Ghat of the Only World is written by Amitava Ghosh. It talks about friendship and the fulfilment of the promise made in it. It is a tribute to Agha Shahid Ali, the Kashmiri poet who made the author promise that he will write about him after his death. He made Ghosh promise him before he succumbed to a deadly brain tumour. The author with this story in this book is seen to fulfil his promise that he once made to a friend who is no longer alive.
The story of Ghat of the Only World focuses on the life, liking and disliking, and the lifestyle of the Kashmiri poet. To go through this story is like taking a sneak peek into the celebration of his life including the period when he got diagnosed with the tumour. Shahid's unconditional love for Kashmir has been reflected in every sentence of the story. Through this story, we get to know about the Kashmiri poet's interest in music, art, literature, food and many similar things. Even though Shahid and Ghosh’s friendship was for a brief period, the former still left an indelible mark on the latter’s mind and heart. The extravagant character of Shahid was able to put some skilful strokes of Kashmir that were quite different. Moreover, he was a firm believer in keeping politics separate from religion.
Through the story of Ghat of the Only World, Ghosh informs that Shahid, when still a child, made a wish to his parents that he wanted to have a small Hindu temple in his room. Eventually, his mother brought him the Hindu idols and other small items which led to the transformation of the innermost part of his home into a holy Hindu temple. There was a beautiful religious confluence of both Hinduism and Islam in Shahid’s home.
There are many aspects of Shahid that we come to know through this story. He was a food lover and even during the last stage of the brain tumour, he used to enjoy his food a lot and also talked about it. Further, he never took his illness seriously and never accepted to be defeated by cancer either. To his last day, he was a man full of life.
The friendship of the author Amitava Ghosh and the Kashmiri poet was not a friendship whose seeds were sown in childhood but the mark they left on each others' life was truly remarkable. The author kept his promise that he made to his dear friend whom he met for a very short span of time. With his writing skills, he was able to draw a beautiful picture of Shahid's life and help the readers understand the bittersweet memories that the poet had. The pathos that underlines each line of the story exudes a charm that is no less magical than the valley of Kashmir herself.
Amitava Ghosh is an Indian writer of global repute and the winner of the 54th Jnanpith Award. His novels tell the stories of travel and Diaspora, people and their emotions, political struggle and communal violence using complex narrative strategies. Some of his well-known works in English are Sea of Poppies, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, etc. The Ghat of the Only World is a biography where he has successfully depicted the struggles of his friend Shahid Ali on the brink of death.
