A sampling of unforgettable sher to carry with you.
A gentle first walk through Ghalib's most approachable couplets — start here.
Iqbal's most stirring verse — self, striving, and the restless spirit.
Verses where love of the beloved becomes love of the divine.
The singing romance of Jigar Moradabadi — mushaira at its most beloved.
Umeed — the small, stubborn light that returns with every dawn.
Contemporary verse written for Meeras — the city, exile, the screen-lit night.
Twenty couplets to carry with you — the heart of Ghalib's divan in one sitting.
The god of poetry in twenty couplets — Mir at his most piercing and plain.
Twenty couplets of selfhood and fire — Iqbal urging the soul to rise.
Twenty couplets of wit and flirtation — the easy charm that made Daagh beloved.
The twenty couplets Urdu poetry keeps returning to when it speaks of love.
Twenty couplets of ache and endurance — dard distilled.
Twenty couplets on living — zindagi weighed, wagered and wondered at.
Twenty couplets for the moon — chaand in every mood.
The long ache of judaai, across four centuries of voices.
The tender melancholy of Mir Taqi Mir — the god of Urdu poetry.
Wine, the saaqi and the tavern — where intoxication turns to insight.
Maps of the heart — its cities, ruins and quiet rooms.
The sleepless hours, the moon, and the city that will not rest.