GTA VIDHYA MANDIR, NEELANKARAI, CHENNAI 600 115.

The Ghat of the Only World - Class work notes

Short Answer Questions:

Q 1. When and why did Shahid mention his death to the writer?
Answer: The first time that Shahid mentioned his approaching death was on 25
April 2001 although he had been under treatment for malignant brain tumour
for about fourteen months. He was going through his engagement book when
suddenly he said that he couldn’t see anything. Then after a pause he added
that he hoped this didn’t mean that he was dying.

Q 2. What was the strange request that Shahid made to the writer?
Answer: After Shahid broached the subject of death for the first time with the
writer, he did not know how to respond. The writer tried to reassure him that
he would be well but Shahid interrupted him and in an inquiring tone said that
he hoped after his death, he would write something about him.

Q 3. ‘Shahid, I will: I’ll do the best I can.’ What best did the writer want to do?
Answer: The writer would have had various excuses for not writing about
Shahid. He would have said that he was not a poet, their friendship was recent
or that there were many others who knew him much better and would be
writing from greater understanding and knowledge. Shahid seemed to have
guessed this and insisted that he wrote about him. The writer promised to try
his best in doing justice to the memory of Shahid in his piece of writing.

Q 4. What did Amitav Ghosh think of Shahid, the poet?

Answer: Amitav Ghosh was introduced to Shahid’s work long before he met
him. His 1997 collection, The Country Without a Post Office, had made a
powerful impression on him. His voice was like none that had ever heard
before. It was at once lyrical and fiercely disciplined, engaged and yet deeply
inward. He knew of no one else who would even conceive of publishing a line
like.- ‘Mad heart, be brave.’

Q 5. ‘….his illness did not impede the progress of our friendship.’ Why does the
writer feel so?
Answer: The writer got to know Shahid only after he moved to Brooklyn the
next year, as he, too, lived in the same neighbourhood. Then they began to
meet sometimes for meals and quickly discovered that they had a great deal in
common. By this time of course Shahid’s condition was already serious, but
despite that their friendship grew rapidly.

Q 6. What was the impact of James Merrill on Shahid’s poetry?

Answer: James Merrill, the poet, completely changed the direction of Shahid’s
poetry. After coming in contact with him, Shahid began to try out strict,
metrical patterns and verse forms. No one had a greater influence on Shahid’s
poetry than James Merrill. In the poem in which he most openly anticipated his
own death, ‘I Dream I Am At the Ghat of the Only World,’ he awarded the
envoy to Merrill.

Q 7. How did Shahid justify his passion for the food of his region?
Answer: Shahid had a special passion for the food of his region, particularly
‘Kashmiri food in the Pandit style’. This was very important to him because of a
persistent dream, in which all the Pandits had vanished from the valley of
Kashmir and their food had become extinct. This was a nightmare that haunted
him in his conversation and his poetry.

Q 8. Comment on Shahid as a teacher.

Answer: Shahid was teaching at Manhattan’s Baruch College. The narrator had
the privilege to watch him perform in a classroom. It was evident from the
moment they walked in that the students adored him. They had printed a
magazine and dedicated the issue to him. Shahid for his part was not in the
least subdued by the sadness of the occasion. From beginning to end, he was a
sparkling diva.

Q 9. How did Shahid’s upbringing help him imbibe ecumenical outlook?

Answer: Shahid’s vision was always inclined towards the broader and universal
outlook. He credited this to his parents. In his childhood he had the desire to
create a small Hindu temple in his room in Srinagar. Initially he was hesitant to
tell his parents, but when he did they responded with an enthusiasm equal to
his own. His mother bought him murtis and other accessories and he was
diligently did pujas at this shrine.

Question 10. What was Shahid’s last wish? Why?

Answer: On May 4, Shahid had gone to the hospital for a scan. Shahid told the
writer that the doctors had given him a year or less. He said that he would like
to go back to Kashmir to die. He wanted to go to Kashmir because of the feudal
system existing there, which would be a lot of support. Moreover his father
was there too. He didn’t want his siblings to have to make the journey
afterwards, like they had to with his mother.

Long Answer Questions:

Q 1. Describe in detail Agha Shahid Ali’s attitude towards his approaching

death.
Answer: The first time Shahid spoke to the narrator about his approaching
death was on 25 April 2001. It was during a routine telephonic conversation
that the writer heard him flipping through his engagement book and then
suddenly he said that he could not see a thing. After a brief pause he added
that he hoped that this didn’t mean that he was dying. He had been under
treatment for cancer for some fourteen months, but was active and perfectly
logical, except for intermittent lapses of memory.

He had never before touched the subject of death. His voice sounded joyous
but the subject of conversation was grim. When the writer tried to tell him that
he would be fine, he interrupted him and told him that he hoped Amitav would
write something about him after his death.

Later, when the doctors lost hope, Shahid said that he would like to go back to
Kashmir to die. He wanted to go to Kashmir because of the feudal system
existing there, as there would be a lot of support. Moreover his father was
there too. He didn’t want his siblings to have to make the journey afterwards,
like they had to with his mother. A day before his death, there was no trace of
anguish or conflict and he was surrounded by the love of his family and friends,
he was calm, contented, and at peace.