Author uninterrupted
Humra Quraishi

When the Oxford University Press (OUP) hosted a reception at New Delhi’s India International Centre sometime back to "celebrate two decades of publishing with acclaimed historian Mushirul Hasan", little did one realise the very extent of his writings, the range of his focus and the diversity in volume after volume. In fact, the OUP alone has published several of his books. The latest additions to the long list are: Between Modernity And Nationalism – Halide Edip’s Encounter with Gandhi’s India and Exploring The West — Three Travel Narratives.

Not to overlook the many other volumes co-authored and translated and introduced by him; bringing into focus some of those tucked-away voices and writings from the regional sectors. In fact, though there are several such books, one of them stands out. Launched last autumn, Journey To the Holy Land — A Pilgrim’s Diary by Amir Ahmad Alawi (OUP), which has been introduced and translated by him along with academic Rakhshanda Jalil. Needless to say, this ‘pilgrim’s diary’, originally written in 1929, would have remained tucked in some obscure quarter if Hasan hadn’t brought it to the fore and with that various aspects and details related to the holy pilgrimage of the Muslims — The Haj.

Hasan could be writing on any given topic, along with a wide range so as to say — on India’s Partition, the country’s historical turns, contemporary history, the various aspects to the social fabric of the Muslim community, the legendary historical personalities, The Nehru era, the Islamic traditions, Muslim intellectuals in 19^th-century Delhi, the historical-cum-social settings of Avadh `85 whatever be the focus, whatever be the theme, his style remains unchanging. There’s that flow to his writings, which brings in that crucial factor of connectivity.

In fact, those who have interacted with him would know that even his conversation is laced with a very subtle relay of facts and happenings and more along the strain. In fact, even before one had read his volume on Turkey’s legendary woman figure Halide Edip (1884-1964), one was aware of her! For, during an informal conversation, Hasan spoke about her extraordinary life and the times she’d lived in; narrating many of those aspects to this great reformist’s career and the challenges she’d faced. And again, not narrating all this in the form of some long-winding lecture but as part of conversation . And though I hail from the Avadhi belt of Uttar Pradesh, I have gathered those little heard of historical turns and Avadhi social hues and forms after reading his volumes on that region. Even a full- fledged volume The Avadhi Punch —Wit and Humour in Colonial North India and how it took off and grew in those dark Raj days. Not to overlook his definite focus on the qasbas of Avadh in the volume titled From Pluralism to Separatism—Qasbas in Colonial Awadh.

Another noticeable feature of his works is his ability to connect our side of the subcontinent with the West. Rather well apparent even in his two recently launched volumes — In Exploring The West-Three Travel Narratives, he does so by the three travellers , bringing to the fore the very vital, cross-cultural encounters and more along the strain. And in the volume on Turkey’s Halide Edip, he does this by focusing /building on her connection with the Indian national movement and Mahatma Gandhi and does so rather effortlessly.

I could just go on writing rather effortlessly on his numerous volumes, flowing with the word flow, but space constraints glare hard, forcing me to cry halt but not before offloading these lines from his volume The Avadh Punch – Wit and Humour in Colonial North India (Niyogi Books) — "Such was the popularity of the Avadh Punch that, by the end of the 19^th century, 70 Punch papers /magazines had appeared from more than a dozen cities across the nation. Each one of them reflected mainly on the British rule from the experiences of over 300-million Indians with a long and proud past, but who were subjugated by force of arms and by commercial and diplomatic duplicity. Equally lampooned were those who abandoned their own inherited cultural and intellectual legacies in preference of western models Wit and humour as pacifist tools of devastation constituted an apt response to the situation"

HOME