Anisur Rahman, currently senior advisor to the Rekhta Foundation, and formerly professor and head of English at Jamia Millia Islamia University, is the author of numerous books and essays on ...

There is perhaps no one in our country at least, who has not at one time or another in his or her life, been influenced by the beauty and softness of a “ghazal”. Reading a ghazal is one thing and ...

Jamshedpur, July 13: He was perhaps the only Chinese who dared to raise his voice against his country’s aggressive stand in 1962. And his poems were his weapons of choice to convey his profound ...

Mellifluous Mohammed Rafi once sang -‘Divaso judai na jay chhe ae jasey jaroor milan sudhi.’ Few know that these lyrics were penned by a Surti ghazalkaar- Abdul Gani Dahiwala. The Persian form of ...

Shadab Zeest Hashmi’s Ghazal Cosmopolitan is, in her own words, “part love letter to Urdu… and part manual for the craft of ghazal.” Writing in English, the author feels that the ghazal has the ...

It is with this rich history in mind, buried today under a thin layer of dust that comes with the changing times, the Urdu Markaz started the Bhendi Bazaar Urdu Festival in 2014. On Saturday, February ...

Could the incredible and multi-layered tale of social fraternising and spiritual intermingling be easily comprehended through a verse form which seemingly has the bearings of a foisted and derivative ...

Ali Shir Navai (left) exposed Persian ghazals to the extinct Chagatai language and Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah (right) was an early practitioner of Urdu ghazals in India The trajectory of the ghazal is ...