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‘The faulty Taj of Shahjahanabad’—New book celebrates 330-year legacy of Old Delhi school

‘The School at Ajmeri Gate’ is a deep dive into the history of the Anglo-Arabic School in Old Delhi, its Muslim past, and its tryst with conflict.

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A book on a small school outside the walls of erstwhile Shahjahanabad was all it took to bring a sea of old-timers to Delhi’s India International Centre on Wednesday. The School at Ajmeri Gate: Delhi’s Educational Legacy, which tells the story of the historic Anglo-Arabic School in Old Delhi, reeled in its proud alumni to celebrate the educational institute’s glorious past.

Authored by educationist and professor Azra Razzack and lawyer Atyab Siddiqui, The School at Ajmeri Gate is an insider-outsider perspective of an institution that has served generations of Dilliwallahs, especially residents of the walled city.

A lasting legacy

Established in 1696 by Ghazi-ud-din Khan Feroze Jung-I, a leading General of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, the school underwent significant transitions over nearly 330 years of its existence. As the Mughal empire crumbled and the British Raj grew stronger, Madrasa Ghaziuddin Khan, as it was first called, became the Anglo-Arabic College in 1828. The objective? To provide quality “English and oriental” education that “uplifts” the community in its vicinity. This engagement with local Muslims worked to its benefit. Well-known leaders like social reformer Syed Ahmed Khan and Congress politician Meem Afzal enrolled in the institution.

Photographs by Bushra Alvi of the school campus showcased at the event | Shania Mathew, ThePrint
Photographs by Bushra Alvi of the school campus showcased at the event | Shania Mathew, ThePrint

Published by Oxford University Press, the book is a deep dive into the history of this minority institute and its tryst with conflict. It also delves into the school’s “Muslim past and the situation of the Muslim present.”

A crowd of roughly 200 people broke into roaring applause when co-author Atyab Siddiqui introduced the book about “an injured and bleeding community’s response to an educational institution,” which, as political historian Laurence Gautier put it, was an “embodiment of aspirations and class mobility to its students.”

The authors of this book were part of a panel chaired by Krishna Kumar, former director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT); Sumathi Ramaswamy, professor of history at Duke University; Laurence Gautier, head researcher in history, politics, and society at Centre de Sciences Humanities, Delhi; Ziya Us Salam, associate editor at The Hindu; Duru Arun Kumar, former associate professor at Netaji Subhas University of Technology, Delhi, and Abu Sufiyan, founder of Purani Dilli Walon ki Batein, a socio-cultural blog on life in Old Delhi.

The detailed 90-minute discussion, replete with anecdotes and well-thought-out arguments, concluded with the Rs 2,295 book being lapped up by an ever-eager, nostalgic audience to a point where sales counters were almost polished clean.

In their introductory speeches before the panel, Razzack and Siddiqui did not shy away from addressing the trials faced during publishing. On hearing about the book’s publication, a local politician forced the authors to include him in the book. He reportedly threatened to burn the book outside the school gates if his demands weren’t met.


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The faulty Taj of Shahjahanabad

Abu Sufiyan briefly recalled his experience as a former student. When he first entered the gates of this school, it seemed like the “Taj of Shahjahanabad” but with faulty lights, fans that did not run, and dull classrooms. But Sufiyan cherishes the exposure this school granted him. His speech was an ode to his alma mater and the teachers who burst into Shayari (poetry) while proving the LHS=RHS equation.

“We know about schools in Doon or Ooty, but who goes to Old Delhi?” quipped Ziya us Salam.

Gautier sees the institute as a physical site that “crystalises” memories of the Muslim community, one that stands for the Muslim trajectory before and after Partition, thereby offering a sense of “shared belonging.”

While the school embodied a history of shared belonging, it was also a site of trauma, for it was turned into a refugee camp during Partition.

While presenting their main arguments and questions to the authors, the panellists repeatedly praised the book. They even had a common favourite chapter, which detailed the year girls were allowed into the school—2012.

Siddiqui and Razzack were part of the school’s management body earlier and played a key role in allowing young women into the school, students and teachers alike.

As the discussion drew to an end, a member of the audience asked a question.

“Why is it that when something has a greater claim from a religious minority, the entire discourse focuses more on the community and very less on the ways for the State to do its duty?”

The room fell silent.

(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)

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