3 Review(s)

This will be one of the endearing books on Agha Shahid Ali. Every aspect of Shahid Ali has been successfully inculcated in this book. The most important thing related to Agha Shahid Ali is that his life and work are affected by the term, Transmigration. Because he migrated to three different places, and considered himself a ‘triple exile’. He moved from Kashmir to Delhi, and from Delhi to Pennsylvania. This way he transmigrated from and to three different places, and engrossed three different cultures in himself, hence, the Transmigration of cultures. He spent his childhood in Kashmir, and after completing his studies from Presentation Convent School, Burn Hall School and University of Kashmir he moved to Delhi, to do his post-graduation from Hindu College where he taught also. Shahid Ali was already familiar with the culture in Kashmir, and was exposed to the culture prevalent in the Delhi society when he migrated to Delhi. Since he was a Muslim, its culture was inborn in him also, being in India, he was comfortable with the Hindu culture too. Thus, it can be seen that Shahid had Muslim, Hindu and Kashmiri culture, and was also exposed to the Indian culture and tradition. He was well acquainted with the Western culture too, as the family spent a few years there, during Shahid’s childhood. All these things make his poetry worth reading. His poetry is not an expression of powerful feelings but of powerfull experiences.