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Diwan-e-Ghalib by Kuldip Salil
Ghalib is the greatest Urdu poet and one of the greatest in any Indian language He would rank perhaps among the great poets of the world With Meer Ghalib Iqbal and Faiz to name only four the firmament of Urdu poetry is truly star studded with numerous starlets strewn around Ghalib has not only a pride of place among them his stature is growing with every passing decade In fact it is well nigh impossible to do full justice to his poetry particularly the ghazal in translation The best that could be done was to translate the verses into independent rhymed couplets This is a selection of the best and most popular Ghazals from Diwan e Ghalib For the convenience of readers original Ghazals have been given in Hindi as well as in Roman script Meanings of difficult Urdu words have also been give in footnotes
- GenresPoetry
Hardcover
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 5, 2015
"Hui muddat ke 'Ghalib' mar gaya, par yaad aata hai..
Woh har aik baat pe kehhna ke yoon hota to kya hota.."
A modern poet, often considered to be the greatest one in Urdu, Ghalib's poetry is timeless, ethereal and a joy to keep reading over and over again. His work is characterized by doubt, scepticism, irony, satire, suggestiveness and understatement coupled with a rational, scientific and secular attitude. There are several meanings possible of his metaphorically transcendent & aesthetically pleasant style and so different people would interpret it in different ways suiting to their own life situation. A bliss nonetheless, to be reading his poetry at any time of the year.
Before I took this book, I had only read excerpts of his work through online memes and majorly through the ghazals sung by Jagjit Singh, Rafi, Abida, K.L. Saigal, Hariharan etc. All of that only pushing me to read more of Ghalib soon as I could. And so I ordered this one by Kuldip Salil, who has also translated the works of Iqbal, Faiz, Faraaz & Meer among others. He does a fair justice to the translation from Urdu to English. But I'd say that to best experience Ghalib's poetry you have to learn Urdu and read it in its original form over the translation which looses some of its essence, as ever is the case.
Kuldip Salil also manages to give a detailed account of Ghalib's life and the phases he went through as a poet, as a human and of the way he saw the world, covered in the introduction part of the book. And that makes up for understanding and appreciating Ghalib in a better way.
A book that must be on your bookshelf if you love poetry, especially the Ghazal and Shayari form.
Woh har aik baat pe kehhna ke yoon hota to kya hota.."
A modern poet, often considered to be the greatest one in Urdu, Ghalib's poetry is timeless, ethereal and a joy to keep reading over and over again. His work is characterized by doubt, scepticism, irony, satire, suggestiveness and understatement coupled with a rational, scientific and secular attitude. There are several meanings possible of his metaphorically transcendent & aesthetically pleasant style and so different people would interpret it in different ways suiting to their own life situation. A bliss nonetheless, to be reading his poetry at any time of the year.
Before I took this book, I had only read excerpts of his work through online memes and majorly through the ghazals sung by Jagjit Singh, Rafi, Abida, K.L. Saigal, Hariharan etc. All of that only pushing me to read more of Ghalib soon as I could. And so I ordered this one by Kuldip Salil, who has also translated the works of Iqbal, Faiz, Faraaz & Meer among others. He does a fair justice to the translation from Urdu to English. But I'd say that to best experience Ghalib's poetry you have to learn Urdu and read it in its original form over the translation which looses some of its essence, as ever is the case.
Kuldip Salil also manages to give a detailed account of Ghalib's life and the phases he went through as a poet, as a human and of the way he saw the world, covered in the introduction part of the book. And that makes up for understanding and appreciating Ghalib in a better way.
A book that must be on your bookshelf if you love poetry, especially the Ghazal and Shayari form.
