Delhi by Heart: Raza Rumi's fascinating book on Delhi written from the heart

Shams Ur Rehman Alavi

It took me sometime before I could buy Raza Rumi's 'Delhi by Heart'. But the moment I got it, I just couldn't put it down.

I read the entire book within a day. Apart from the fact that it is a fascinating travelogue, the book also takes you to a journey into Delhi's rich past.

The book is also Raza's search for his own roots*, as you will get to know after reading it. Delhi is one of the oldest capital cities in the world, which has been the seat of Indo-Islamic civilsation for a millennium.

It was from here that the mighty Mughals ruled and before them there were Slave, Lodhi, Khilji, Tughlaq and Syed dynasties.

The city was plundered by Abdali, the likes of Nadir Shah and later by British soldiers in the aftermath of the first was for independence in 1857.

In 1947, it bore the brunt of partition. Ravaged, it always rose from the dust again [and again] to become a city, more bustling than it was in the past. Raza takes us though the history of this great city. Along side him, the reader becomes a fellow traveller.

The era of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya and his disciple Amir Khusro, the queen Razia Sultana who ruled India from here, Jehan Ara who planned Chandni Chowk, the emperor of poetry Mirza Ghalib who lived and died in this City, and to modern era.

One of the first books on Delhi, which I read was Khushwant Singh's 'Delhi'. Later, I read William Dalrymple's City of Djinns and Sam Miller's 'Delhi: Adventures in a Mega City'. Delhi fascinates us also but there is a difference.

The Writer from Pakistan

An 'outsider' always manages to spot things which we often ignore about our cities. We may not realise, how certain things that appear mundane to us, will strike a person coming from a foreign country, especially, Pakistan.

With his deep interest in art, architecture, music, heritage, history, Hindu-Muslim composite culture and Urdu poetry, Raza Rumi gives us a complete portrait of the glorious and continuous civilisation that is known as Delhi. Clearly, he is well equipped to deal with Delhi.

Raza Rumi

When he goes to Mehruali or Basti Nizamuddin, he tells you anecdotes and little-known historical facts apart from his own observation. Raza writes about the prominent women of Delhi including Razia, Jehanara and Zebunnisa.

From Amrita Preetam to Gulzar, his views on the left-liberal citadel 'JNU', the visit to the Jamia Millia Islamia, Raza Rumi touches the world of contemporary politics and literature. He is quite aware of Indian politics.

The author is lucky that during his several visits to Indian's capital, he was able to meet his favourite fiction writer--the legendary Urdu litterateur Qurratul-Ain-Hyder.

Raza also writes about his interaction with Delhiites like Khushwant Singh and Sadia Dehlvi. In between, he tells interesting tales, attends a mehfil at a khanqah or bumps into a Punjabi man whose family members were killed in Partition. So what happens thereafter!

The real life story of a bubbly Muslim girl whom Raza had met during his earlier trip and whose fate takes a strange turn. Raza also writes about Dehlvi dedicacies and the street food in Delhi. Sarmad to Saffronisation, Dara Shikoh to Dalits, he touches a lot in the nearly 325 page book.

The author has provided translation of Urdu-Punjabi poetry, couplets, Sufi and Bhakti songs, in the book. From Indraprastha to Mughals, Lutyen's and thereafter, modern India's capital in 21st century, it's a long leap by any standards. Still, its enchanting and light to read.

The verdict is clear. Raza Rumi has written the book with his heart. Going by the author's perception, his humanism, broad understanding of the shared heritage of the people of the sub-continent and its future, one surely expects more from him in coming years.

Hope, his literary journey continues. Regions like Doab [Awadh] and Deccan await him now.

[*centuries ago one of his ancestors on his way to Benares had converted to Islam]

Raza Rumi blogs at Razarumi.com

The Dying Banyan: Novel explores Hindu-Muslim relationship, Communal fault lines in India

Shams Ur Rehman Alavi

Manzoor Ahtesham's novel 'Sukha Bargad' was translated in English sometime back.

I read the novel five years ago and I must say that it is one of the best novels written on Hindu-Muslims relations in this country.

The novel tells the story of a middle-class Muslim family and its struggles in the wake of partition. At times the novel truly astonishes the reader.

The protagonist is a girl, Rashida, [and her brother Suhail] and it is through her eyes that the novelist takes you through the fault lines in the society.

