Ashbar > Recent Status Updates

Informative, eye opening and FRISKY! I've developed a strong 'hawas' for 'ilm (history, religion, poetry, lingustics) and, judging by my current state, it'll only inflame from now on, rendering me mentally invalid and crazy VERY soon. Anyways, more about this book, it's challenging to read. Very difficult vocab. Like how am I suposed to know what words like soteriology, transubstantion, acculturation etc. mean !? XD

Faiz Sahab...kal raat yuun aik khoyi huwi aapki ghazal yaad aai jo mere zehn ke pardon mein mein nay arse se chupai huwi thi. Hona kya tha Faiz Sahab? Aapki ghazal ho aur sunne wala joon ka toon rahe? Raat kaati taarein gin gin ke, aur kuch yaaron ke pyaare pyaare chehre ankhon mein naqsh hote gae. Khair, I am slowly analysing and understanding how you made your poetry so delicate and gentle. "Aap ki yaad aati rahi"

A pretty good duo book read with Shattered Lands

Religion. Blessing or a curse? Life will give me that answer one day, but I'll be eighty by then and as useless as a stick.

maz.hab kī ḳharābī hai na aḳhlāq kī pastī
duniyā ke masā.ib kā sabab aur hī kuchh hai

FIRAQ GORAKHPURI

eye opening.

اپنی اپنی گردش رفتار پوری کر تو لیں
دو ستارے پھر کسی دن ایک جا ہو جائیں گے
Aarzu Lakhnavi
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Page: 149 for recollection.
First victorian era book which I'm reading. The author loves to exaggerate things, use old and formal vocabulary. It's funny if you can understand the passages. I read Tilism e Hoshruba in Urdu a while ago, and it reminds me of that. Old literature, and the passages are ornately decorated. Id probably give it a 3/5, maybe 3.5.

Trying to summarise entire books and periods of history in 5 pages. It's too dense for a first-time reader. Darya ko kooze mein band karne ki naa-kaam koshish.

Many very very very literate and educated people praise this book. If Nazm Tabatabai can say for Ghalib that his shers are "maa'ni fi batn isshaair" then I will be audacious and impudent and say Naiyer sahab ends his afsanays way too quick and I am left wanting for me, often mad. I'm either too young, or this is ragebait. Most likely a mix of both.

So I finally read this I found out he won some Indian lit award and a good friend's favourite author so I decided to read it. I read the tauus-chaman afsana. It was good, the book was interesting+funny. I was hooked at the middle. But the ending sucked Really disappointed w it. needed more dramaticism. I thought authors moved on from writing about 1947 but no it just changed to 1857. Prose included a bit of old terms

been cooking this review for 3 weeks now :))))
note: id say this book is garbage lmao

(this book has around 520 pages actually not 560)

Almost done, cooking a very lengthy and insightful review :D
stay tuned

This is so hard to read I do not have the brain cells. It feels like I'm doing the SAT English section again. It doesn't English this is mental exercise and torture. 🤕🤕🤕🤕

بعدِ بسیارمو شگافی و دیدہ ریزی و عرق فشانی، یہ بندۂ غلامِ غلامان ِخوش الحاں؛ جنھوں نے باغبانانِ چمنِ خرمِ سخندانی سے سیکھا، جھکا ہوا سرِ انقیادِ اشبر کو اپنی بارگاہِ اقبالمندی میں قبول فرمایا اور اپنے خزینۂ بے پایاں و بیش بہا سے اس نیازمند کو نوازا
. . .
😍😎🌹 ay mughal empire if youre still up keep me as a poet laureate i need a job pliz

gonna start again from the beginning.
Rekhta's my best friend across this journey

This book has a lot of characters and keeping track of all of them is hard but somehow I'm managing it. It's very interesting and fun but only after the first 100/150 pages once you understand the people, their roles, who they are, their family, the plot etc

An 800 page book 😭

This is surprisingly very easy to follow !! Much better than my previous history book read The Mongol Empire by John Man.