The re-verse of love

Urdu poetry, fuelled by love and longing, fired up by politics, amplified by Instagram, and reimagined by indie bands, is finding new fans. Ghazal, nazm, Shayari — it’s hearts all around

- Karishma Kuenzang

What’s your love language? For young people in India today, it’s literally a language: Urdu. It’s been around for at least 800 years; the 2011 census shows that India has well over 67 million Urdu speakers. “But that audience has surged with the rise of Instagram poetry in the last decade,” says Aamir Aziz, 33, a poet, musician, composer and actor in Mumbai. Poems are unfolding, couplet by couplet, on

platforms such as Terribly Tiny Tales (@TTT_Official). Urdu poetry is referencing ghosting and mobile phones. It’s getting quoted in Pakistani rap. Rekhta, a decade-old archive for poetry and literature in the language, has close 925K fo l l ower s on In s t ag ram (@Rekhta_Foundation). And Urdu itself seems to have relaxed somewhat.

See how music, Reels and workshops are giving an old language a smitten new audience.

Writing the balance

Aamir Aziz, 33 

“Even fifteen years ago, Urdu poetry was a small-town endeavor,” says the poet, musician, composer and actor. “Now, writing Urdu in the Roman script is common. The internet, especially Instagram, has a big role to play in this.”