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Synopsis Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797-1869) is undoubtedly one of the greatest Indian poets. His poetry, like that of Amir Khusro, has a universal appeal and is equally popular with the serious academic and the man on the street. A master of Persian, Ghalib wrote both in Persian and Urdu; but it is through his Urdu Diwan that he rules the hearts and minds of people even today. Playful yet complex, simple and yet erudite, Ghalib’s poetry mixes metaphors, ignores the rules of grammar, shuns ornamentation and takes recourse to linguistic innovations to ponder over issues of life, death, love and God. Like any other great poet, Ghalib too has been subjected to a variety of interpretations and translated into English and major Indian languages more than once. The present translation by Dr. O.P, Kejariwal of two hundred couplets from the Urdu Diwan seeks to combine the music of Ghalib’s poetry with a probing into his thoughts.