Rashida's father is a liberal man, a humanist with strong ideas about human values, someone who sends his children including the daughter to a co-ed school.

His children are aware that their father, a lawyer, isn't liked by elders of the community because of his unbending views and for his being a bit too outspoken. 

It is because of his thoughts on religion [and religiosity] and his uncompromising views. One day the son confronts the father, "I heard you ate pork once after a bet with friends". The answer is indeed revealing. There are interesting dialogues and arguments.

The siblings are growing up in the decade of sixties. The novel is set in Bhopal. The era of princely state has ended. The City though retains Muslim-dominated character [for a few more decades] is now undergoing a fast change. The novel deals with communalism, joblessness and insecurities.

If you have read the novel, then you can never forget the discussions between Suhail and his friend, and views of the protagonist who falls in love with her brother's friend. Almost every issue, either its right-wing Hindus' questioning Muslim's patriotism or a section of Muslims' complaining of persecution and bias, is dealt with here.

Its not a complex novel. Suhail remains jobless, turns alcoholic, later seeks refuge with a clever  politician. Rashida remains unmarried. People who had migrated to America and Pakistan, return occasionally, with their own issues.

Along side, there are wars with China and Pakistan, later the creation of Bangladesh. Events in Pakistan, particularly, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's execution, and the religiosity during Zia Ul Haq's regime. Though this has been the subject of some other novels, Sukha Bargad hooks the reader.

Originally published in Hindi 

Manzoor Ahtesham had originally written it in Hindi. This was a rare thing, as mostly Muslim authors in those days wrote in Urdu.

Ahtesham has treated the subject well and the reader never gets bored. Besides, it keeps you in a reflective mode.

The description, either its about the children's growing up years, Rashida [a Muslim girl's] romantic involvement with the Hindu boy Vijay, later her job at the radio station and the desolate phase, is enchanting. The novel moves at a steady pace.

In fact, the characters appear quite close to you. Perhaps, lot of it is from the writer's personal experience, and as a result, the book becomes a major novel on Indian Muslims.

From regionalism to sectarianism, Shia-Sunni conflict, it deals with a host of issues, subtly. The book ends somewhere in the aftermath of Jamshedpur riots where a famous litterateur was killed in a riot. A must-read, which you will thoroughly enjoy.

Read similar posts on this blog and reviews of major literary works on Indian Muslims AT THIS LINK

[As far as I knew, the author spells his name as Manzoor Ahtesham, but the cover of the translated book reads as 'Ehtesham'.]

Bihari to Bangladeshi and Beyond: Abdus Samad's novel on partition of India and the after-effects on people in East Pakistan

Abdus Samad's Do Gaz Zameen

It was almost 15 years ago that I first read Abdus Samad's famous novel,'Do Gaz Zameen', that had got him the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award.

For quite sometime I was yearning to read it again. I got it from a library and read the novel that focuses on partition of the India. Unlike most other novels that primarily look at Punjab, it focuses on Eastern India--the affect of partition on Biharis and Bengalis.

Umpteen litterateurs have touched the after-affects of partition in Northern India, but the plight of refugees in the region where East Pakistan was created, didn't get as much expression in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and English literature.

Abdus Samad's novel is important not just in this context. Like Uttar Pradesh (UP), millions of Muslims left for Pakistan [West] from Bihar also.


Apart from Karachi and Lahore, Biharis also went to East Pakistan in huge numbers and from the other side of the border, Hindu Bengalis came to India. Through a Muslim family settled in a town Bihar Sharif [Nalanda], he begins his narration.

The Novel

The head of the family represents the elite Muslims. There is wide support among Muslims for Congress, which has Gandhi in the forefront, but also has Ali brothers, Maulana Abdul Bari Firangimahli and Abul Kalam Azad.

But Muslim League is slowly gaining ground. The next generation is divided between supporters of Congress and Muslim League. Till now the plot is quite similar to many other famous novels that have dealt with this subject in the past.

But Abdus Samad's fantastic narration keeps you spellbound. In Congress, there is a section that has clear right-wing leanings. Riots occur and when there are complaints made about local leaders' involvement, there is little action.

Pakistan, yes, but where?

Muslims are terribly out of touch with reality. A large number attends league functions and raises slogans but have no idea that when Pakistan would be created, it would not be in the midst of the Indo-Gangetic built, but far away.

