ONE TONGUE, MANY VOICES

In this book of essays, Rakhshanda Jalil shines a light on the inclusive and pluralistic nature of Urdu poetry

- Bhavya Dore

LOVE IN THE TIME OF HATE
In the Mirror of Urdu by Rakhshanda Jalil
SIMON & SCHUSTER
₹699; 264 pages

Shiva's body is "like a glittering sapphire", he is "knowledge, nectar, action", the S "Granter of Salvation": these encomiums appear in three different Urdu poems. "Written by both Muslim and non-Muslim poets at a time when inclusion and pluralism were the norm rather than the exception, these need to be revived and reread not merely for their evocations of communal harmony and goodwill, but also because much of it is simply good poetry," writes Rakhshanda Jalil, in her new compilation of essays, Love in the Time of Hate: In the Mirror of Urdu.