He also displayed every trait of a born traveller: he enjoyed the new and the different yet could distinguish between high and low, and had clear likes and dislikes. Being a part of the feudal elite, Ghalib took any help that came his way as his due and was never lacking in assurance and optimism. This is proof not only of his stature and popularity as a poet but of the existence of an informal network of contacts - in spite of the long distances and poor communication systems. He was new to the places but never a stranger. Ghalib found friends in almost all the cities he stopped in along the way. The sheer range of his experiences possibly made him the man he was - liberal, humane, witty, proud, touchy and sociable. He enjoyed a long innings as a poet (having begun his poetic career as a lad of 11 in Agra before moving to Delhi), was a versatile writer (apart from writing the ghazal, masnawi and qasida in both Urdu and Persian, he was also a prolific and passionate letter writer), met many different kinds of people (from royal patrons to ordinary people in the bazaars not to mention the many firangis to be found in Delhi) and, in an age when travel was rare, he journeyed to Calcutta. Ghalib did not live long enough to see the coming together of the writer and social reformer or the increasing social consciousness evident in Urdu literature nor indulge in any experiments with “colonial modernity” as his immediate successors, such as Altaf Hussain Hali (1837-1914) or Muhammad Husain Azad (1830-1910), could. Were I to fall ill, there will be no one to tend meĪnd when I die, no one to mourn me) From Bharat Bhushan to Naseeruddin Shah to Tom Alter, Ghalib has been played by doyens of popular culture. (But) There won’t be any neighbours, nor anyone to guard it I will make something that is like a house No one who speaks to me in my language, no one to talk to (Let us go and live somewhere where there is no one Rahiye ab aisi jagah chal kar jahan koi na hoĪur agar mar jaiye to nauha-khwaan koi na ho
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