Twilight In Delhi by Ahmed Ali/A Story of Downfall

 

Twilight in Delhi is the first novel in the history of subcontinent  to address various controversial themes such as identity crisis, fall of Mughal Empire, family values and position of women in the society. The setting of the novel is 1911 and it focuses on the social and political changes take place during that time. This is such a novel which can easily leads you to the roller-coaster of emotions.

Twilight in Delhi is a beautiful novel artistically written by Ahmed Ali. This novel discusses explicitly the complex relationship among family members. The story of this novel talks about the disappearance of a purpose, isolation, deterioration and disintegration of a family. Twilight in Delhi is a novel that follows the story of Mir Nihal who is a Muslim of Sub-continent. In this novel, the aspect of colonization and Imperialism is also present. Mir Nihal is first shown as a powerful person and glorified just like Delhi but later his glory diminishes that symbolizes the decline of Mughal Empire. 

Through the character of Mir Nihal, the author Ahmad Ali focuses upon the changing scenario in Delhi and the surrounding during the British colonial regime. The novel opens with the discussion of Mir Nehal and his wife about the marriage of their son Asghar who is an embodiment of the youth of the sub-continent and is clueless about his position in the society. He loves a prostitute “Mushtri Bai” but later falls in love with the sister of his friend, “Bilqeece”. Mir Nihal is against that marriage because Bilqeeece is from another caste and of poor background but Asghar succeeds in marrying Bilqeece. He soon loses interest in Bilqeece who is shy and does not know a lot about controlling men like “Mushtri Bai”. She gave birth to a daughter “Jehan Ara” but she gets sick from tuberculosis.  Then Asghar does not care about Bilqeece and she later died because of ignorance of “Asghar” towards her. Mir Nihal also gets sick because her lover “Baban Jan” dies and he distanced himself from all the responsibilities of life. After that other son of Mir Nihal “Habbibudin” also gets sick and died.

After the death of “Habbibudin,” Mir Nihal becomes more distant from reality of life and isolate himself from the society. On the other hand, after the death of Bilqeece, her sister “Zohra” takes care of her daughter and Asghar again fell in love with her. At first, the feelings do not reach up to Zohra but later she also fell for him. But she refuses to marry him by saying that her family is marrying her off leaving Asghar broken-hearted. Mir Nihal saw his family falling apart and again becomes depressed and gloomy. Mir Nihal goes to his room and thought about all the negative aspects of life and with this, he slips into a coma and finally dies. There are several moments in the novel when the reader feels overwhelmed by the emotions which makes this novel a great pick to read.