Page 1 - LN- Ghat of the Only World

THE GHAT OF THE ONLY WORLD

By- Amitav Ghosh

Shahid' encounter with Cancer

Shahid Ali was a Kashmiri, settled in the US. He was a cancer patient. He had been under
treatment for 14 months. But he was still on his feet and cheerful. Only sometimes he
became unconscious, lost his memory and his eyesight for a short while. On 25 April 2001,
he spoke to the writer about his approaching death. The writer tried to console him, but he
was cut short. Shahid, however, made a request. He wanted the writer to write something
about him after his death.

At Manhattan with the author

Shahid and the author had studied together at Delhi University. But they had never met. In
1998 and 1999 they had several conversations on the phone and also met a couple of times.
But the acquaintance could not grow until both moved to Brooklyn, US. They were in the
same neighbourhood. Shahid lived in a building some eight blocks away. He had his sudden
blackout in February 2000. He had a malignant brain tumour. So from Manhattan, he moved
to Brooklyn, where his youngest sister Sameetah lived. When Shahid spoke about his
approaching death, he laughed but he was dead serious. He entrusted a great responsibility
to the author. ‘You must write about me,’ he said. And the author promised to grant his
wish. Since that day he started noting down all his conversations with Shahid. And that
record helped him keep his word.

Shahid- the man and poet

Shahid was a poet who wrote in English. The author had read his 1997 collection The
Country without a Post Office. He was greatly impressed also. Once they became neighbours
at Brooklyn, they began to meet very often for meals. Shahid’s condition was serious but
that illness did not depress him. The author and Shahid had many common friends. They also
had a shared love of rogan josh and liking for Kishor Kumar’s songs. Both disliked cricket and
loved old Mumbai films. They began to meet regularly.

His ordeal with Cancer

One day the author went along with Shahid’s brother and sister—lqbal and Hena – to fetch
him home from the hospital. It was on 21 May. Shahid had already been through several
operations that failed. A hospital orderly arrived with a wheelchair. But Shahid sent him
back. He thought he was strong enough to walk out of the hospital on his own. But his knees