September 6, 2018. A historic day for queer Indians and their allies. The Supreme Court decriminalises homosexuality. My friends and I celebrate by getting a cake with Azadi piped on it in white icing ...

Join our Whatsapp channel Urdu — once called ‘Lashkari’, a mixture of all the spoken languages of north India — emerged as the region’s lingua franca during the period of Muslim rule in the ...

There is perhaps no one in our country at least, who has not at one time or another in his or her life, been influenced by the beauty and softness of a “ghazal”. Reading a ghazal is one thing and ...

Shadab Zeest Hashmi’s Ghazal Cosmopolitan is, in her own words, “part love letter to Urdu… and part manual for the craft of ghazal.” Writing in English, the author feels that the ghazal has the ...

Who are we, if not the product of our thoughts, emotions and desires? Who doesn’t wish to fall in love and witness the restlessness of the eyes frantically searching for the one?’ If you enjoy such ...

The term homosexual was coined in 19 th century Europe but its categorisation for the people in the Indian subcontinent had existed long before. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) ...

Mellifluous Mohammed Rafi once sang -‘Divaso judai na jay chhe ae jasey jaroor milan sudhi.’ Few know that these lyrics were penned by a Surti ghazalkaar- Abdul Gani Dahiwala. The Persian form of ...

Anisur Rahman, currently senior advisor to the Rekhta Foundation, and formerly professor and head of English at Jamia Millia Islamia University, is the author of numerous books and essays on ...

For the millennials, a Jagjit Singh playlist will begin with “Koi Fariyaad” from Tum Bin. And for a generation before that, it can be “Tum Itna Jo” from Arth. The two movies might be over two decades ...

Indian writer, singer and poet Minu Bakshi, whose first language is Hindi and not Urdu, launched her Urdu poetry book titled, Tishnagi or The Thirst, in London at the Nehru Centre earlier this week.

Who are we, if not the product of our thoughts, emotions and desires? Who doesn’t wish to fall in love and witness the restlessness of the eyes frantically searching for the one?’ If you enjoy such ...