Zabaan-e-aam

Shiv Kumar Batalvi's poems are timeless. In this episode, our guest, Charandeep Singh sings Shiv Kumar Batalvi's poem Sikhar Dupher. In this poem, the poet discusses the inevitability of death. All the stanzas end with 'Kabraan udeek diyan mainu, jivein putraan nu maavaan'. In the last stanza, the poet enters an existential crisis, questioning his identity as a poet. Tune in to lis...

Today's podcast is very different from what I have shared here before. The story today is a walk-along journey towards creativity, flow, and emotional depth. It will help you unwind your day and reflect upon your beliefs and the various facets of your life. Our guest for today is Sonya Kassam. She lives in Nairobi, Kenya, where she runs an online health shop and enjoys writing, music, meditation,...

Zabaan-e-aam brings you Alif Sifar's poem on May Day in Urdu. This poem presents the state of labourers who work hard through the day in the scorching heat. This is our second May Day episode this year, but after reading this poem, I really wanted it to be shared on our podcast. Thanks a lot to the poet Alif Sifar. Alif Sifar, as he likes to call himself, is an amateur poet, loves urdu like his se...

In this episode, Zabaan-e-aam brings you a Sindhi poem on love and surrender. The poet talks about surrendering ourselves in love and how even if one turns into ashes, the lover can mould him into a statue of their liking. Poet: Aadarsh Ayaz https://www.instagram.com/aadarsh_ayaz?igsh=dHkxZWhvc2FsbnFl Background music by MusicForPeople from Pixabay Please feel free to leave your comments. You can...

Zabaan-e-aam is back with a new episode. Our first in 2026. :) This year's May Day episode is by our young comrade Ashwani, who has shared his observations in the form of poetry. The poem looks at how the city invisibilizes labour. As we go about our busy lives, the workers and labourers who complete the circle of the economy get replaced and some of us hardly notice the difference. It is importan...

A lot has happened in India and globally in the past two months and I had stopped reading and working on my podcast till I opened the book The Veiled Suite , a collection of poems by Agha Shahid Ali. It brought me to tears reading about the passing away of Begum Akhtar and another poem on the atrocities we never see which happen in Kashmir. I read the 2 poems in this podcast titled ' I see Kashmir...

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 1 of the Zabaan-e-aam podcast! Starting our new season on May Day! :) Thank you, Sahil , for sharing nazms from Majaz and Kaifi Azmi on this important day. Our Guest: Sahil Kazmi A little bit about him: Sahil recently completed his M.A. in Gender Studies from Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women's Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. Currently, he is involved in Research work rel...

Welcome to the 20th episode of Season 2 of the Zabaan-e-aam podcast. Today I have a story that I have written in Punjabi about the displacement of people in Gaza.   Please share your feedback in the comments. Thank you!   If you would like to support our podcast, please click on the link below: Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/zabaaneaam ⁠ Instamojo: https://knotty1.myinstamojo.com/...

Zabaan-e-aam presents a story about love and heartbreak and walks you through the lanes of Hyderabad. Listen to Purnima Tammireddy 's story 'Emotional Pregnancy' in this episode. In the story, she turns an ordinary tale of one-sided love and friendzoning into a deeper meditation of unfulfilled emotional needs and their weird manifestations.   In this short story, the writer explores love, heartbre...

Welcome to the 5th episode of the Gaza series on the Zabaan-e-aam podcast. Today I have a poem I translated on Gaza. It is a Diary Entry. I am translating poems and diary entries from the latest edition of the Arablit Quarterly. The details on Arablit are in the description. You can purchase a copy from here . This poem is written by Hind Joudah on 25th Feb 2024. Hind Joudah is a poet from Al-Brei...

sub.h-o-shām filistīñ meñ ḳhuuñ bahtā hai sāya-e-marg meñ kab se insāñ rahtā hai band karo ye bāvardī ġhunda-gardī baat ye ab to ek zamāna kahtā hai ~ Habib Jalib's ( uTTho marne ka haq istimal karo) From < https://www.rekhta.org/nazms/uttho-marne-kaa-haq-istimaal-karo-jiine-kaa-haq-saamraaj-ne-chhiin-liyaa-habib-jalib-nazms > Welcome to the 4th episode of the Gaza series on the Zabaan-e-aam...

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 16 of the Zabaan-e-aam. Today's guest is Dr. Sree Devi from Kerala who teaches in a college in Bangalore and she has translated a poem written by Rasliya M.S. published in the 2022 on International Women's day! Today's poem is titled as 'She-depths' in English and it explores gender identities and the loss of feminine agency in the Malayalam context. The poem employs m...

Welcome to a new episode of the Zabaan-e-aam. This is the 3rd episode of the Gaza series and a translation from the latest episode of the Arablit Quarterly Magazine which has diary entries from Gaza. If you want to read more diary entries from Gaza, you can purchase this edition from here: https://arablit.gumroad.com/ The modern-day tragedy of the world is that human beings created weapons to save...

