Celebrated singer Lata Mangeshkar’s voice and her prowess over musical notes is admired world over. But equally admirable is the how this Marathi-speaking vocalist rendered songs written in the Urdu language. She narrated an interesting anecdote about learning Urdu in a TV interview.

In the early days of her career, when she was traveling in a Mumbai local train with musician Anil Biswas and actor Dilip Kumar, Anil Biswas introduced her to Dilip Kumar, who made a biting remark about her first language in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Lata Ji took it too hard. And after this incident, she not only learned proper Urdu pronunciation from a Maulvi Sahib but also learned to read and write a bit of Urdu. Apart from this, music director Naushad used to guide her about the nuances of Urdu poetry and pronunciation, too.

Besides film songs, there are also records of Ghazals sung by Lata Ji. Further, she had also recorded some verses of a Marsiya by Mir Anis in Tarannum without instruments.

Maulavi Khuda Bakhsh’s love for books and libraries needs no introduction. Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library is one of the famous institutions in India where ancient manuscripts are preserved. Founded in the year 1891, the library was the sweet-fruit of an entire lifetime’s hard-work thanks to Khuda Bakhsh’s unalike love for books. Even today, the library prides itself of possessing handwritten Sufi scriptures and original texts from the Mughal era.
Maulavi Khuda Bakhsh went to great lengths to procure rare and exquisite books. If it would come to his purview that some invaluable book is present in some distant region, he would gladly accept the hardships of the journey to attain them. Once, the British Museum offered a sumptuous sum in exchange of his books, but Khuda Bakhsh unswervingly dismissed it.

Wajid Ali Shah's life was filled with interesting events. Born in 1822 in Lucknow, Shah was 10th and last Nawab of Lucknow holding the position for 9 years.  He was not only an open-handed patron of music, dance, drama, and poetry, but was himself a poet and gifted composer. Famous market of Aminabad in Lucknow is named after his teacher Amin Ud Daula Imdad Hasan. The Nawab was exiled to Garden Reach in Metiabruz, where he spent the last 31 years of his life. Some historians say that even in the time of exile, he received an annual stipend of Rs ₹11 Lakhs. When the British were taking him to Metiabruz from Lucknow, he said with sorrow-stricken glance at the city : 

Dar-o-deewar pe hasrat se nazar karte hain,
Khush raho ahl-e-vatan ham toh safar karte hain

The general notion about Mir Taqi Mir is that he was a heartbroken man who only wrote couplets of sorrow and pain. But few bring to light his fondness of animals- which is quite manifest in his creative Masnavis and autobiographical poems. Other poets have also written about animals, but in Mir's couplets animals have a human aspect about them, they depict various human shades and attributes. The characterization of a cat in his Nazm ‘Mohni Billi’ is quite evident, and in ‘Kapi Ka Bachcha’, the baby monkey gives the feeling of a human. Mir’s Masnavi ‘Mor-Nama’, is a tragic story of the love of a queen and a peacock, in which both are burnt to death. Apart from this, he also has poems on chicken, goat, etc.
His famous Masnavi ‘Azhdar-Nama’ is full of mentions of animals, their habits, and characteristics. In addition to the main character which is a dragon, it includes 30 different animals. Muhammad Hussain Azad has written that Mir has suggested at himself being the dragon, and considered all other poets as insects of the earth. However, no mention of any poet’s name is found in it.