Zabaan-e-aam

By guneet kaur

Of poetry, stories, sach aur khwaab

~ A literary podcast based in India that brings translated stories and poems every alternate Wednesday.... more

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about Zabaan-e-aam:

How many episodes does Zabaan-e-aam have?

The podcast currently has 30 episodes available.

Zabaan-e-aam episodes:

June 25, 2025 Agha Shahid Ali's poetry ~ I see Kashmir from New Delhi at Night' and 'Flight 423' on Begum Akhtar
A lot has happened in India and globally in the past two months and I had stopped reading and working on my podcast till I opened the book The Veiled Suite, a collection of poems by Agha Shahid Ali. It brought me to tears reading about the passing away of Begum Akhtar and another poem on the atrocities we never see which happen in Kashmir. I read the 2 poems in this podcast titled 'I see Kashmir from New Delhi at Night' and 'I Dream I Am the Only Passenger on Flight 423 to Srinagar'.

The Sahapedia reference by Manan Kapoor is from this article https://www.sahapedia.org/how-legendary-begum-akhtar-influenced-life-and-poetry-agha-shahid-ali

...more
16min
May 01, 2025 May Day ~ Majaz aur Kaifi Azmi ke saath by Sahil Kazmi
Welcome to Season 3, Episode 1 of the Zabaan-e-aam podcast!

Starting our new season on May Day! :)
Thank you, Sahil, for sharing nazms from Majaz and Kaifi Azmi on this important day.
Our Guest: Sahil Kazmi
A little bit about him: Sahil recently completed his M.A. in Gender Studies from Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women's Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. Currently, he is involved in Research work related to Gender and Politics. He is looking forward to join a PhD program this year.
He is a member of the All India Students’ Association (AISA). His interests mostly lies in electoral politics, Urdu poetry & literature, cinema and Indian history and he spends most of his time juggling between these four worlds. Majaz is his favourite poet and he remembers almost all of his ghazals, nazms and qissas (about him) by-heart. Some couplets I shared on the podcast.
Aaj Maii ka pehla din hai, aaj ka din mazdoor ka din. ~ Suroor Barabankwi
tirii zamiin pe kartaa rahaa huu.n mazduurii
hai suukhne ko pasiina mu.aavza hai kahaa.n ~ Asim Wasti
pe.D ke niiche zaraa sii chhaa.nv jo us ko milii,
so gayaa mazduur tan par boriyaa o.Dhe hu.e ~ Sharib Mauranwi
farishte aa kar un ke jism par KHushbuu lagaate hai.n
vo bachche rail ke Dibbo.n me.n jo jhaa.Duu lagaate hai.n ~ Munawwar Rana

Most of these couplets are from the Rekhta app (https://rekhta.org) and some are from Rakhshanda Jalil's book Love in the Time of Hate (2024)

If you would like to support ourpodcast, please click on the links below:
Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/zabaaneaam ⁠Instamojo: https://knotty1.myinstamojo.com/product/buy-me-a-coffee
Follow us on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/zabaan_e_aam⁠
Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for exciting stories andpoems. Comment and share your feedback with us. Or write to us at [email protected]
...more
22min
January 29, 2025 A Walk to Safety ~ a story on Gaza (in Punjabi)
Welcome to the 20th episode of Season 2 of the Zabaan-e-aam podcast. Today I have a story that I have written in Punjabi about the displacement of people in Gaza.

Please share your feedback in the comments. Thank you!

If you would like to support our podcast, please click on the link below: Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/zabaaneaam ⁠ Instamojo: https://knotty1.myinstamojo.com/product/buy-me-a-coffee
Follow us on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/zabaan_e_aam⁠
You can read the translations on our blog:
https://zabaaneaam.wordpress.com/
Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for exciting stories and poems. Comment and share your feedback with us. Or write to us at [email protected]
...more
17min
November 27, 2024 Emotional Pregnancy (Telugu Short Story) by Purnima Tammireddy
Zabaan-e-aam presents a story about love and heartbreak and walks you through the lanes of Hyderabad. Listen to Purnima Tammireddy's story 'Emotional Pregnancy' in this
episode. In the story, she turns an ordinary tale of one-sided love and friendzoning into a deeper meditation of unfulfilled emotional needs and their weird manifestations.

