Urdunama

Legendary Pakistani singer Nayyara Noor passed away on 20 August in Karachi. She'll be remembered for her genteel nature and her simplicity that made her stand apart from her peers. As her fans across the globe mourn this huge loss, we take a look at her journey from Guwahati to Karachi, and how she became the voice for some of Faiz's iconic nazms. Tune in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

Lord Krishna's Bhakti surpasses geographical, social, and religious realms. While almost all languages in India have their own odes to Lord Krishna, perhaps such Urdu literature is lesser known. This Janmashtami, we look at how one can find the gems of Krishna Bhakti written by some of the prominent Urdu poets such as Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Nazeer Akbarabadi, and Hafeez Jalandhari. Tune in! Learn...

To understand the idea of secularism, going back to books is often considered a better way. Yet, those who love poetry swear by some of the gems written in Urdu and revere them as antidotes to hatred or any socio-cultural chaos.   So, to prove the point that poetry can cure most ills, we turn to poets like Mir Taqi Mir and Mirza Ghalib in this special episode of Urdunama with Fabeha Syed. Tune in...

From detecting evidence of clouds on a planet for the first time to being able to see Jupiter with its moon in a 'new light', the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is hailed as the most powerful space science telescope ever built. This will enable the scientists to study even the distant galaxies with the help of not only the images but also the detailed data. The telescope is engineered for...

Bhupinder Singh, the man with a velvet voice that could tend to a broken heart or reassure an anxious mind, passed away on 18 July 2022. Apart from being a celebrated singer, he was also a talented guitarist. From Madan Mohan to RD Burman, his beautiful partnerships gave the music industry some gems that it would continue to cherish for years to come. But if it wasn't for Pancham, we would not hav...

Naqaab, meaning a veil or parda, has often been the source of poets' anxieties and ecstasies, both. Why? Because behind that veil is their lover who is so beautiful that the idea of witnessing the beauty is overwhelming and that is what makes them write about the mystery that hides behind the naqaab. In this episode, Fabeha Syed reads some of the ashaar by poets like Chakbast Brij Narayan, Shakeel...

As understood by this famous quote by Lord Byron, "wives in their husbands' absences grow subtler, and daughters sometimes run off with the butler", any form of disloyalty, or bewafai comes from absence. Urdu poet Ahmad Faraz also once wrote that because the separation was intense, the poet had to resort to doing the act of disloyalty, probably for the first time. Is qadar musalsal thin shiddatein...

'Baarish' is a Persian word that means rain, downpour, or something that is in abundance. It symbolises many different things, depending on the context. It could be a union, longing, suffering, or just life in general. It is in the way that 'barsaat' affects us that we decide what it means to us. Poets also have their own interpretations of 'baarish'. In other words, rain fuels an artist's creativ...

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." “The only good human being is a dead one." "Man serves the interests of no creature except himself." “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." These are some of the lines of British essayist, journalist, and novelist George Orwell's famous satirical novella Animal Farm....

Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night begins with Duke Orsino saying, "If music be the food of love, play on." It's perhaps a famous reminder of how important music is in our lives – be it to express love, to deal with a painful heartbreak, living in a moment of euphoria, or even protesting against oppression – music helps in communicating every emotion in any language. On this World Music Day, we list...

'Masoomiyat' means innocence, and the word has often been associated with something pure and free of blemishes. Sometimes, poets have described their lovers as 'masoom' to praise the beauty of their childlike innocence, while at other times, the word has been used to refer to a lost childhood. On the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour, we chose the theme of innocence to remind ourselves th...

Indian playback singer Krishnakumar Kunnath's passing has left his fans across the globe with a deep sense of loss. The musician, whose soundtracks encapsulate the very essence of our college lives, died of a heart attack hours after he delivered his final performance in Kolkata. KK, who started his career as a sales executive, has over 3,000 jingles to his credit. The first taste of success for h...

Taj Mahal, a symbol of love, is recognised worldwide and is marvelled at for its architectural genius. This 17th-century heritage building reminds us of a love that prompted a Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, to build a mausoleum for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who had died in childbirth. This architectural expression of love, Taj Mahal, has also been the subject of a perennial debate that it was built on...

A heat wave is sweeping through northern parts of India as the temperatures are hitting news records almost every other day.  This summer season is testing us and the scorching heat has sent most of us in a frenzy. In the true spirit of the old adage "necessity is the mother of all invention", a lot of us have also devised innovative ways to keep ourselves cool. But in poetry, sultriness is but a...

Pakistani singers Ali Sethi and Shae Gill's song Pasoori has spread like wildfire. This is the song that is said to have united music fans across India and Pakistan who simply can't stop humming or grooving to it. But what does pasoori mean? It is a Punjabi word that means a dilemma or a conflict that makes us go back and forth on a decision or action. It refers to a situation in which we find our...

It's been two years since the passing away of actor Irrfan Khan, and we can't help but wonder how names have an impact on what a person becomes. Irfaan means knowledge, wisdom. It's the power and wisdom that Irrfan exuded in all of his performances that made him a legend. So, in this episode of Urdunama we celebrate the man Irrfan for his irfaan, and the power he exerted on his craft.  Tune in as...

Ikhtilaaf meaning conflicts or disagreements, are unavoidable in a heterogenous environment. One can say that sometimes disagreements might even be healthy and necessary for a synthetized view of the world. But there are also times when ikhtilaaf can deteriorate harmony. At such moments, a sense of ittifaq which means unity or concurrence, can help overcome the differences between people. Both ikh...

Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor's wedding festivities have set off a frenzy in Bollywood. As fans across the country follow the news of this marital union of two of India's celebrated stars, we found it only apt to give some thought to the word 'shaadi' or marriage, which finds its roots in the Persian word 'shaad', which means happiness and joy. There is a lot that has been expressed in the shaad as...

Navratri and Ramzan both come with a set of rules of dos and don'ts. Sure, it's time for fasting and self-cleansing but it's not just about what we eat or when we eat rather, it's a life altering phenomenon that focuses on discipline. As Greek philosopher Plato is believed to have said, "Abstinence is the surety of temperance", it is 'Parhez' or abstinence that trains us to patiently endure. In th...

Oscars 2022 made history with its many firsts – three female hosts for the first time, an actor with hearing impairment bagged the Best Actor Oscar for the first time, first openly queer actor of colour won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Yet, it is the Will Smith-Chris Rock 'slapgate' from the Oscars that overshadowed all of this. It is often advised that one shouldn't take any extreme deci...

Holi is a social festival which has been written a lot about in Urdu poetry from the spectrum of India's ganga-jamuni tehzeeb. Although there are many poets who have expressed their love for the festival, Wali Muhammad, who wrote using nom de plume, 'Nazeer', wrote almost a dozen nazms on Holi. In this episode we not only look at some of Nazeer Akbarabaadi's works, we also read Azhar Iqbal, Bharte...

Tune in as we explore how it is only us who can write the destiny that we want.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we look at some of the poetry written to celebrate womanhood. Tune in.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we look at some of the warnings against war in Urdu poetry.  Tune in as The Quint's Fabeha Syed reads Sahir Ludhianvi's iconic poem, 'Parchaiyyan'. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Urdunama, we celebrate the very foundation of love - attachment, or 'uns'. Tune in and immerse yourself in unsiyat this Valentine's week.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices