-Aam and Diwan-e-Khas. I wrote a story on it and it was published in the Statesman and even a photograph of this paranormal activity appeared in the newspaper where one could see dots of lights. This created quite a sensation in Delhi in the 1960s,” Smith Sahab narrated.
A bachelor in Delhi at that time, visiting monuments and eventually landing up in Jama Masjid from ludlow Castle Road, he stayed in Naaz Hotel. For many years, he did not have a permanent home and stayed in various hotels even after getting married. The famous Karim’s, he said is where he and his family had most of the meals. During that time, he had also had the opportunity to meet who’s who and even the common folk.
“The room where I was staying in at the Naaz Hotel, was previously occupied by painter MF Hussain. He found it very convenient to sit there and get ideas for his paintings because he could see the Jama Masjid and also the Red Fort. Even after he left the hotel, I remember seeing him coming to the Jama Masjid in the evening and walking barefoot. He would take rounds of the shrines and would go to Urdu Bazaar and browse through books,” Smith, who has also authored books like The Delhi That No-One Knows, said during the talk.
He then shifted to Azad Hind Hotel with his wife where he met Pakistani poet Josh Malihabadi.
“He came there in 1967 and stayed for three months along with his wife and brother He occupied the room next to mine. Whenever I would see Josh, whom I also interviewed, I thought to myself that a time will come when I’ll share that he was my neighbour. Josh, in the evening, would sit in the courtyard of the hotel and the poets of Delhi would come there for the mehfils. He would wake up before 4 in the morning he would sit down to write his poetry till about 6:30 am,” Smith recalled.
Being a storyteller, he surely has an amazing memory and relies on first hand experience. But how does he manage to retain all of the detailsIJ
“I don’t keep any record of my meetings with people or of my experiences. It’s all in the mind. last evening I went to Jama Masjid at around 5:30 pm and returned after 10:30 pm. I met many of the old people I’ve known and also went to the paanwallah shop where I used to get mypaan from. The person at the shop said that the person with the beard used to be his grandfather and he’s long dead. I went to this shop to have a keema samosa and later went for a seekh kabab. This is how the memories are revived because I keep going back to places like Jama Masjid,” Smith informed while Dehlvi added that the writer still uses his father’s typewriter to work on his stories.
A Casanova of his time, he reminisced about his affairs and his trips to the red light area to watch Mujara. “Once I remember, I was very bored one evening and since I was a bachelor I went to the red light area. I met a dancing girl thought I was a regular customer and told her I’m here to see the mujara. She told me themujara was over but I should sit and talk to her. She was a young pretty girl. We spoke and she got very close to me. When I came back and went to buypaan, I saw a bigkajal mark on my face in the mirror of the shop. The boy was staring at me and asked me “Sir kahan se aa rage hoIJ”, he laughed.
Over the years, he comments that places like Connaught Place have lost their charm.
“When we thought about visiting CP, we would change our clothes, wear a tie and a coat saying CPjana hai. There were shops here where you felt at home because there were good people. If you went to Standard restaurant, there used to be a jukebox for music and the waiter would get tea and two biscuits which one didn’t need to pay for. It used to be very neat and clean. But all that has changed,” Smith signed off.