In this short story, the writer explores love, heartbreak, and the unexpected toll that emotional trauma can take on the body. Our protagonist, a woman who once felt the joy of a deep and passionate connection, finds herself shattered after a painful breakup.
As she grapples with the weight of heartbreak, the emotional turmoil begins to manifest in unforeseen physical ailments, leaving her to confront the powerful link between mind and body.
Join us as we journey through this narrative, shedding light on the often-overlooked consequences of mental and emotional pain. This story serves as a reminder of the importance of healing—both emotionally and physically—and the resilience required to overcome life's most challenging moments.

Disclaimer: This episode contains sensitive content, including mention of suicide and the mental trauma associated with heartbreak. We understand that these topics can be deeply distressing for some listeners. Please take care of yourself while listening, and if you feel the need, we encourage you to skip this story. Listener discretion is advised.

Thank you for listening, and take care.

About the Writer
Purnima Tammireddy is a writer, translator and publisher. She co-founded pustakam.net, a book review website in 2008 and Elami Publications, an indie publishing house, in 2022. She’s the author of a short story collection titled, 'Emotional Pregnancy', of which you’d now listen to the title story. Purnima has translated Manto and Amrita Pritam into Telugu. A techie by profession, she’s a theatre enthusiast and trained Kerala Muralist.

Purnima’s short stories have mainly been about Telugu urban lives, with a special focus on mental health issues and their impact on intimate heterosexual relationships.
Reshma, a voice artist based out of Hyderabad, reads the story for you.

Credits:
It Arrives
It arrives
when you least expect it
-in a park,
in a bookshop,
or right here where I'm standing:
love wraps round you
just like a warm scarf
banishes the winter.
Original Poem by Iranian poet Fariba Shadloo
Translated by Alireza Abiz with Poetry Translation Workshop
https://www.poetrytranslation.org/poem/it-arrives/#translated-poem

The background music has been taken from http://www.pixabay.com from the following creators.
Anastasia Kir
Dana Music
Omar Faruque
India SFX Library
Wahyu Music

If you would like to support our podcast, pl links below:
Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/zabaaneaam ⁠
Instamojo:
https://knotty1.myinstamojo.com/product/buy-me-a-coffee

Follow us on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/zabaan_e_aam⁠

You can read the translations on our blog:
https://zabaaneaam.wordpress.com/

Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for exciting stories and poems. Comment and share your feedback with us. Or write to us at [email protected]

...more
32min
September 19, 2024 Diary Entries from Gaza Series, Ep 5 ~ Hind Joudah (from Arablit Quarterly) - in English & Punjabi
Welcome to the 5th episode of the Gaza series on the Zabaan-e-aam podcast.
Today I have a poem I translated on Gaza. It is a Diary Entry. I am translating poems and diary entries
from the latest edition of the Arablit Quarterly. The details on Arablit are in the description. You can purchase a copy from here.
This poem is written by Hind Joudah on 25th Feb 2024.
Hind Joudah is a poet from Al-Breij Refugee Camp, Gaza. She has published two collections of poems entitled Someone Always Leaves and No Sugar in the City.

The other poem I have read in this podcast is by the same poet and published on the Instagram handle Landscapes of Hope. You can read the poem here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1NAJFRLANT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
If you would like to support our podcast, please click on the links below:
Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/zabaaneaam ⁠
Instamojo: https://knotty1.myinstamojo.com/product/buy-me-a-coffee
Follow us on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/zabaan_e_aam⁠
You can read the translations on our blog:
https://zabaaneaam.wordpress.com/
Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for exciting stories and poems. Comment and share your feedback with us. Or write to us at [email protected]
...more
10min
August 21, 2024 Diary Entries from Gaza Series, Ep 4 ~ Anees Ghanima (from Arablit Quarterly) - in English & Punjabi
sub.h-o-shām filistīñ meñ ḳhuuñ bahtā hai
sāya-e-marg meñ kab se insāñ rahtā hai
band karo ye bāvardī ġhunda-gardī
baat ye ab to ek zamāna kahtā hai
~ Habib Jalib's (uTTho marne ka haq istimal karo)
From
<https://www.rekhta.org/nazms/uttho-marne-kaa-haq-istimaal-karo-jiine-kaa-haq-saamraaj-ne-chhiin-liyaa-habib-jalib-nazms>

