If it wasn’t for Ghalib, I wouldn’t be a poet: Gulzar
December 29th, 2009 - 3:42 pm ICT by IANS ( Leave a comment )By Subhash K. Jha
Mumbai, Dec 29 (IANS) Remember the television serial on Mirza Ghalib that Gulzar made in 1988? Twenty years later the Urdu poet remains as strongly imprinted on the mind of the veteran Bollywood lyricist as ever.
Proof of it lies in the fact that on the occasion of Ghalib’s 200th birthday Sunday Gulzar participated in the annual candlelight march in honour of the peerless poet in Delhi.
“It’s an annual ritual started by Pavan Kumar Varma who has researched intensely on Ghalib. Every year on Ghalib’s birthday we Ghalib followers march with candles from the Town Hall in Delhi to Ghalib miyan’s home at Gali Qasim Jaan,” Gulzar told IANS.
“Remembering Mirza Ghalib on his birth anniversary is the least we can do. Do you know his house had been converted into a coal depot until Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji stepped in to rescue the monument from doom. Now Ghalib’s home is a museum and a shrine which we visit every time on his birth anniversary. If it wasn’t for Ghalib, I wouldn’t be a poet,” he added.
- Ghalib's bust installed at Chandni Chowk haveli - Dec 26, 2010
- Campaign to resurrect Mirza Ghalib's legacy gathers momentum - Dec 24, 2010
- Permanent Ghalib showcase opened on poet's birth anniversary - Dec 27, 2011
- Forgetting Ghalib is forgetting history, says writer-diplomat - Dec 25, 2010
- Poet Ghalib to be remembered at unique two-day event - Dec 26, 2009
- Lukewarm response to renovated Ghalib's haveli - Dec 29, 2011
- Has Mirza Ghalib's birthplace forgotten its most famous son? - Dec 27, 2011
- A dialogue between Hinduism and Buddhism through fiction - Jan 13, 2012
- From palaces to people: Urdu mushaira reaches out - Jan 01, 2012
- Ghalib who? Agra forgets its cultural past (Dec 27 is Mirza Ghalib's 213th birthday) - Dec 26, 2010
- Agra erupts with secular festivities on Basant Panchami - Feb 08, 2011
- Ghalib still waiting for an 'ashiana' in Agra - Dec 27, 2009
- On death anniversary, Ghalib's haveli languishes in squalor - Feb 15, 2011
- Gulzar to translate Tagore poetry in Hindi for 'Nauka Dubi' - Nov 25, 2010
- For Ghalib, birthday would mean lavish meal with friends (With image) - Dec 28, 2008
Tags: birth anniversary, candlelight march, candles, coal, doom, followers, ghalib, gulzar, honour, lyricist, mumbai, qasim, subhash k jha, television, town hall, twenty years, urdu poet
