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ABSTRACT
Mehr Afshan Farooqi interviews Julien Columeau, author of five collections of Urdu fiction, about his novella Miraji ke liye (For Miraji), a fictional account of the infamous Urdu modernist poet. Farooqi contextualizes Miraji within Urdu literature and explores his relationship with French literature, especially Baudelaire and Mallarme. Farooqi’s interview with Columeau explores his fictional ‘evocation’ of Miraji, which draws on Miraji’s own fascination and imaginative response to Baudelaire.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Julien, Tin Navelet. Julien’s publications have Indian and Pakistani editions with overlaps which complicate publication dates.
2. Julien, “Urdu ka Akhri Likhari.” Husain (b. 1926) died in January 2016. When I read the story, I didn’t find anything offensive except that perhaps Julien took advantage of Husain’s hospitality in crafting the story.
3. Among all the sketches that were written about Miraji, I found Askari’s to be the most honest in admitting that Miraji baffled him. Askari in his perceptive essay wrote: ‘One the one hand Miraji relished being an object of mystery, like a character of fiction, on the other, perhaps from the beginning there was something about him that on seeing him people wanted to make him a fictional character.’ Muhammad Hasan Askari’s sketch on Miraji, titled simply, “Miraji,” was first published in the Urdu journal Saiyyarah, in 1954. Askari, Maqalat, 423.
4. For the various literary sketches on Miraji, see, Jalibi, ed., Miraji: Ek Muta’lia. The most well-known are from literary critic Aijaz Ahmad, Shahid Ahmad Dehlavi who was Miraji’s contemporary and editor of the Urdu journal Saqi, and famous fiction writer Manto.
5. For Askari’s writing see my book The Postcolonial Mind.
6. Cited from Intizar Husain’s column in Dawn.
7. See Geeta Patel’s inference of Miraji’s description of Baudelaire’s so-called trip to Calcutta in Lyrical Movements Historical Hauntings, 161–164. Baudelaire is pushed by Miraji to complete a journey he did not undertake, to find something bought with the capital of colonial journeys, notably the dark savoury beauty of Bengal and Kali, the goddess of darkness.
8. Miraji, “France ka ek avarah shair,” 127–128.
9. Julien, Personal communication.
10. Julien, personal communication.
11. Julien, Tin Navelet, 114.
12. Ibid., 111.
13. Ibid., 114.
14. Ibid., 120. These lines are from Miraji’s poem, “Lab-e ju-e bare.”
15. Mira Sen was a Bengali teenager from Lahore with whom Miraji fell in love at first sight. He reportedly followed her around and tried once to talk to her, but she did not reciprocate. Miraji at this time was a senior at High School preparing for university entrance exams. He failed his exams and dropped out of school. At this point he took on the name Miraji.
16. Miraji reportedly carried with him three small iron balls (gole) that were wrapped in layers of tin foil used in packaging cigarettes. Apparently, first, he had one, later he acquired two more from an ascetic on Mumbai’s Juhu beach. Julien mentions the three balls at length in his novella. Several Urdu writers have referred to these balls and what they could have represented. Miraji called them ‘fahm ke ande’ (eggs of reason). The most well-known account of these balls is provided in famous fiction writer Sa’adat Hasan Manto’s sketch of Miraji titled ‘Tin Gole.’ This sketch has been reproduced in other edited volumes on Miraji.
17. Jaijaiwanti is a raga or melodic mode in the Indian classical Hindustani music tradition. It is a combination of two ragas, Bilawal and Sorath. Many hymns in the Sikh sacred text Guru Granth Sahib are composed in this raga.