Sudden sparkle

Raunak Manzil stands at a forgotten corner of Kashmiri mohallah in old Lucknow. Over 200 years old, drained of all its ancient grandeur by misfortune and age, its derelict walls — propped up by cheap woodwork and plaster — symbolise all that remains today of the great nawabi culture of Lucknow. Within its many dim-lit rooms lives Haseena Begum with her family. Like her childhood memories, the photographs on the old walls of her nawabi ancestors posing with shikar trophies have begun to fade.

Haseena herself is an antithesis of what her name suggests. Thin, with shrivelled skin and a rather unprepossessing face. Women mock at her futile attempts to mask her lack of good looks with silks and jewellery. However, Haseena has more than made up for the negatives in her physical personality with a wonderful sense of humour and there are many evenings when she entertains her guests with numerous anecdotes dating back to her childhood.

My first visit to Raunak Manzil was to meet Noori, one of my friends who had recently married Haseena’s elder son. Noori comes from one of the top Sayyed families of Lucknow and she is as beautiful as they come. As I entered the dim interiors of the Manzil, my heart sank. Did Noori really deserve this? But when I saw Noori’s gleaming face and her doting in-laws beside her, I realised she had become the noor for Haseena. A diamond that had lit up the old haveli with her beauty.

Haseena Begum now attends every social gathering along with Noori, showing off her prized possession. She seems to have had the last laugh at fate and her community by bringing home as her daughter-in-law one the most beautiful girls of Lucknow.