At the age of 11 ‘Agnes Prema Philips’ liked to write Ghazal, Urdu poetry. Her parents didn’t encourage her. Moreover they told her to concentrate her mind on her studies. Sometimes this made her very depressed. But ambitious as she was, she didn’t want to give up.
Finally at the age of 56, she was one of the poets at the’ Musheira Ghazal’ evening in the Indian Social Club presented by the Urdu wing in Salalah, Dhofar. Candlelight inaugurated the evening.
As usual in Urdu poetry, Prema talks about feelings of the heart, about her worries and trials. With her debut, Prema brought also the message never to give up your dreams. A. Prema Philips, who was a teacher for 33 years in India and has an MA in English and Indian literature, has three daughters. They all are teachers.
Urdu Poetry in brief
Urdu Poetry has many different forms which were basically originated from Arabic and borrowing much from the Persian language, it is today an important part of the cultures of Pakistan and India.
Ghazal, is a set of two liner couplets, which strictly should end with the same rhyme and should be within one of the predefined meters of Ghazals. There has to be minimum of five couplets to form a Ghazal. Couplets may or may not have same thought. It is one of the most difficult forms of poetry as there are many strict parameters that one needs to abide by while writing Ghazal.
A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. It is one of the principal poetic forms which the Indo-Perso-Arabic civilization offered to the eastern Islamic world.
Social Indian Club Salalah: Key persons: Mr. Manpreet Singh (Chairman) 99498939, Dr. Khader Nawaz Khan (Gen. Secretary) 99488698, Mr. Rajan (manager) 99691457
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