"Be-sabab muskurā rahā hai chaand,
Koi sāzish chhupā rahā hai chaand..."
- Gulzar

Last week, I had the privilege of getting to attend the 10th edition of Jashn-e-Rekhta: the largest celebration of Urdu. A place where language is a living, breathing thing, nurturing the spark of Urdu through mushairas (poetry recitation), ghazals, dialogues, music, drama, and art.

Calling it a festival, however, feels slightly inadequate. It was part literary gathering, part concert, part history lesson, and part love letter to a language tailor-made for romance.

Perhaps that is why the moon was beaming.
After all, often do you find yourself standing a few feet away from Gulzar sahab, Javed Akhtar, and Sukhwinder Singh – all in one evening?

The air hummed with anticipation. Fragments of conversations drifted past like incense, mingling with laughter and poetry. The spark of eagerness to lose oneself in words, to listen, to learn, was palpable.

Seeing Gulzar sahab in person felt like watching a poem walk into a room. Mukammal khaamoshi. The wind had been nudging branches all evening, but his arrival seemed to still the leaves themselves.
Listening to him speak felt a lot like reading his poetry; subtle witticism, humour, and threads of symbolism were woven between each couplet.

Later, after the first part of the evening – poetry, shayari, and Urdu – was over, Sukhwinder Singh took the stage, and any remnants of tiredness from the day dissolved.

I found myself talking to a stranger about the wonders of his music and the energy he brought onstage. Neither of us knew the other’s name; and yet for ten minutes we enthusiastically discussed our favourite songs as though we were old friends.

The trees glowed with lanterns, the sky had turned the color of ink, and the wind carried lost fragments of verses long after they had been spoken.

This was an evening I doubt I’ll forget for a long time to come!

Yours truly,
Divi