Five Sentimental Scenes
THE MUSLIM LEAGUE IN BARABANKI: A Suite of Five Sentimental Scenes by C. M. Naim Indian Institute of Advanced Study Shimla, 2010 Preface What follows was originally written as two independent essays, at separate times and in reverse order. The first essay was written in 1997, the fiftieth year of Independence in South Asia. It contained the last two scenes. The second, consisting of Scenes 1 through 3, was written in 2006 to mark the 100th year of the formation of the Muslim League. The underlying impulse, confessional and introspective, was the same in both instances. The two essays, with some corrections and changes, are now presented as a single narrative. I am grateful to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study and its Director, Dr. Peter R. deSouza, for making it possible. C. M. Naim, National Fellow, IIAS Shimla October 2009 2 THE MUSLIM LEAGUE IN BARABANKI: A Suite of Five Sentimental Scenes No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do To swell a progress, start a scene or two…. (T. S. Eliot, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.’) (1) In December 1906, twenty-eight men traveled to Dhaka to represent the United Provinces of Agra & Avadh at the foundational meeting of the All India Muslim League. Two were from Barabanki, one of them my granduncle, Raja Naushad Ali Khan of Mailaraigunj. Thirty-nine years later, during the winter of 1945-46, I could be seen, together with other kids, marching up and down the one main road in Barabanki under the green flag of the Muslim League, shouting slogans in support of its candidate in the assembly elections.
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