Renowned poetess Jameela Nishat, takes us through the 90s Old city, and also discusses why the city never made her feel insecure, and more, for our weekly edition of Hyderabond.
Shikha Duggal
Home to a very fascinating woman by the name of Jameela Nishat—belonging to this city of pearls, she had a penchant for making it global, and she did. A prominent Urdu poet of the times, she’s a powerful feminist coming from the 90s not being particularly unsure as to what she is entering into.
Born to Syed Bin Mohammad, who was a portrait artist himself, was also a close friend of artist M.F. Husain : incredible! So, Jameela has been around creative people from her childhood by one and itself. So how could she not write a ‘Kitab Numa’ that was also published by the Jamia Milia University.
To know more about the most demanding of the Hyderabadi readers, we hear her out for our special weekly column and get to know so many exclusive deets. “I was born in the old city of our Hyderabad — those were the days of glory. Somewhere, down the lane, we lost the flavour of real Hyderabad. It’s all because of modernisation! Sultan Shahi was my place, there were double decker buses. My post graduation in theatre arts landed me into poetry that are published as anthologies today.”
Telling something more about the old city, she took us back to the nineties, “I remember the dark rooms, and small windows. Belonged to a middle class family! My father was working for JNTU university as a painter, was the professional head of the department there. So, from Sultan Shahi we shifted to Vijaynagar then. During childhood, going back to the old city was more of a reunion then. We celebrated the passing of my tenth as a lavish day of the year! Not generalising, however mostly the kids around me were failing there. The Buddha statue was also being carved then, these are the stories we used to hear that made our Tank Bund so famous. Overall, the Hyderabad city and there is more.”
She continued to explore with us, “I started working for BHEL — used to travel 30kms to and fro. During those times it was like entering the gigantic mountains! Another eye-opening experience was, our old city was filled with Muslim women clad with burqas. When you walk past a street, I don’t think you’ll find such a scenic view signifying a religion in any other state of this country. To your surprise, did you know we used to clad a portion of the bedsheet over our heads to cover? That’s the transformation now.”
Sparrow published a booklet on her life and work in 1999. She is also one of the speakers at the Hyderabad Literary Festival most of the time. So you see? She’s telling us all the classic details! We continued our chat with her, “As a poetess, I was never insecure. Hyderabad gave me a social security! Our city is a rich mosaic when it comes to languages, cultures here. I remember strolling late at nights on the roads of my city and no moments of eve teasing. Taxis are available at midnights for women!”
Naubat Pahad has most of her fondest memories possessed there. “It doesn’t exist now, tragic! I can never forget climbing, trekking and rappelling on that mountain. Now it’s replaced by the Birla Planetarium. From there we used to even go to the public gardens. It was like a picnic for us! I live in Gandipet at the moment, but for all that the old Gandipet is gone.” Ramzan is approaching and so has the streets of Hyderabad started bustling already but Jameela Nishat has a comparision to present to us, “Now you’ll only and only see food lovers at and around Charminar. I find it hysterical when I see citizens bargaining and arguing for fun — makes me feel loved. Laad Bazaar is the place to go during our Ramadan. My husband isn’t from my city, he is from Khammam, but he has got fully delved into it. Now there is polarisation, which makes me feel so sad! Relishing the seasonal delicacies was a collective celebration.
People around me say this is your festival, and this is not. Ganesh Chaturthi was one of my most favorite festivals to celebrate. I am fascinated by Ganapati Bappa!” These sharply increased tensions between the communities is causing her personal barriers too. She explains, “I have three poems to publish more. One of which is inspired by the fascination of Ganesh. My personal devotion was to publish that kitab formerly, but the discussions around me didn’t let me.”
This affects her sometimes! So against violence, so against the crisis the poetess only wishes to launch efforts through her poems that can unify all of us as one, once again.
Going ahead, she’d also shared one of her childhood memories, which made us get like ‘damn’. “I remember in my childhood, M.F.Husain who was my dad’s very good friend, used to paint his car just like a painting. And he used to take us for a drive in that car especially in Abids. Abids was not much crowded back in those days. Everyone would just look at the car so beautifully painted.” and how could she not be a part of M.F.Husain’s son’s marriage which was held at Gandipet, and she remembers it as one of the “Grand celebrations”.
As we come to an end of this historical talk with her, she also shared her experiences of the philanthropic culture here in Hyderabad, old city in specific. “I believe especially after the COVID, people are very much focusing on philanthropic activities. Especially this time during Ramzan, people had come forward to donate ration, money, et.al. This had never happened actually, this year we had seen people coming forward with their family for the cause. Rotary club has been organising various activities in old city, doctors are conducting health camps here, which is just amazing.”
