Significance of The Title of The Novel "Twilight In Delhi" By Ahmed Ali.

Significance of The Title of The Novel "Twilight In Delhi" By Ahmed Ali.

The title of the novel “Twilight in Delhi” is very significant. This is the most appropriate title for the story depicted in the novel. “Twilight” is a word that signifies the short span of time that spreads itself between a dying day and emerging night just as 'down' is the opposite word that signifies the death of the night and the arrival of the day. “Twilight in Delhi” contracts with the dying culture and civilization of Muslim India as such. If we take Mir Nihal as the symbol of that culture, we can see the civilization crumbling with our own eyes. When we go through the novel, we find that its main male characters have their middle age and are almost knocking at the door of old age. We are especially talking of Mir Nihal who is nearly 60 at the beginning of the novel as he had witnessed the fateful day of the fall of Delhi, 14th, September 1857 as a ten years old boy. Still, he is so healthy and strong that he can pick up the running snake with bare hands. He can cleave its spinal cord by clouting it on the floor of the house with a potent jerk of his hand. But later on, we find his health is going to bad condition day by day. He gets a paralysis attack and is not able to talk even. After so many treatments he becomes totally bedridden. He lies down and goes on thinking about his past. The “Twilight” element started engulfing his whole personality. But the after elements made the impact stronger that in the end, he becomes a living dead.

“Twilight in Delhi” spotlights the culture of colonial India. The culture was under the threat of being demolished or changed at the hands of the wave of change that had come with the British colonizers. The arrival of the Britishers was a calamity reshaping the culture and social values. Thus, the setting of the novel is symbolic in every way. “Twilight in Delhi” was scientifically selected as the title of the novel. “Twilight” is in fact, symbolically an announcement that the glory, the culture, and the values are going to dissolve in the night-the death of these things.

We also find the deterioration in other characters as well, symbolically enough. Begum Nihal becomes blind slowly and steadily. Her blindness in the end symbolically shows the end of the old ways. The “Twilight” element in her character is obvious. Her blindness shows the decay of the old orthodox style of living beings in Delhi.

Asghar, a young man, wanted to spend his life according to the English style. His marriage with Bilqeece was a turning point at the beginning of the novel but after a few days, it seemed worthless. His lack of comprehension of things leads him toward his tragedy. The title “Twilight” is very commenting on the fate of every character. It looks as if every character was bound to meet the night of his shattered ideas. Asghar's life symbolically represents the youth of that time devoid of any spark of life.

This does not crop up in the world of human beings alone. Even the building etc. is affected by time. The gutters of the city which were deep down are dug up and laid on a shallow level. The city walls are demolished. The Jamia Masjid whose floor was on the 14th of September 1857, wears a cheap garland to welcome. The cortege of king George V on the coronation Day. All these things have been aptly used by the writer to show us symbolically, the dwindling and dying Indian Muslim civilization and culture. So, we can justly claim that the most appropriate and best title for the novel could only be “Twilight in Delhi.”

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