write lines such that whoever reads them would enjoy them). Some scholars say that Ghalib would have the same place in Urdu literature based on his letters only. They have been translated into English by Ralph Russell in The Oxford Ghalib. Ghalib was a chronicler of a turbulent period. One by one, Ghalib saw the bazaars – Khas Bazaar, Urdu Bazaar, Kharam-ka Bazaar, disappear, and whole mohallas (localities) and katras (lanes) vanish. The havelis (mansions) of his friends were razed to the ground. Ghalib wrote that Delhi had become a desert. Water was scarce. Delhi was "a military camp". It was the end of the feudal elite to which Ghalib had belonged. He wrote: Pen name His original Takhallus (pen-name) was Asad (meaning lion), drawn from his given name, Asadullah Khan. At some point early in his poetic career he also decided to adopt the pen-name of Ghalib (meaning all conquering, superior, most excellent). A journey that changed Mirza Ghalib’s course of life Ghalib’s poetry or shayari had smitten Mughal Badshah of Delhi, Bahadur Shah Zaffar. During the reign of the British, the badshah became a British pensioner. He was kept under strict supervision by the British along with his visitors including Ghalib as they grew suspicious of him. The shayari maestro’s pension was suspended by the British. This made Ghalib take a long journey to Calcutta to make an appeal about his pension to the British Governor General. Mirza Ghalib’s journey to Kolkata, or erstwhile Calcutta made a huge difference in his literary journey. Mirza Ghalib came to the city of joy and fell in love. His love for Kolkata is depicted in one of his creations, Safar-e-Kalkattah where he talks about his stay in his humble abode, Haveli No 133 situated in the Simla Market Area during his stay in Kolkata. He used to write his verses in Urdu but started writing his poetry in Persian after this visit. He realized that the literary circle of Calcutta was very different from his known world. During his stay in Kolkata, he attended many literary gatherings which were not courtly in nature unlike Delhi. These were far liberal and flexible in nature which is imperative for any individual with a creative bent of mind. Mirza Ghalib’s sojourn in Calcutta widened the horizons of his literary journey. He established himself as one of the renowned poets in Calcutta and received both