The author with her new book.
[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]
One afternoon The Delhi Walla entered the home of author Sadia Dehlvi in Nizamuddin East. The house was all happiness. Ms Dehlvi’s publisher HarperCollins India had just delivered the first copy of her new book, The Sufi Courtyard: Dargahs of Delhi.
“Isn’t it looking beautiful?” Ms Dehlvi said. “I worked so hard on it.”
The cover photo shows the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, Delhi’s 14th century Sufi saint. The back cover describes the book:
The Sufi Courtyard takes you on a journey through the famous and lesser-known dargahs of Delhi. From the first Sufi centre established in Mehrauli by Khwaja Qutub Bakhtiar Kaki during the early days of the Delhi Sultanate to later nineteenth-century Sufi retreats in the city, it explores the spiritual, cultural and historical legacy of the Delhi Sufis, making this book as much about Delhi as it is about Sufism.
Ms Dehlvi, whose first book, Sufism: The Heart of Islam, was published in 2009, said, “Now I’ll take a break from writing and spend the next few months catching up on new novels.” Just then her son, musician Arman Ali Reza, appeared from his study. Dressed in a yellow kurta, he looked at the book, and then at his smiling mother. They laughed. It was a beautiful moment.
[The Sufi Couryard: Dargahs of Delhi is priced at Rs 699.]
Sadia Dehlvi’s The Sufi Courtyard
Author photo
Look at my book
Mubarak, Mummy
Two and counting
Shh, I’m reading
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I love reading your posts on Sadia Dehlvi. Book’s cover looks so beautiful. Will surely buy it. Congratulations Ms Dehlvi. I would like to meet you someday.