Delhi poets remember Mir Taqi Mir through virtual event on his death anniversary

The shayars of Delhi came together on Sunday to commemorate the 210th death anniversary of the great Urdu poet

Mir Taqi Mir

with a virtual poetry event organised by

the Delhi Shayari Club

on Facebook. Mir, regarded by many as Khuda-e-Sukhan (the God of

Urdu Poetry

), is one of the most influential Urdu poets of all time and considered one of the pioneers of the modern Urdu language as well. The event, organised all through the day, saw contemporary Urdu poets posting videos of themselves reciting select works of Mir. It soon became a participative event with several of the members of the club posting their favourite Mir ghazals and couplets in the comments section.

The initiative was spearheaded by Delhi Shayari Club, a collective with over 10,000 members, and saw participation from poets like

Abhinandan Pandey

,

Aqib Sabir

,

Shahbaz Rizvi

,

Vikas Sharma Raaz

, and Vipul Kumar. Abbas Qamar sang a composition by pre-partition poet

Ibn-e-Insha

, which Insha had written as a tribute to Mir. Due to the social distancing requirements amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held virtually.

Talking about the event, Anchal Ghosh, founder of the Delhi Shayari Club, told us, "Poetry of a language is the most crucial part of its literature that explores various linguistic possibilities and helps it attain its true shape. Urdu language has been taken by swarm among the young generation. Delhi Shayari Club works towards bringing Urdu literature to common people through its various initiatives."