Editorial photo #2394038 Lifestyle and Leisure

Mirza Ghalib Ki Haveli at Old Delhi

Ghalib was born to Mirza Abdullah Beg in December 1797 in Agra. His father died when he was hardly five years old and his childhood was spent with his uncle who passed away when Ghalib was eight, and mostly his aunts. Married in 1810 at the age of 13 to Umrao Begum, Ghalib soon left his birth city Agra for Delhi, a city where he lived until his death in 1869. The haveli was presented to Ghalib by a hakim (traditional physician) who was an ardent fan of his poetry. It was here that Ghalib wrote some of his finest ghazals and recited them to a huge audience every evening. After Ghalib’s death in 1869, the crestfallen hakim who had presented the haveli to Ghalib would go and sit there for hours every evening refusing to let anyone occupy it. (Photo by Nasir Kachroo/NurPhoto)