Some Links

How odd -- I was going to post a ghazal by Mary Jo Salter, which arrived in my email as one of Knopf's daily emails for Poetry Month (April) (to subscribe, send a blank email to sub_knopfpoetry@info.randomhouse.com); but the email contained the warning: "No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher." And besides, what I wanted to say about it was that, to write ghazals in English, you really have to be Agha Shahid Ali.

And just now, in Chapati Mystery, I read this post about an impromptu English ghazal session, and the examples given are much better than Salter's. It helps to know Urdu, obviously, and the ghazal tradition; and, apparently, to be slightly drunk as well.


I saw this on Chapati Mystery too: The art of Rajkamal Kahlon. Gouache on 19th century bookpages (specifically, Cassell's Illustrated History of India).

Closer to home:

Newly-discovered Mamallapuram temple fascinates archaeologists

Reel-time blogs: An article about blogs about Tamil cinema.