Post-partition, Muslims feel guilty. However, there are opportunists who were in league but have quickly donned the Gandhi cap. Meanwhile, there are growing fears. Land ceiling is about to take place, zamindaris ending and Muslims fleeing the country side due to fear of reprisal.

Those unwilling to go find it hard to survive. If a family member has left for Pakistan, the property is seen as disputed, as was the situation in the era when custodian had become a dreaded word. People wanted to sell their land to migrate, but weren't getting the price.

Even as there is a great exodus, there are millions who have no wish to go away. An elderly woman who sees youngsters going to Pakistan and never returning while young girls here waiting and remaining unmarried, rues, 'ye muaa Pakistan, sabko khaa jaata hai'.

Post- partition years in Bihar

Finally, Urdu speaking Biharis have got citizenship

Muslim lawyers don't have adequate clients now as landowners have left and not just Muslims but Hindus also desert them.

Businessmen also find it tough and so is the condition of government officials and others. Any mischief maker's complaint that a person has received cash or letter from a kin who went to Pakistan, is immediately under suspicion.

There are inquiries and cases, blames of being a spy or traitor. Elderly Muslims who had faith in Congress find their own sons challenging their conviction.

Failing to get jobs, youth go for 'gardania passport' (illegal way) to get to East Pakistan, where there were more opportunities for them.

Biharis in East Pakistan: A new life begins

Once in Bangladesh, the situation was rosy in the initial years. But it also deteriorates with time. In fact, Samad gives us a peek into the mind of Bangladeshis and muhajirs [Punjabi and Bihari Muslims] who went to Pakistan.

That many people who went to Bangladesh, got jobs and money, but were still not satisfied. They rued that in Western Pakistan, the muhajirs had got a much better deal--in terms of getting bigger houses and more creamy positions in the government.

When novel's protagonist argues with them saying that there was large exodus of Hindus from Punjab and hence more houses to get in return in West Punjab, he is told that no the Bengali qaum doesn't treat the muhajirs well enough.

Oblivious to Amar Sonar Bangal!

In parties and functions, the new entrants who are now well-entrenched look down at the Bangladeshi, terming them as "Ye naachne-gaane wali qaum' [referring to the penchant for dance and music among Bangladeshi Muslims], which was scorned and seen as 'un-Islamic'.

The novel portrays the largely West Pakistan dominated army officers as government officials as ignorant and contemptuous towards the country, looking at it as just a land of opportunities, despite the fact that people here had opened up hearts for them.

There are heated debates over Qaid-e-Azam's vision [Mohamed Ali Jinnah] and the policies during the period of Liaqat Ali Khan and later years. Our protagonist, an 'ashraaf' Muslim, who sneaked into East Pakistan, by calling a 'lower caste Muslim' 'Chamu' as his uncle, manages to get a job, due to a Bengali Muslim gentleman.

English translation

Romance and revolution

He enjoys their hospitality and fells in love with the gentleman's daughter. But the situation is turning fluid. There is growing resentment over the authoritarian rule of the West Pakistan. What follows is a long saga. There is blood and gore. Muktibahini arrives.

Bangladesh emerges as a sovereign nation, after General Niyazi surrenders in Dacca. Biharis stuck in Bangladesh fear for their fate. Innumerable perish, rest of Biharis lead a life of misery in camps as people belonging to no country, while many others manage to escape.


The Biharis who were fortunate enough to come back to West Pakistan, now find that there are no more opportunities for them here. Was it a 'hijrat' indeed when they first left India?

Is Dubai, the El Dorado of Middle East, the next destination?


How many more Hijrats!

Back in Bihar [in India], Muslims are picking up pieces, on the land where a million mosques, madarsas and grave yards tell the story of Indianised Islam for over 1,300 years. And that despite occasional obstacles or communal riots, it is here lies there destiny and dreams.

The novel was translated in Hindi also by the same title. In English, it is available as 'A strip of land, two yards'. It is a fascinating novel and sheds light on the life of people affected by the communal politics and the mindless violence in Eastern part of India, before and after independence.

Though it doesn't have a canvas as wide as many other novels, Do Gaz Zameen gives a reader valuable insight into the politics in Bihar during the pre-independence period. Along with Qurratul Ain Hyder's Aag ka Darya, Abdullah Husain's Udas Naslein, this is another important work, helpful in understanding the era.

