Mirza Ghalib in AmericaArticle
Poetry
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The celebrated Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali was instrumental in popularising ghazals in the West. One figure who brought him closer to the form was the legendary ghazal singer Begum Akhtar. We look at Akhtar’s influence on the poet and his work, their relationship and how he beautifully…
in Article
Octavio Paz's poems about Delhi are arguably the most profound and striking lines written about the city. Paz was not only a prolific poet, he was also well-read; he found Delhi's 'aesthetic equivalent' in 'novels, not in architecture'. Here, we look at Paz's verses on the Capital's architecture. (…
in Article
More than three decades after his death, the revolutionary Punjabi poet Avatar Singh Sandhu, famously known as Pash, is still relevant. Sahapedia looks at the life and works of the rebellious poet whose poems act as a mirror for the society even today. (Photo Source: Vishav Bharti/Wikimedia Commons…
in Article
Poet and memoirist Hoshang Merchant speaks to Sahapedia about his early life and education in Bombay and the United States, the origins of his family, the events of his childhood that moulded his sexual consciousness and the changing effects of societal conventions on sexualities in India. He…
in Video
Mirza Ghalib is a household name in the Indian subcontinent—a figure who is synonymous with Persian and Urdu poetry. The timeless nature of his verses and the universality of his themes have resulted in his works transcending borders and languages. Thanks to translations of Ghalib's ghazals to…
in Article
In this incisive essay poet Robin Ngangom delineates the terrain of poetry in English in the long troubled Northeast. The textures and tensions of singing a variegated land and its diverse peoples—whose gods are also living hills and streams but who often face shades of discrimination from the…
in Article
Philosophy
Sufism is often described as a path—a path which is both the origin of the journey as well as the intended destination. Completing this voyage (from being with God before birth, with the illusory separation in-between—to being with God again after death, when one reunites with the…
in Article
A. Mangai is the pseudonym of Dr. V. Padma. She taught English in Stella Maris College, Chennai. She has been actively engaged in Tamil theatre as an actor, director and playwright for almost three decades. She hopes that her academic, activist and artistic selves can find a vibrant intersection…
in Interview
Sundara Ramaswamy was born in 1931 in Nagercoil, then part of the princely state of Travancore. He grew up in Kottayam and, later, central Travancore until the age of eight, when his family moved to Nagercoil in 1939 just as the news of the World War II was breaking out. Sundara Ramaswamy spent the…
in Overview
Kavitha Muralidharan (KM): This conversation will focus on the poetry of Sundara Ramaswamy. What are your opinions about his poems and when did you first come across Sundara Ramaswamy, the poet?
Salma (S): Actually, my opinions about poetry were different when I was around 14 or 15 years old. Being…
in Interview