The pronoun `hum` or `we` is added to many of Farsi-Urdu nouns to create poetic, evocative compounds such as humsafar [fellow-traveller], humraaz [sharer of secrets], humdum [sharer of breaths] and so on. While each compound is poignant in its own way, none perhaps is as heartwarming as humzubaan [sharer of one`s language], especially if one lives in a foreign land.

Those of us who have migrated from the homeland know the bitter-sweet reality of missing the humzubaan; the pleasures of being surrounded with one`s own language. I remember once, several years ago, I couldn`t stop listening to Faiz`s ghazal `Nahin nigah mein manzil...

I kept going back to the last verse: `Diyar-i-ghair mein jab humzubaan nahin milta/ Tau Faiz zikr-i-vatan apnay ru ba ru hisahi` [When you can`t find a speaker of your language in a foreign land/ Then Faiz, let`s talk of the homeland to ourselves].

Indeed, moving in the so-called literary circles of Urdu speakers in Virginia, I empathise with the yearning to hear the sweet notes of my language. I long for the adabinishists [literary gatherings] of my faraway home, where poetry flowed, tea was served with hot samosas and people lingered over adabiguftagu [literary discussions].

I am not a poet, only a listener, but I wish to ponder on the question: what does it mean to a poet isolated from the mother language to write in it? Is the experience of writing different when one is isolated in language, not surrounded in it? Thinking of Faiz`s verse, my answer is that, perhaps, the way is `looking inward, talking to oneself.

I propose to examine the poetry of Dr Abid Raza in the context of the above. I was curious how Abid Raza, a medical doctor, translated his perceptions into Urdu poetry, and that too the ghazal.

The challenge of the modern ghazal lies in keeping the structure of its classical, demanding rhyme scheme of radeef and gafiya [refrain and rhyme] bound in metre, with the thought complete in two-line verses. The modern ghazal is inexorably connected with its classical past, not just in structure but also the universality of its themes. So how does a migrant poet, Abid Raza, build bridges, connecting the past to the present?; how does he look at the eternal themes through new lenses or prisms? Leafing through his first book of poems, Rauzan-i-Siyah (Black Hole, 2024), I began searching for light into his poetic being. I picked up phrases here and there; the tangle of existence (`vujud ka jangal`), journeys (`musaafatein`), space (`gumbad-i-laamakaan`), machines, robots, planets, spaceships, comets, stars and magical illusions (`saiyyarah`, `sitarah`, `tilism`).

The aching experience of migration creates a bi-polar state of being one searches for identity in the tangle of existence in an unfamiliar language and culture. It is a hyphenated existence at best: `Yeh kya bataoon bhala kaun hoon kahaan hoon main Abhi tau honay na honay ke darmiyaan hoon main [How to describe who am I and where am I/ I am suspended between being and non-being] Dr Raza brings the age-old theme of being or existence with a sharp, new focus when he adds the idea of `being in limbo`, that is `in-betweenness`, to the state of being. The classical ghazal swings from non-existence to existence, from non-being to being. The state of in-betweenness is a bipolar state of being. Our poet pushes this idea further when he connects the journey of the self to space, thegumbad-ilaamakaan, the endless skies and the unknown Black Hole: `Misaal-i-mehr muaiyyan musaafatein hain meri Black hole ki jaanib ravaan davaan hoon main [Like the sun, my journeys are pre-determined/ I am headed arbitrarily towards the Black Hole] Among the other new ideas that Dr Raza brings to the ghazal is the awareness of ether and space. Space is populated with planets, spaceships, comets and stars: `Raat ki baasi os parri thi suraj ke angaaray par Dam lenay ko utray thay hum ek neelay saiyyaray par [Night`s dew lay on the fiery sun/ To catch our breath we had disembarked on a blue planet] The imagery in this verse is breathtaking. The view of the sun from another planet, the idea of dew on the sun instead of earth, takes us to another time, another civilisation, which could be an illusion or a dream or magical realism. He continues with magical realism as a means of approaching the limits of imagination: `Hairat ki taaveel mein tanha ghar se jadu nagri tak Mushki ghorray par nikla tha pohncha ek taiyyaray par [Alone in the pursuit of wonder from home to the magical city/ I set off on a black steed but reached on a spaceship] Once again, I am struck by the vividness of imagery and the novelty of ideas. The seamless manner in which the themes are woven into the ghazal is also admirable. Dr Raza brings a rich infusion of radeefs into his ghazals. For example, `Ajab gharri hai` [These are strange times] is a ghazal that is replete with new ideas. In this ghazal is tucked a verse that brings machines and humans on the same plane: `Zameen pe robot apnay aansoo ka zaiga tak bata rahayhain Mashinzadon pe kya karamat utar rahi hai ajab gharri hai` [Robots on earth are tasting their own tears/ What miracle is affecting the machines, these are strange times] To return to the question of migration and language, let us look at the vexed question of language and identity. With English emerging as a global language and a large number of non-English speakers succumbing to the pressure of learning English, to the extent that we can no longer read or write Urdu, will future generations cease to use language as a marker of identity? World literature, a platform that seeks to connect great works in different languages made available through translation, is primarily in English. Artificial Intelligence is literally taking our words and spitting out language. It is true that we are living in strange times and future generations could be eschewing the use of language altogether.

Dr Raza`s ghazals show us that it is possible to stay connected with language by engaging with the future through the binding vines of literary tradition.

The columnist is professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Virginia in the US. X:@FarooqiMehr