Frances W. Pritchett, a well-known critic of Urdu and professor at Columbia University, writes: “To me ghazal’s reliance on its wonderful networks of images and conventions makes it very clear that ...

As much as an expression of emotions and ideas, poetry is also a manifestation of the culture, tradition and socio-political conditions of a society. Language, the cloak of poetry, is itself deeply ...

On March 16, the 53rd edition of the Shankar-Shad Mushaira took place at Modern School, Barakhamba Road in Delhi. With over 15 leading poets, the annual event that celebrates the finest Urdu poets ...

The Ghazal is a form, with its emphasis on Radif, Makta and Matla (and a sensibility that’s innate to Persian, Turkic and Urdu poetry), which isn’t easy to pull off in English. Of the modern English ...

Singer and poet Minu Bakshi talks about her love for poetry, her new collection of poems in Urdu, and how every attempt at rhyming doesn’t make a ghazal. She’s from a close-knit, well-off, and ...

It’s always good to hear a ghazal album featuring only one poet, as against the normal practice of having multiple writers It’s always good to hear a ghazal album featuring only one poet, as against ...

On Thursday, Ghazal Festival returned to stage after a gap of eight years. Organised by the Delhi government's art and culture arm, Sahitya Kala Parishad, the festival celebrates one of the oldest ...

Is there anywhere I won't die? Maybe a place called Guam where my body lives, drinking and singing about Guam Last night I got so tired I don't think I even had a skeleton beneath the sheets of my ...

When one thinks of Ghazal, it is natural to picture a voice carrying the weight of ages, each word draped in solemnity and depth, commanding reverence with its serious, heavy tones. Then came a song, ...