June 28, 2020
Title: Diwan-i-Ghalib
Author: Renditions by Kuldip Salil(Rajpal Prakashan)
Genre: Poetry
Rating: Ghalib cant be rated
Being in Delhi has an added advantage when it comes to attending Jashn-e-Rekhta, for the uninitiated JeR is an annual event celebrating great poets & storytellers(Afsana Nigar as they are called in Urdu, I like that word) of Urdu and Hindustani languages. This event started in Delhi but now Bangalore also hosts it annually. As they say, it’s the experience that matters but to cement that experience I get books in such events to commemorate that years’ visit. In JeR you can find the best of Hindustani books by stellar publishing houses like Rajpal Prakashan etc. So this book was a purchase of last year’s JeR. Kuldip Salil’s rendition of the infallible writings of Ghalib in the collection called Diwan-i-Ghalib is simply superb. Each couplet or poem is available in the original text is available in Devnagri with translation to English along with English text of original devnagri. Now, translation is a tricky business and the author does a pretty good job at that. As they say, a ghazal or Nazm is read twice, once you read it and once you understand it. Understanding Ghalib has been the biggest challenge for any Urdu poetry lover because according to the reader’s mood the understanding changes. Many great Sher is better understood when you have read its English translation as well. If anyone wants to read Ghalib, then this book is the go-to one. There are many favorites of Ghalib but this is the one I like the most{citing the infinite musing’s of Ghalib’s mind}
Hui Muddat K ‘Ghalib’ Mar Gaya Par Yaad Aata Hai
Wo Har Ik Baat Par Kahna k Yun Hota Tou Kya Hota
हुई मुद्दत कि ‘ग़ालिब’ मर गया पर याद आता है, वो हर इक बात पर कहना कि यूँ होता तो क्या होता
Author: Renditions by Kuldip Salil(Rajpal Prakashan)
Genre: Poetry
Rating: Ghalib cant be rated
Being in Delhi has an added advantage when it comes to attending Jashn-e-Rekhta, for the uninitiated JeR is an annual event celebrating great poets & storytellers(Afsana Nigar as they are called in Urdu, I like that word) of Urdu and Hindustani languages. This event started in Delhi but now Bangalore also hosts it annually. As they say, it’s the experience that matters but to cement that experience I get books in such events to commemorate that years’ visit. In JeR you can find the best of Hindustani books by stellar publishing houses like Rajpal Prakashan etc. So this book was a purchase of last year’s JeR. Kuldip Salil’s rendition of the infallible writings of Ghalib in the collection called Diwan-i-Ghalib is simply superb. Each couplet or poem is available in the original text is available in Devnagri with translation to English along with English text of original devnagri. Now, translation is a tricky business and the author does a pretty good job at that. As they say, a ghazal or Nazm is read twice, once you read it and once you understand it. Understanding Ghalib has been the biggest challenge for any Urdu poetry lover because according to the reader’s mood the understanding changes. Many great Sher is better understood when you have read its English translation as well. If anyone wants to read Ghalib, then this book is the go-to one. There are many favorites of Ghalib but this is the one I like the most{citing the infinite musing’s of Ghalib’s mind}
Hui Muddat K ‘Ghalib’ Mar Gaya Par Yaad Aata Hai
Wo Har Ik Baat Par Kahna k Yun Hota Tou Kya Hota
हुई मुद्दत कि ‘ग़ालिब’ मर गया पर याद आता है, वो हर इक बात पर कहना कि यूँ होता तो क्या होता
June 14, 2017
Great Shayyari... Passionate ghazals....
May 19, 2025
Diwan-e-Ghalib is not just a book—it is an ocean of feelings. Anyone who loves poetry, Urdu language, or deep thinking should read it.
August 22, 2025
“The candle burns in any case, til dawn arrives”
“Do good and you’ll have good too”
“Do good and you’ll have good too”
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January 21, 2018It's hard to talk about Urdu poetry without mentioning Mirza Ghalib. For anyone like me who has a soft corner for Urdu (even though I can't read and write the Urdu manuscript) and poetry, will fall in love with this book- Diwan-e-Ghalib. The book has a long introduction which reveals a lot of "little known" facts about Mirza Ghalib. After the introduction, two pages are dedicated for every masterpiece of Ghalib's ghazals- with the piece being written in Hindi, phonetically in English and translated into English. You can conveniently read this book even if you can't read Hindi. It's always hard to capture the emotions and feelings of any poetry when it's translated in a different language, but there isn't much to complain about the translation in this book. Of course, if you can read Hindi and understand the dense Urdu words, you might not like the translation as much as actual pieces. From love to hurt, introspection to self-questioning, the ghazals strike almost all the chords of reader's hard. If you are a person who feels deeply, you might relate with Ghalib to a level that you want to highlight some lines and come back to them later. Don't be surprised if you feel like you belonged to the Ghalib's era and are accidentally thrown in here. On a whole, if one wants to dig into the pool of Urdu poetry and indulge in deep thinking and allow your heart question your mind or vice verse, this book is a must-read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews