Pankaj Udhas’ melancholic voice resonated with the grief-filled hearts of many North Indians. With a drink and chakhna in hand, or at a Mughlai food restaurant, his ghazals provided comfort and solace.
According to Akhtar, Urdu poetry has had its own place in all the political movements of India. And even till 1960, very good Urdu poetry would be written and read.
The narrator of the mehfil highlighted how Urdu, disdainfully labelled rekhta or "assorted dialect", clashed with the refined Persian monopolisation of poetry.
Javed Akhtar wove the story of the twin languages’ separation into a romantic, absurdist narrative at a standing-room-only talk at Delhi’s India International Centre.
Today, Urdu literacy is lowest among the Ashraaf and highest among the lower classes who are educated in madrasas. But it’s the Ashraafs who claim to live the ‘Urdu culture’.
Hyderabad-based Maulana Azad National Urdu University, set up in 1998, is trying to counter the perception that it has limited options for students, many of whom are madrasa pass-outs.
The first-ever Urdu translation of Samaveda has been done by Iqbal Durrani. The event was held at Red Fort ground Friday and was attended by members of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities.
College theatre society, which is said to have been named ‘Ilhaam (revelation)', was allegedly renamed ‘Aarambh (beginning)' Monday, following a 'diktat' from principal.
Matters of defence and foreign policy are important, but the new government must address widespread discontent in the country. This begins with investing in the rural sector.
Bibek Debroy, chairman of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, also suggested that analysing inequality at the state level might provide a clearer picture of inequality, as a national estimate could be misleading.
Pictures had emerged of Chinese soldiers carrying rifles and iron rods with machete-like heads in the vicinity of India’s forward locations on the southern bank of Pangong Tso in 2020.
Occasional lovers’ tiffs have marked history of RSS-BJP relations. To think that Nagpur will bring about any change in leadership is a misreading of both its intent and its power.
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