This paper critically analyzes and traces the parallel images that contribute in
establishing Ahmed Ali as both a feminist writer who brings out the voice of the suppressed
female as well as a writer who laments the change that the Delhi city and the people of India
were wrought. In tracing this decline, Ahmed Ali’s feminist stance is also revealed, where he
likens the beauty of the Delhi city with the beauty of a woman. It is thus, that the image of
the woman: the courtesan as well as the domestic woman reign important in the novel. The
gradual decline of the position of women, demonstrated in the marriages that take place and
in their physical ailments and gradual deaths, is paralleled with the historical changes that
take place in this city.