Long back, I had written a post on this blog on some of the important novels on Indian Muslims, their culture, psyche and their aspirations. Do read the post, 'Major literary works of Indian Muslims'. 

[*The novel's title comes from Poet-King Bahadur Shah Zafar's famous couplet 'Kitna badnaeeb hai Zafar dafan ke liye/ Do gaz zamiiN bhii mil na sakii, kuu-e-yaar meN]

Shaukat Siddiqui's 'Khuda Ki Basti': An epic Urdu novel that depicts human suffering and the spirit to survive against all odds

It was a strange feeling. I had just started reading one of the greatest Urdu novels ever written, 'Khuda ki Basti' and finished a few chapters of it but the next morning I got the news that Shaukat Siddiqui, the author, had passed away in Pakistan.

I had always heard names of three great post-partition novels 'Aag ka Daryaa' by Qurratul Ain Hyder, Udas Naslein by Abdullah Husain and Shaukat Siddiqui's Khuda ki Basti, ever since my childhood.

Hyder's Aag ka Darya was readily available and I also got its English transliteration 'River of Fire', in order to lend it to friends.

I could not find Udaas Naslen but I bought its translation that was published in India a couple of years back under the title 'Weary Generations' I got from Hazratganj [Lucknow].

The third novel Khuda ki Basti [The Blessed City/God's Own Land] eluded me for long. All efforts to get it were in vain for years.

A library where I found it in index, had refused to lend it to me as it was in two volumes and the first part had been missing. Recently they somehow got the first volume and hence I issued the whole book comprising two volumes.

I had not read Shaukat Siddiqui, though he belonged to Lucknow, my birthplace. An Urdu novel that has seen over 50 editions would surely have some unique quality, I knew, but I regret that I could read it so late. It is a very dark novel and while reading it, I, for once, had to review my opinion about the critics of Qurratul Ain Hyder.

Yes, I staunchly felt that those who termed Hyder as a 'bourgeoise writer' and charge her of 'writing for the upper/upper-middle class and romanticising the past', were nothing but a frustrated lot. But as I read Shaukat Siddiqui's masterful story, I could see the real Lucknow, the real Lahore and the real Karachi.

The life of ordinary people in the aftermath of partition, the large number of real people who suffered and who are always on the brink--trying their best to prevail upon their misfortune but whose every effort is thwarted. 

The dreams of the teenaged boys and street kids and their language could never have been written by somebody else with such perfection. Siddiqui never returned to Lucknow but his portrayal of the life of the City's [Lahore-Karachi have the reflection of Lucknow also in the novel] poor and under-privileged class is unmatched [and scary].

The story of teenaged Sultana, whose dreams die young and poverty forces her mother to ask her to elope with a suitor but even he doesn't turn up and her mother has to marry the person who had his eye on the daughter.

Sultana's brother who works at a mechanic's workshop is fired. He runs away but lands up in a juvenile home from where he goes to a pickpocket's school. One of his friend, who earned a few paisas by pushing the cart of a leper beggar also has a tragic fate. 


Other characters of the novel including Sultana's younger brother and her suitor also struggle to survive. Though the noel is terribly gloomy but the characters keep you spellbound. In their struggle for survival, some characters find peace though it is short-lived. 

However, Shaukat Siddiqui has succeeded in writing an exceptional novel that looks like an insider's account of the world where the word 'people' doesn't mean just the businessmen, politicians and bureaucrats or the occasional teacher.


Rather, they are eunuchs, thieves, sodomites, catamites, pickpockets, beggars, streetchildren, activists, zealots, mechanics, junk-dealers and so many others move along side you, forcefully making their presence felt and capturing your imagination.

And once again, the novel speaks their language and lives their hopes and failures, not the author's. It's tragic, yes. It's gloomy, yes but you need to read it. It's damn good! Wish to read more of his works soon. 


For news about his demise. Click. As far the novel is concerned, it's a must-read book that will leave a strong impression on you. It will help us understand human suffering, the extent of exploitation of the poor children, particularly, the street urchins, and in process help us become more evolved and more sensitive persons. 

Bayaan: An Urdu novel on Hindu-Muslim relations during the turbulent period around Babri Masjid demolition

Shams Ur Rehman Alavi

Musharraf Alam Zauqi's 'Bayaan' is an important novel that captures the anxieties and fears of both Hindus and Muslims in the turbulent years from 1986 to 1992.

