"Breaking the Glass Ceiling: How Women Are Finding Their Voice in a 'Lost in Translation' World"

  "All people are not poets, but all poets have a love affair with life. If poetry is a love affair with life, which it is, then the poets must have a beloved..." In some cases, poets have had more than one beloved. This made them and their poetry amazingly curious and curiously amazing. To think of love and life is to think of Ghalib the lover and Ghalib the beloved. A glimpse……… The courtesans of Awadh, also known as tawaif or nautch-girls, were famed for their beauty and talent. The word can be taken to mean a prostitute, but the women involved were much more than that. As eminent historian Veena Talwar Oldenberg writes in Places of Performance: The Mughal Court and the Culture of a Northern Indian City 1550-1750 (1997), "Nearly all the women are known by their first names, indicating that they were not anonymous commodities but had individual personalities." The celebrated poet Ghalib was said to have composed many of his verses on the most beautiful amo...

Have you ever felt so lost in life that you just stopped in your tracks and let the world go by? That's how I felt when I first heard "Chalte Chalte Yun Hi Koi Mil Gaya Tha." It's a song about finding yourself, and it spoke to me in a way no other song ever has. So, if you have not heard this song yet, listen to it before the world collapses. It is never too late!   Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah is something about telling the story of a woman whose whole life was wrapped up in performing, it only works if the film itself is the whole life of the woman who is starring in it? Pakeezah was Meena Kumari’s whole life, for years. Meena is not your average Tawaif. When love comes to her, she does not rush out of her safe life into the unknown. She stays and waits. Most of the plot is about the essence of intezaar.   Even when Rajkummar attempts to marry her, she resists. On my first watch, I was irritated by her for running away simply because he was concerned about the sh...

" Ras ke bhare tore nain saanwariya Ras ke bhare tore nain......" (Your eyes are full of sweet syrup,  O beloved, Your eyes are full of sweetness) So, if you have not heard this song yet, "Now" is the time! Sung by the prominent  Gauhar Jaan- India's first pop-star. All the more reason to listen to this song. She was trained in Classical Hindustani vocals, kathak and composed ghazals under the pen-name "Hamdam" and mastered "Rabindra Sangeet" before turning 15! Sounds cool, Right? She made a huge fanbase and started travelling for her shows. So, 'It is pre-independence India and Indians are prohibited from riding in buggies but Jaan defies this rule and opts to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- a day, as an act of resistance.'  - This was also a sense of individualism associated with the idea of liberty.  Jaan shot to fame in 1903, after 78 rpm records were manufactured and distributed in India. She was especially known for condensing elaborat...

" Ghoor ghoor barasat meharava, bijuriya chamaki anek baar  (The lightning flashed many times and the rains poured from the sky)." The melody still echoes the journey of a Tawaif  who has always been disgraced by many indecent adjectives in our society. The first word which comes in our mind by hearing the word "Tawaif" is a Kothewali, a gaanewali, a prostitute, a whore!  But let me bestow you with some insights in history when tawaifs were seen as greatest epitome of etiquette and culture. But prior to that, let me tell you what it meant to be a "tawaif"?  In the subcontinent, Tawaif referred to the courtesans who were proficient and highly skilled in both music and dance and were at the center of art and culture in India. They were the entertainers of the royal court and nobility, and only the wealthy and elite could afford to attend their concerts. The Tawaif were considered authorities on etiquette, so much so that noble families would send their son...