I discovered ‘Umrao Jan Ada‘ through its movie adaptation which was screened in my college. I wasn’t mature enough to understand and appreciate the movie at that time. Later, when I discovered that it was based on a book, and I saw the book at the bookshop, I thought I’ll be able to understand the book version better and I got it. But since then it has been lying on my bookshelf. So now I decided to pick it up and read it.
The narrator, who is the author Mirza Muhammad Hadi Rusva himself, is having an informal Urdu poetry recital session with his friends. Then a maid comes from the house next door and says that her mistress wants to meet him. Our narrator goes to meet the neighbour next door and discovers that she is an old acquaintance of his, the famous courtesan Umrao Jan Ada. She praises the poetry that our narrator and his friends are reciting. Our narrator invites her for the recital session and requests her to recite her own poetry. After some initial hesitation Umrao Jan agrees. They all have a wonderful time listening to each other’s poetry and admiring it and commenting on it. After sometime, this becomes a regular happening there. After one of those recitals, our narrator and one of his friends ask Umrao Jan to tell them the story of her life, and how she ended up as their next door neighbour. The rest of the book is about Umrao Jan’s life in her own words.
‘Umrao Jan Ada’ is a beautiful love letter to the Lucknow of a bygone era. In it, Umrao Jan describes the life of a courtesan in the 19th century, the good and the not-so-good things, the Nawabs she knew, the fascinating eccentric characters she met, the adventures she had. How a girl like her from a respectable family ended up becoming a courtesan is itself a heartbreaking story. There are many fascinating characters in the story – Khanum, her mentor who employs her, her fellow courtesans Bismillah and Khurshid, the Nawab who falls in love with her, the robber who falls in love with her and gives her expensive gifts, the mysterious Begum who treats her like her best friend though they are from totally different social classes – these and other wonderful characters populate the story. Umrao Jan herself is a fascinating person and her voice that we hear while reading the book is beautiful. The final chapter in which Umrao Jan shares her insights on life is one of the most beautiful chapters in the book.
There is a beautiful preface by the translator David Matthews at the beginning of the book in which he gives the historical, social and cultural context behind the story and it is very insightful to read. I loved that preface.
There is one thing to nitpick though. It has nothing to do with the story or the author or the translator. It is this. There are many lines of poetry in the book. They’ve all been translated into English, and they are probably faithful translations. But in English they lose much of their beauty. Urdu is a very beautiful language, and in my opinion, one of the most beautiful languages ever. When we read about a moth moving towards the flame, it is very beautiful in Urdu. The words are beautiful, the emotion is beautiful. In English, it doesn’t sound the same, it doesn’t feel the same. Translating poetry is always hard because the emotion conveyed in the original language is mostly lost. But we feel that loss much more starkly in Urdu. Because of this, I feel that the poetry part of this book will read much better in Urdu than in English translation. Also, sometimes the humorous lines and humorous conversations read much better in Urdu than in English translation. Though in this case, the humour manages to get through.
I loved ‘Umrao Jan Ada’. It is a beautiful book. It is a classic of Urdu literature, and I’m glad I read it. I know that there are atleast two movie adaptations of the book, one starring Rekha as Umrao Jan and another starring Aishwarya Rai as Umrao Jan. I want to see the Rekha version first.
Sharing one of my favourite passages from the story.
“When I heard the maulvi and Bua Husaini and other elderly people talking about former times, it seemed to me that their age must have been much better than our own. For that reason I used to praise it in its absence, and for no reason reviled the age into which I was born. I never realised that they thought well of earlier times simply because everyone regards one’s youth as the best, when everything in the world was so wonderful. ‘When you are young, the world is young; when you are dead, the world is dead.’ Young people see the elderly and adopt their ways, and this age-old misunderstanding has become a generally accepted custom.”
Have you read ‘Umrao Jan Ada’ or seen the movie version? What do you think about it?
I’m intrigued. There’s a more recently published out of India that I’d love for you to consider reading sometime. It’s Where the Ricers Meet, by Jawahara Saidullah. Allahabad and Lucknow are both cities that make for brilliant settings. Really enticing review, Vishy.
Thanks for telling me about Jawahara Saidullah’s book, Jenny 😊 Will add it to my list and will try to read it soon. Glad you liked the review 😊
Wonderful review, Vishy! It’s an era and culture I know basically nothing about, so it’s nice to read your thoughts on this one. Also, isn’t it fun to rediscover books and movies years later to connect differently to them?
Glad you liked the review, Bina 😊 I’ve wanted to read this book for a while, and I’m happy I finally got to read it. The movie version is very famous here and it has won awards.
Thanks Vishy, I just noticed my typo!, the novel’s title is of course Where the Rivers Meet. I’ve known Jawahara for years and believe her talent is well worth acquainting others to it! Cheers!