In search of Mirza Ghalib

 

 

 

 

“ Hazaaron khwaishein aisi, ki har khwaish pe dam nikle”, ( one has a thousand dreams, but each one more difficult to achieve) thus went the famous couplet by Mirza Ghalib. Sure enough, the immortal poet of Purani Dilli lived in his verses; an incomprehensible genius afflicted by terrible life tragedies (including the death of his seven children), yet blessed with the gift of the word. Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan Ghalib( 1797-1869) was the preeminent Urdu and Persian poet of the Mughal era, a prolific writer who ghazals are popular not only in India and Pakistan, but in many places the world over where the diaspora resides.

Ghalib, born in Agra, spent most of his adult life in Purani Dilli, with one sojourn to Calcutta in between. He was steeply immersed in the great historical events of his time, including the Great Mutiny of 1857…