By Justice Markandey Katju

Most of Urdu poetry written nowadays is rubbish. Most Urdu festivals or mushairas are money-making rackets, and the so-called shaayars write and recite third-rate stuff, but often charge huge amounts.

Mirza Ghalib never gave ‘daad’ to any poet’s shaayari unless he was satisfied that the sher really deserved praise ( see Hali’s biography of Ghalib ).

But nowadays people in the audience shout ‘wah, wah’ even at cheap, nonsensical verses, often even without understanding it.

The same is true about contemporary Hindi poetry, Hindi poets and Kavi Sammelans.