How this initiative is connecting literature with Mumbai neighbourhoods

Down Maulana Azad Road a left turn veers into a culdesac Dwarfed by the rickety twofloor Lohe ki chawl on both sides the lane was the starting point for the Kaifi Azmi walk organised by Urdu Markaz on January 14 The promise of Shabana Azmi joining the walk was a reason for our attendance Urdu Markaz director Zubair Azmi explains ldquoWith the rise of the Progressive Writers Movement and IPTA Indian Peoplersquos Theatre Association names from Kaifi Azmi Majrooh Sultanpuri Manto Ismat Chughtai to Habib Tanvir Balraj Sahni and actress Nadira would walk through these lanesrdquoThe actor observes archival books at the collectiversquos offices in Lohe ki chawl PicsAshish RajeFrom the carpenters next door to the office of the Urdu Markaz to little tykes playing cricket in the adjacent lane crowd around to catch a glimpse of Shabana Azmi upon her arrival As a child the actress accompanied her father Kaifi saab a member of the Communist Party of India while he helped the textile and mill workers in the cityAzmi tries the tea near MadanpuraldquoThere was not enough money so amma Shaukat Kaifi would work with Prithvi Theatre When she would tour I would tag along with my father Back then it was a holiday for me since the workers would carry me around on their shoulders and buy me cakesrdquo she shares with this writer later It was also here that Kaifi Azmi wrote his famous nazm Makaan Shabana revealsThe underconstruction space that once housed the Communist Party officeldquoHe was seated on a charpoy observing workers at an under construction building across the street The irony of the same worker being barred from entering the building upon completion led him to write those lines Art has to be a voice for the people he would sayrdquo she recalls before reciting a few linesA poster of Kaifi Azmi with wife Shaukat Kaifi alongside the verses from his poem AuratThese experiences shaped the actorrsquos choices and activism as part of the Nivara Hakk Samiti in the 1980s ldquoI learned by osmosis from my parentsrdquo she admits This is selfevident when she stops impromptu to have a cup of tea from the roadside stall without the airs of a National Awardwinner A new generation of residents though barely recognises her Amusingly a young boy tells his friend it must be a political rally before walking away It feels like one as we chase to stay in touching distance and to hear the conversation above the din of the growing crowd as they walk past the marketThe actor is felicitated at the venueThe tour follows the Maulana Azad Road to an underconstruction building site mdash once the offices of the Communist Party of India stopping for moments at the old offices of Inquilab middayrsquos sister Urdulanguage publication where Javed Akhtar worked as a translator during his first weeks in the cityAzmi centre takes a breather at Sarvi Hotel near Nagpada junctionThe penultimate stop is at Sarvi Hotel around Nagpada Junction Once the Algonquin Table for writers like Ismat Chughtai Saadat Hasan Manto KA Abbas and even stars like Ashok Kumar Lata Mangeshkar and Raj Kapoor it was closed for cleaning Ironically upon her arrival Shabana told the organisers shersquod be happy to turn up every month if they promised kebabs from SarviThe Inquilab Manzil once housed middayrsquos sister concern Inquilab Urdu newspaper where a young Javed Akhtar workedThe walk is a part of Urdu Markaz growing UrduMarathi tehzeeb yatra in addition to the upcoming Bhendi Bazaar festival In addition to sourcing and building a collection of Urdu poetry and books from the Communist libraries the organisation hopes to conduct these walks on a monthly basisPhotographs of Kaifi Azmi standing centre photo from the collections of the Urdu Markaz archiveldquoThe next one will be on poet and writer Namdeo Dhasal in Kamathipura also an old haunt of Manto We are trying to bring back literature to the streets of Mumbairdquo shares Markaz director Zubair AzmiAT Urdu Markaz 216 Lohe Ki Chawl MadanpuraCALL 9322695208 Zubair Azmi