Chacha Ghalib had lot of love, hobbies and interest. To have him as your company would have met an hour of entertainment even if it meant lending him money every now and then! His love for mangoes is legendary.
During mango season, his yaar dost used to send him cartons of mangoes. In the collection of his Persian letters, one letter is to trustee of Imam Bada of Huglee, during his stay in Calcutta, asking for mangoes. He writes “mangoes from Hooglee, are like roses from rose garden.’ and requested at lease three to four cartons of those mangoes before the season was over!
Yet another time, Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was enjoying a walk in Hayat Baksh Bagh of Red Fort. The trees were laiden with choicest of mangoes. The fruit was reserved for the royal household. Ghalib time and again kept looking at these mangoes, irritated Bahadur Shah Zafar asked “Mirza, what is there to look so intently?” Pat came reply from Ghalib “I have heard the name of person is written on each morsel of food (daane daane pe likha hai khane wale ka naam) so I’m checking if my ancestors name too is written in one of these mangoes!” Emperor smiled and in the evening a load of choicest mangoes was sent to Ghalib’s house.
The last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar ca. 1850
Mirza Ghalib as imagined by Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar by M.F. Hussain
The only surviving photo of Ghalib
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