Mirza Ghalib - who is to Urdu literature what Shakespeare is to English - whose poetry has continued to find admirers even a century and a half later when he is no more.

Born in 1797 in Agra, Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib moved to Delhi wherein the court of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, his talents found new heights. These heights of his literary brilliance often prod you on a deeper level and make you wonder.

‘Did Ghalib ever write about politics?’, ‘how can his poems be interpreted as literature about God?’ Most importantly, ‘did he - the baadah-khwaar or the wine drinker - ever believe in God?’

All these questions won't be tossed away unanswered in this very special podcast- a masterclass featuring author Maaz Bin Bilal. Maaz who took upon himself to translate some of Ghalib’s ghazals in his book Ghazalnama - Poems from Delhi, Belfast and Urdu, decodes Ghalib’s ‘Ye na thi humari qismat ...’

Guest: Maaz Bin Bilal
Host, Writer and Sound Designer: Fabeha Syed
Editor: Shelly Walia
Music: Big Bang Fuzz