Dilliwali

So who is the quintessential Delhi woman? Bushra Razzack tells us in the voices of 94 poets, aged between 13 and 70 years, seasoned and new, writing in English, Hindi and Urdu, some living in Delhi and others abroad but all bound by a common concern and a need to articulate what Delhi means to them. A fine poet herself, Bushra must be congratulated for this bouquet of poetic offerings that, taken together, constitute Dilli ke dil ka haal . In the words of Delhi's best loved poet, Mir Taqi Mir, Dillī ke na thhekuche auraaq-e-musavvar thhe/Jo shakl nazar aai tasvir nazar aai... – Dr RakhshandaJalil , Writer, Translator, Literary Historian Circumscribed, framed, confined, defined, Their weapons are many-both crude and refined They call her Goddess and call her Mother And yet she always remains the Other. Dilliwali is an important and timely collection; a strong voice; the politics of poetics. Dr Ameeta Parsuram, in her foreword begins with nostalgia and romance for a lost past, and exhorts reclamation. As time marches on, ironically, we look back to some fading collective memory of freedom. In a modern polity torn with religious, caste and identity struggles, it is interesting to see women’s voice emerge as one irrespective of where they come from. This collection that combines the work of ninety odd poets in three languages is precisely the kind of collective art that is needed. Kudos to Ms Bushra Razzack for putting this together. From the struggles of Razia Sultan to the travails of a twenty-year-old today, Dilliwali gives a new voice to Dilli, and a reclamation of public spaces before they become mere haunts of a past so long gone. – Dr Amit Ranjan , Poet, Writer, and currently Assistant Professor, Department of English, Zakir Hussain Delhi College, University of Delhi. This anthology of poems, dedicated to a city that I have fallen in love with, is a fitting tribute to my beloved Hazrat-e-Dilli. It beautifully captures the life and times of a city that once was and now is. – Rana Safvi , Writer, Translator, Historian