This was an era when the right-wing grew from strength to strength and ultimately the Ayodhya movement led to the demolition of Babri Masjid.

The story revolves around elderly Bal Mukund  'Josh', a retired official and Urdu poet as his 'takhallus' suggests, his friend Barkat Husain and their families.

Bal Mukund strongly believes in the culture which developed with the interaction of Hindus & Muslims in the country over centuries. He is an epitome of 'wazadari' and puts principles above all. 

One of his son, Narendera, a doctor, is fiercely anti-Muslim and is member of a right wing party while the other son is a trader and a local Congress worker.

The sons don't understand their father's love for a language 'that is spoken by Muslims and the script which appears alien to them'. They don't understand why their father goes to 'mushairas' and spends time with his Muslim friends and poets.

His friend Barkat Husain's son, Munna, is a clerk at the electricity office. He is tired of hearing the taunts of being a 'Pakistani at heart'. The fathers helplessly watch their sons who turn even more communal than the generation that had seen the horrors of partition. 

The demolition of Babri Masjid comes as a big setback for Indian Muslims and causes irreparable damage to their psyche. Munna gets restless and decides to join the right-wing party. 'If we treat them as untouchable and it comes to power, how will we deal with the situation, after all, we have to live and die here', he feels. 

He now starts going to the party meetings and in turn becomes a pariah in his own community. No body even understands his dilemma, not even his father who could never understand this introvert son.

Meanwhile, Balmukund Josh has serious differences with his elder son. At a mushaira, Josh is taunted by some Muslim youths who tell him that his own son is a right-winger but Josh enjoys the best of both worlds, especially, as an Urdu poet getting acclaim amongst Muslims.

Josh is sick of his sons who hate everything about him and his culture. Even his grand-daughter asks him, 'Are you Muslim dada-ji, but Muslims are bad'. He decides to deprive his sons of any share in the property. 

Now his sons try every bit to please him. Meanwhile, his granddaughter gets ill and Munna and his wife gets the kid admitted in hospital and treated when Narendra was away to a party convention. Narendra's wife, who never ate at anybody's place discovers a positive side to Muslims and fights with her husband. Munna is her brother now.

But Munna feels that he is a misfit in the right-wing party and begins to distance himself from the outfit that badly needed a few Muslim showboys. The local party leaders feel he might reveal their secrets. A man wearing a skull-cap) is entrusted by a hard-core party leader to kill Munna and give the impression that Muslims killed the traitor of their community.

Shaken by the grief at the blood and gore, communal riots and the destruction of composite culture in India, Balmukund Josh is fast getting insane and decides to write a 'bayaan' [a statement, a will or a confession]. 

His sons are worried what is in store for them...what is going to be this bayaan? It is undoubtedly a gripping novel. In fact, it was the story of every Indian town in that era--anxieties, communal tensions and fear of unknown. 

The curfews, riots, clashes, angry rhetoric, the lumpens among the middle-class, this anger against Muslims that was fuelled by politicians and Hindi newspapers in North India, that threatened the entire social fabric of the country.

The novelist manages to capture it with perfection. Zauqi is a master story-teller and is not only the leading Urdu writer of his generation but also acclaimed Hindi writer, who is published in Hans and other prestigious literary magazines. 

Lot of lessons from the novel. There are so many major works about partition, but Bayaan is the probably among the few Urdu novels that focuses on the inter-religious relationships and the communalism that affected both communities in this era. 

Major literary works focusing on Indian Muslims: Books dealing with Muslim issues, India's partition and Indo-Islamic culture of the sub-continent

Strong novel against Hindu, Muslim communalism

A gentleman, Rao Sahab, has asked me about literary works of Indian Muslims that can give him a peek into the culture, thought process, fears, anxieties, hopes and aspirations of the minority community.

I think the post should be regarding novels on Indian Muslims. Yes there are some books which are a must read for not just Muslims but non-Muslims in this country as well. 

I thought I should share with you. I recommend these books to everybody. Here is a list of the major works of fiction, many of whom have been translated in English and Hindi also.

1. Qurratul Ain Haider's Aag ka Darya translated as River of Fire is one of the greatest novels ever written in any language. The characters of Gautam Nilambar, Kamaal and Champa appear in different eras--from the period of Chandragupta Maurya to Sultanate era, Mughals, arrival of East India company and later when India gets divided into Hindustan and Pakistan.

