Video documentation by Aseem ASHA Foundation, Flying Birds of India group & Community Media Initiative.
Mir Taqi Mir (1723-1810) whose real name was Muhammad Taqi is better known by his nom de plume or takhallus Mir. He was the leading Urdu poet of the 18th century, and one of the architects of Urdu zubaan and arguably one of the foremost poets of the Delhi School of Urdu poetry.
He was born in Agra (then called Akbarabad) but lived most of his life in Kucha Chelan in Mughal Delhi. After the sack of Delhi repeatedly after 1748 by Ahmed Shah Abdali, he eventually moved to the court of Asaf-ud-Daulah in Lucknow .
His complete works, Kulliaat, consist of six Diwans containing 13,585 couplets, comprising all kinds of poetic forms: ghazal, masnavi, qasida, rubai, mustezaad, and satire. Mir's literary reputation is anchored on his ghazals on the themes of love.
Dikhaai diye yun ke bekhud kiya
Hamen aap se bhi juda kar chale''
(She appeared in such a way that I lost myself
And went by taking away my 'self' with her)
Looked as if rendered me unconscious
away went leaving me separated from me
Zehra Nigah is a much loved and highly respected poet in Pakistan. In India she is an eagerly awaited figure on the mushaira circuit, especially the annual Indo-Pak mushaira hosted by the DCM family. Her poetry is about the compulsions and compromises of being a woman and a poet. Amidst friends and family, she is equally well known as a raconteur par excellence and a qissa-go. She talks as she writes: with grace and poise and wry humour.
Refusing to be categorised by the labels of a writer of feminine poetry or a feminist poet, she speaks in a woman's tongue, using feminine imagery and idiom to make powerful social and political comments.