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I’ve been working on Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib for nearly a decade. My original idea was to work on the ghazals... Published 18 Oct, 2020 07:14am

Most of us know that a lughat is an Urdu/Arabic/Persian equivalent of a dictionary, but many might not know what a... Published 30 Aug, 2020 08:35am

But, for the unquiet heart and brain, A use in measured language lies; The sad mechanic exercise, Like dull... Updated 12 Jul, 2020 07:28pm

In this grim atmosphere of a worldwide pandemic and the numbing effect of lockdowns, reading Mirza Asadullah Khan... Updated 19 May, 2020 03:13pm

Alam’s canvas is both vast and complex. What distinguishes his storytelling is the simultaneity of conscious and... Published 22 Mar, 2020 06:49am

Words are the medium of expression for humans ... but words also put limitations, boundaries. God is free from... Published 08 Dec, 2019 08:46am

In the course of my journey with Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib’s Divans, I noticed how he carefully chose verses ... Published 06 Oct, 2019 07:04am

Hujum-i-fikr se dil misl-i-mauj larze hai Keh shishah nazuk-o-sehba-i-abginah gudaz [The heart pulses with a storm Published 04 Aug, 2019 07:08am

Have you ever looked at your bookshelf and noticed how many titles by women have made it there? Not many, I would... Published 02 Jun, 2019 07:16am

“Hoon garmi-i-nishat-i-tasavvur se naghma sanj/ Main andalib-i-gulshan-i-na afridah hoon” [I sing from the... Published 24 Mar, 2019 07:11am

There are oceans of writing in Urdu and Persian that haven’t been translated into other languages. A slew of... Published 06 Jan, 2019 06:33am

Yasmeen Hameed has published five collections of poems from 1988 to 2012 and edited anthologies of Pakistani Urdu... Published 21 Oct, 2018 08:34am

Living and teaching in the United States for the last 20 years in departments of languages and cultures, I have... Published 12 Aug, 2018 07:47am

Don’t be awed by Urfi because he is from Shiraz Don’t be captivated by Zulali because he is from Khwansar Come... Published 10 Jun, 2018 06:53am

Garden imagery can be allegorical, metaphorical or simply romantic. In classical Persian and Urdu ghazal, the garden... Published 08 Apr, 2018 06:48am

I like the musical, poetic quality of the name ‘Saqi Farooqi’. Who would choose such an outlandish name for... Published 11 Feb, 2018 06:38am

At the Annual Conference on South Asia held at the University of Wisconsin, a highlight for Urduwallahs used to be... Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am

History is temporal. The historical model tends to build walls between eras, creating boxes of time. Literary texts... Published 10 Sep, 2017 07:04am

Some months ago I wrote about Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib’s fascination with silence, discussing a ghazal from his... Updated 29 Jun, 2017 01:32pm

Last month I attended a symposium enticingly titled “What is a poem?” The organisers had posed the following... Updated 07 May, 2017 10:31am