जो मेरे घर कभी नहीं आएँगे मैं उनसे मिलने उनके पास चला जाऊँगा। एक उफनती नदी कभी नहीं आएगी मेरे घर नदी जैसे लोगों से मिलने नदी किनारे जाऊँगा कुछ तैरूँगा और डूब जाऊँगा From: https://www.hindwi.org/kavita/jo-mere-ghar-kabhi-nahin-ayenge-vinod-kumar-shukla-kavita?sort=popularity-desc Welcome to a new episode of the Zabaan-e-aam Podcast. Vinod Kumar Shukl was born in 1937 in Chhattisgarh. He is known fo...

Welcome to Season 2, episode 13 of the Zabaan-e-aam podcast. In this episode, I am sharing a poem I have translated into Punjabi from the Arablit Quarterly magazine. In the latest edition of the Arablit Quarterly, various diary entries from Gaza have been published. In the last episode I translated a diary entry by Besan Nateel. This time I have picked a poem written by Basman Aldirawi. It talks a...

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 12 of Zabaan-e-aam podcast. We are back with another episode on Gaza as promised. I am very very thankful to Layla Azmi Goushey and Marcia who shared the Arab Lit Quarterly's recent Gaza edition with me. Arablit Quarterly is a magazine of Arabic Literature in translation. This edition has diary entries from writers from Gaza who are documenting their lives living under...

May Day special Podcast Niwala by Ali Sardar Jafri Sadak ban rahi hai by Salam Machhli Shahri ~ Poems read by Mahtab Alam ~ May Day Mahtab Alam is a Delhi based multilingual journalist, researcher and podcaster on politics, law, media, literature and human rights. He was the founding executive editor of The Wire Urdu. Mahtab is also a guest podcaster with SunoIndia.in and the founder of Radio Urdu...

Hello, aadaab, satsriakal and namaskaar. Welcome to the 10th episode of Season 2 of the Zabaan-e-aam podcast. Assan taan joban rutte marna Murr jana assan bhare bharaye In the season of youth I shall die… pass on shall I in full bloom Hijr tere di kar pakarma Assan taan joban rutte marna Having circum-navigated this world of yours… pass on shall I in the prime-of-my-youth. Joban rutte jo vi marda...

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 9 of the Zabaan-e-aam podcast. Dr. Jagtar Singh (1935-2010) was a writer, critic, translator and lecturer. He was a Punjabi poet who wrote 32 books. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1995 for his book “Jugnu Deeva te Dariya” the only Punjabi book of ghazals to be awarded so far. This information is from Ludhiana Times 2002. He has translated Pakistani’s author Abdull...

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 8 of the Zabaan-e-aam. Today's guest is Dr. Sree Devi from Kerala who teaches in a college in Bangalore and her poem 'A Reverie' is based on her experiences of growing up in Kerala. The poem is heart touching and the best part according to me is that it's recited so passionately. This 8-minute podcast will transport you to the lush green landscape of Kerala. More about...

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 7 of the Zabaan-e-aam. It's almost summers in Delhi and the temperatures are rising. While the mercury's rising, you can chill and relax as we take you along a nostalgia lane to childhood of the 1990s kids (and the earlier generation too). In this podcast I have shared Akhil Katyal's poems on power cuts, visiting the lover's neighborhood, Forgiveness and History. Akhil...

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 6 of the Zabaan-e-aam. It's the month of love and we are here with a love poem on Valentine's Day. Poetry is the best way to express your love. Share this poem with people you love - your friends, family and followers. Dr. Pallavi has written Teevr Anubhuti in Hindi and translated it into English. Listen to both on our podcast. If you translate, Dr. Pallavi has also sh...

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 5 of the Zabaan-e-aam. Presenting a poem in Bengali on our podcast by S. Rupsha Mitra, who is reciting her poem 'Portrait of Woman' in Bengali and English. Rupsha's website: www.srupshapoetry.com Zabaan-e-aam You can read this poem here: https://zabaaneaam.wordpress.com/ ⁠If you would like to support our podcast, please click on the links below: Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https...

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 4 of Zabaan-e-aam. I have translated some diary entries from Atef Abu Saif's book The Drone Eats with Me. The book records the 2014 bombing of Gaza. The bits I have translated talk about Ramzan and a usual day in Gaza while it is bombing outside. If you would like to support our podcast, please click on the links below: Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/za...

Welcome to a new episode of Zabaan-e-aam! Today we have Raghunath J along with us who will be sharing a poem in Telugu by Kalekuri Prasad with us. He has also translated the poem into English. He will be reading the English translation after the original Telugu poem. Through out history, many artists have fought back oppression through their art. Today we will learn about such an artist who weaved...