Agha Shahid Ali’s Friendship with Begum Akhtar

One of Shahid’s most cherished memories was driving Begum Akhtar around Srinagar in his father’s car. Agha Iqbal Ali, Shahid’s brother, remembers that ​“one fine day sometime in April, 1969 – it was raining – there was a phone call from Begum Akhtar. We didn’t know her personally but she said wanted to come to our house.” He recalled that her flight was cancelled and she ended up staying at their house in Rajbagh. 

Late at night, she ran out of cigarettes. ​“Both of us drove her in our Fiat to Amira Kadal to buy Capstans,” he said, emphasising, ​“she only smoked Capstan cigarettes”. It is a vivid memory which resurfaces in Shahid’s poem ​“I Dream I Am the Only Passenger on Flight 423 to Srinagar”:

Her picture: she smiles: she lights a Capstan.

Sharp in flame, her face dissolves in smoke.