2. Abdus Samad's 'Do Gaz Zameen' that deals with psyche of Muslims until Bangladesh's creation and after. It has been translated in almost a dozen languages.

3. Salahuddin Parvez' Shinakhtnaama or Identity Card, a landmark work in the backdrop of Ayodhya Movement. Apart from the story, its the style that captures the imagination of the reader.

4. Rahi Masoom Raza's 'Topi Shukla', a must-read for all Indians, a small novel originally in Hindi which I am sure can change the thinking of fanatic Hindus and Muslims and force them to introspect.

The boy who was dark complexioned, not loved by parents, hated Muslims in his young age and took admission in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to see these 'anti-nationals', later lives a bohemian life, befriends Muslims, falls in love with Muslim girl and has a rather tragic end.

Raza who wrote script of Mahabharat is a master and his command over the dialects of UP and understanding of human psychology, belief in secularism and communal harmony is unparalleled.

5. Raza's Adha Gaon or a Village Divided [recently translated in English] is another beautiful novel about Muslims, particularly the Shia Muslims and their culture, in country side of Uttar Pradesh [Ghazipur's rural and qasbah life].

Qurratul Ain Hyder

6. In Hindi, Manzoor Ahtesham's Sukha Bargad translated as 'A Dying Banyan'. It has also become a sort of classic now as it explores Hindu-Muslim relations in the post-independence era.

7. Another interesting one is Asghar Vajahat [or Wajahat's] 'Saat Aasmaan'. The novel has ample humour as Wajahat's characters have interesting anecdotes & stories to recount, which keep you hooked.

Yet another Rahi Masoom Raza novel, 'Neem ka Ped' on which a TV serial was based, comes to mind. Rahi also wrote 'Himmat Jaunpuri', which is not too easily available these days.

8. Abdul Bismillah's 'Jhini Bini Chadaria' is considered a good novel as it deals with weavers of Benares though I was not impressed much with it. The fact that novel deals about poor Muslims and not Nawabs, Upper Class or Aristocrats is noteworthy.

9. A unique novel is Kaala Jal by Gulsher Khan Shani, one of the first Muslim writers to take up Hindi as a medium of expression, instead of Urdu. The setting is in remote Bastar, the heart of tribal territory. A television serial on the novel with Pallavi Joshi as lead character was quite a hit in the mid-80s.

10. Ilyas Ahmad Gaddi's brilliant work 'Fire Area' is about the miners in coal fields of Bihar. Gaddi's novel has been acclaimed one of the best works in Urdu fiction in India in the last decade or so. Unfortunately I haven't read it.

11. Musharraf Alam Zauqi's 'bayaan' is a major novel. It deals with the insecurities and frustration that had gripped Muslims after demolition of Babri Masjid and the riots in Mumbai, Surat etc.

I have not read Syed Mohammad Ashraf's 'Nambardaar ka Neela' that got great reviews. There are other good Muslim authors who have written good novels but firsthand I remember these and all of them are a must-read. Amongst the earlier works is Hayatullah Ansari's voluminous Lahoo ke Phool, which I unfortunately couldn't read.

Udas Naslein translated in English 

12. The query is about Muslim writers otherwise I was reading Ravindra Kalia's famous 'Khuda Salaamat Hai' and was enchanted by it. 

Set in a mohalla of a North Indian town that has an equal population of Hindus & Muslims, inhabited by shopkeepers, mullahs, pundits, tawaifs & all sorts of people, it depicts the strength of our common heritage & ganga-jamuni culture.


Shamsur Rahman Faruqi has written 'Kai Chand The Sar-e-Aasman', but we await a magnum opus from him on partition and its impact on composite cultural heritage.

Besides, Khushwant Singh's 'Delhi' is one of my favourites. No matter what people say about the 'vulgarity' in the novel, it remains the best work on Delhi along with Ahmad Ali's 'Twilight in Delhi' which is now considered a legendary work.

Ahmed Ali's novel is in a class of its own. It gives a glimpse into the Dehlvi tehzeeb of yore, the life and culture in Delhi, before partition.

And whenever it comes to partition, it is impossible to forget Saadat Hasa Manto. Among short stories I rank Hindi writer Nasira Sharma and her 'Patthar Gali' quite highly. In fact, I have suggested more than 20 novels by now. Enough for this post, I guess.