NBF strives to promote Urdu literature
By Bushra Makhdoom

ISLAMABAD—National Book Foundation (NBF) has initiated various projects for reviving and instilling the spirit of reading Urdu literature among young generation. NBF has recently published “Kuliat Maktubat-e-Farsi-e-Ghalib” a comprehensive book comprising Ghalib’s persian letters with urdu translation.
An official of the foundation told APP that the book consisting more than 830 pages was compiled by Partau Rohilla, a notable poet who collected Ghalib’s persian letters preserving their original content with its urdu translation. He told that Jamil Jalibi while commenting on Rohilla’s great work said that “the translation was done in such an impressive manner as it seems that Ghalib has written these letters himself in Urdu language”.
He said letters in Persian language and its Urdu translation is compiled along with the life sketch of those to whom Ghalib had written these letters. Prof. Fateh Muhammad Malik, Chairman National Language Authority (NLA), said that apart from being a great Urdu Poet, Ghalib was also a prolific letter writer. He has a special place in Urdu literature on the basis of his letters. He said that Partau Rohilla collected Ghalib’s persian letters from all the books and compiled an extensive collection of his letters. This unique collection would help to facilitate those who have quench for literary knowledge and understanding complexities of life. Fateh Muhammad said that Ghalib’s style of letter writing is highly charming as his letters seems communicating to the readers. His letters were highly informal and laced with humour, he added. The collection titled “Kuliat Maktubat-e-Farsi-e-Ghalib” would also help to understand his life and art.
Ghalib introduced a new style of letter writing, much different from the letter writings of others during that period, he added. He said that Rohilla seemed very much fascinated with the depth of Ghalib’s Persian expression as he did not sacrifice the beauty of expression for the sake of readability. Ghalib’s letters have not only given an account of the happenings in the life of the poet but are also a testimony to the tumultuous times that Ghalib lived in. He was a witness to the age of the decline and the end of the Mughal Empire; he lived to see the revolt of 1857 and also its bloody aftermath.