Review: Zikr by Muzaffar Ali

Learning is an eternal quest, and the path of seeking will hopefully lead the individual to ‘truth’. The first comprises chapters in which Ali traces his royal lineage, unlocks his childhood memories of growing up in Kotwara House, Lucknow, reflects on the humanism of his father Raja Syed Sajid Husain Ali and their shared penchant for cars and horses, recalls summer vacations in Nainital, the enduring romance with poetry cultivated at Aligarh Muslim University, his years as an advertising professional in Calcutta, and the remarkable years in Bombay working with Air India. Poetry is such an intrinsic part of Ali’s thinking that every other anecdote invokes the poems of the aforementioned greats or of more modern ones like Rahi Masoom Raza, Shahryar, Javed Kamaal and Makhdoom Mohiuddin. He reminisces about the lip-smacking delicacies of his cook Tahir who stayed with him until his death, the cobbler Bharat Waghchawre who, for 20 years created exquisite shoulder bags for Ali’s and Ashrafa Sattar’s brand, Craftsmen of India, the graphic designer Jolly Barua who designed the graphics and posters for his films, Gaman and Anjuman, and the AMU poet Shahryar who became his default lyricist. Muzaffar Ali now heads the New Delhi-based Rumi Foundation and has been organising the Annual World Sufi Music Festival, Jahan-e-Khusrau, since 2001.