Taab-e-nazzaraa nahin aainaa kya dekhne duun
Aur ban jaayegi tasvir jo hairaan honge
This couplet by Mughal era poet Momin Khan ‘Momin’ and many others have been made accessible to admirers of Urdu poetry through a recently launched website. Interestingly named Rekhta, meaning scattered, the website brings together an extensive and comprehensive online collection of ‘scattered’ classical and modern poets, poetry, couplets and nazms in Urdu, Devanagari, and Roman scripts.
“There is a large segment of people who would like to read Urdu poetry, but the lack of content in the Devanagari or Roman scripts makes it difficult. Even those who know Urdu, spend considerable time and effort in locating content. New readers are daunted by the Urdu vocabulary and face difficulty in understanding the meaning of words. Rekhta aims to bridge this gap”, states the website. Created by entrepreneur Sanjiv Saraf, Rekhta intends to promote Urdu poetry. Apart from poetry and ghazals, the site also offers publications like Aaftaab-e-daag, Delhi kaa ek yaadgaar aakhrii mushaaiiraa and Diivaan-e-Gaalib in e-book format. For starters, the site has audio recitations by various artists, an in-built dictionary that offers the meaning of words on just a simple click, and a search engine, to help the users understand poetry better.
With more than 3,000 ghazals by over 250 poets, it includes works by poets like Shah Mubarak Abroo, Amir Khusrao, Mirza Asadulllah Khan ‘Gaalib’, Sahir Ludhianvi and also, Mohammad Mirza Raza ‘barq’. This easy and free to use resource is a great way to celebrate and indulge in the blissful world of love, ache and despair.