In this deeply moving episode of Rekhta Rubaru, host Rehman Faris sits down with legendary poet Abbas Tabish, celebrated as one of the most powerful voices of the modern Urdu ghazal.

From childhood memories and poverty to the emotional force of a mother’s love, Tabish reflects on the fears, wounds, and turning points that shaped both his life and poetry.

He shares the story behind one of his most iconic lines, “Ek Muddat Se Meri Maa Nahi Soi Tabish”, and opens up about how fear has remained a recurring presence in his creative journey.

The conversation also explores his early poetic influences, his father’s role in introducing him to spiritual and romantic imagination through Tafsir Surah Yusuf, and the insult at a newspaper office that pushed him toward education and a lifelong commitment to poetry.

Abbas Tabish also speaks about the craft of the ghazal, the need for poets to unlearn, the importance of lineage in poetry, the legacy of Mir and Sauda, mushaira culture, poetic ego, audience connection, and the digital future of Urdu literature through Rekhta.

The episode closes with powerful recitations by Abbas Tabish, including his unforgettable verses on motherhood, longing, thirst, and the human condition.

A soulful conversation on fear, memory, love, Urdu poetry, and the timeless world of the ghazal.

A book of Jaun Elia's poems no one had read — until now. Javed Akhtar launches Kyun and opens up the poet's hidden world.

On Jaun Elia's birth anniversary, Jashn-e-Rekhta hosts the launch of Kyun, a collection of the legendary Urdu poet's previously unpublished work, compiled by Khalid Akhtar Ansari and Adeel Zaidi and released by Javed Akhtar.

In conversation with Moin Shadab, Javed Akhtar and Jaun's niece Rukhsar Amrohi open up a side of the poet few have heard.

Javed Akhtar unpacks Jaun's craft like only he can explaining sahl-e-mumtana, the deceptively hard art of writing in simple, everyday language while carrying immense poetic weight, and why Jaun's simplicity was a choice born of mastery, not a shortage of words.

He calls Jaun's poetry an emotional lava that turns prose into verse, and reflects on the blunder of Partition through the life of a man whose country was Pakistan but whose soul never left Amroha.

Rukhsar Amrohi shares intimate memories: the heavy silence that settled over their Amroha home after his migration in 1957, and his return years later when he knelt at the station to kiss the soil and embraced the trees of his old home like a man overjoyed.

She also recalls the wasiyat he left her: to carry the family's poetic tradition forward.

Javed Akhtar closes by reciting and decoding some of Jaun Elia's most iconic couplets.

One historian. Seven centuries of India. One unforgettable conversation.

In this episode of Rekhta Rubaru, legendary historian Professor Irfan Habib joins Moid Rasheedi for a sweeping conversation on the making of India’s cultural, political and linguistic history.

From the memories of Partition and the Lahore Resolution to the atmosphere in Aligarh during a turning point in India’s history, Habib reflects on the dangers of allowing religion to shape the future of a nation.

He also recalls Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s 1949 AMU convocation speech and the promise that helped preserve the university’s character.

The conversation moves through the world of Amir Khusrau, whom Habib describes as India’s first patriotic poet, and traces the evolution of Hindavi, Persian, Urdu and Hindi.

He also speaks about Akbar’s vision, Gandhi’s idea of Hindustani, Dara Shikoh’s translation of the Upanishads, and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s complex legacy in education, archaeology and colonial India.

A rich, thought-provoking episode for anyone interested in Urdu, Indian history, language, culture, Partition, Mughal history and the many ideas that shaped India.