Welcome to the 4th episode of the Gaza series on the Zabaan-e-aam podcast. This is the 4th Diary Entry that I have translated into Punjabi from the Arablit Quarterly magazine. This diary entry from Gaza is written by Anees Ghanima.

Anees Ghanima was born in Gaza City in 1992, and currently resides there, working in Arab internet content support. He is a member of the youth assembly “Utopia for Knowledge.” He writes poetry and publishes in local and Arab literary and cultural magazines. His debut poetry
collection Funeral of a Juggler won the 2017 Young Writer
Award from the Abdul Mohsen Al-Qattan Foundation.

If you would like to support our podcast, please click on the links below:
Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/zabaaneaam ⁠
Instamojo: https://knotty1.myinstamojo.com/product/buy-me-a-coffee
Follow us on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/zabaan_e_aam⁠
Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for exciting stories and poems. Comment and share your feedback with us. Or write to us at [email protected]
...more
8min
August 07, 2024 She-depths translated from Malayalam to English by Dr. Sree Devi, written by Rasliya M.S.
Welcome to Season 2, Episode 16 of the Zabaan-e-aam.
Today's guest is Dr. Sree Devi from Kerala who teaches in a college in Bangalore and she has translated a poem written by Rasliya M.S. published in the 2022 on International Women's day! Today's poem is titled as 'She-depths' in English and it explores gender identities and the loss of feminine agency in the Malayalam context.
The poem employs metaphors that are macabre to express the experiences of being lost. This, sometimes, resonates universally as a lot of women feel the same across time and space. I thoroughly enjoyed the poem and I am sure this will reach a lot of women as words such as 'she-depths', the depths of the well, the ponds, the sea, the 'loving touch'. Are these measured?
More about Dr. Sree Devi (in her own words)
I like to engage with writings that offer newer perspectives, and often turn to regional literature for its ability to estrange. Story telling in Malayalam mystifies me , as does the space that I contextualise in my poem ...I like the picturesque and bizarre all at once ...while I like to read and teach Murakami ...I oil paint, the themes that I draw on being picturesque. I have engaged quite a bit with the genre of Creative Non fiction teaching it to young adults and doing research around it. My areas of research interest are cultural memory studies and Spatiality.
⁠If you would like to support our podcast, please click on the links below:
Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/zabaaneaam
⁠Instamojo:
https://knotty1.myinstamojo.com/product/buy-me-a-coffee
⁠Follow us on
Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/zabaan_e_aam⁠
You can read the translations on our
blog: https://zabaaneaam.wordpress.com/
Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for exciting stories and
poems. Comment and share your feedback with us. Or write to us at [email protected]
...more
7min
July 24, 2024 Diary Entries from Gaza Series, Ep 3 ~ Ahmed Mortaja (from Arablit Quarterly) - in English & Punjabi
Welcome to a new episode of the Zabaan-e-aam. This is the 3rd episode of the Gaza series and a translation from the latest episode of the Arablit Quarterly Magazine which has diary entries from Gaza. If you want to read more diary entries from Gaza, you can purchase this edition from here: https://arablit.gumroad.com/
The modern-day tragedy of the world is that human beings created weapons to save themselves. But these are being used against innocent people, innocent children and hundreds and thousands of people who were given just a small stretch of land as compensation for the country where they lived. I wish the bombings stop and Gazans can rebuild their lives. May they be able to access aid and live peacefully.
Today's diary entry is from Ahmed Mortaja written on 29th Jan 2024.
Ahmed Mortaja is a writer born in 1996 in Gaza City. He studied
psychology and was active in many cultural organizations in the city.
He survived a bombardment that destroyed his home on October 28.
He came out from under the rubble and continued writing.
If you would like to support our podcast, please click on the links below:
Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/zabaaneaam ⁠
Instamojo: ⁠https://knottymusings.in/product/4682733/buy-me-a-coffee-47842
Follow us on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/zabaan_e_aam⁠
You can read the translations on our
blog: ⁠https://zabaaneaam.wordpress.com/⁠

Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for exciting stories and poems. Comment and share your feedback with us. Or write to us at [email protected]
...more
8min
July 17, 2024 Vinod Kumar Shukl ~ discussing his poetry and prose with Ashish Gaur
जो मेरे घर कभी नहीं आएँगे
मैं उनसे मिलने
उनके पास चला जाऊँगा।
एक उफनती नदी कभी नहीं आएगी मेरे घर
नदी जैसे लोगों से मिलने
नदी किनारे जाऊँगा
कुछ तैरूँगा और डूब जाऊँगा
From: https://www.hindwi.org/kavita/jo-mere-ghar-kabhi-nahin-ayenge-vinod-kumar-shukla-kavita?sort=popularity-desc
Welcome to a new episode of the Zabaan-e-aam Podcast. Vinod Kumar Shukl was born in 1937 in Chhattisgarh. He is known for magic realism in his poetry. He is a recipient of various awards: the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award and last year he got the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature 2023.
In this episode Ashish Gaur talks about the prose written by Vinod Kumar Shukla and he also explores 4 of his poems. There is a lot to learn from prolific poets such as Mr. Shukl. His prose is also as good as his poems. His poems, though simple, bring out facts about life which we usually do not think about.
Ashish's podcast and other details
Insta Handle: https://instagram.com/rockfordashish?igshid=NzZlODBkYWE4Ng%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Blog Link: https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/650184745400084003
Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/rockfordashish
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/6lgLeVQ995MoLPbvT8SvCE
Book Availability Link: https://www.amazon.in/Sard-Shab-Sulagte-Khwaab-Ashish/dp/9389763274
If you would like to support our podcast, please click on the links below:
Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/zabaaneaam ⁠Instamojo: ⁠https://knottymusings.in/product/4682733/buy-me-a-coffee-47842Follow us on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/zabaan_e_aam⁠

You can read the translations on our
blog: ⁠⁠https://zabaaneaam.wordpress.com/⁠⁠

Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for exciting stories and poems. Comment and share your feedback with us. Or write to us at [email protected]
...more
37min
June 19, 2024 Diary Entries from Gaza Series - Ep 2 - Basman Aldirawi (from Arablit Quarterly) - in Punjabi
Welcome to Season 2, episode 13 of the Zabaan-e-aam podcast.
In this episode, I am sharing a poem I have translated into Punjabi from the Arablit Quarterly magazine.
In the latest edition of the Arablit Quarterly, various diary entries from Gaza have been published. In the last episode I translated a diary entry by Besan Nateel. This time I have picked a poem written by Basman Aldirawi. It talks about the unpredictability of life in Gaza.
Basman is a physiotherapist and a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Gaza in 2010. Inspired by an interest in music, movies, and people with
special needs, he contributes dozens of stories to the online platform 'We Are Not Numbers'.
Thank you for listening to Zabaan-e-aam. I will be back with more poems and stories from Gaza.
You can read the Punjabi translation here: https://wp.me/pegOzU-1V
If you have a story or a poem that you want to share, please feel free to DM me on Instagram or email me at [email protected].
If you would like to support our podcast, please click on the links below:
Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/zabaaneaam ⁠
Instamojo: ⁠https://knottymusings.in/product/4682733/buy-me-a-coffee-47842
Follow us on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/zabaan_e_aan
You can read the translations on our
blog: ⁠⁠https://zabaaneaam.wordpress.com/⁠⁠

Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for exciting stories and poems. Comment and share your feedback with us. Or write to us at [email protected]
Background music is Forest Lullaby by Oleksii Kaplunskyi - Lesfm
https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/
...more
7min

FAQs about Zabaan-e-aam:

How many episodes does Zabaan-e-aam have?

The podcast currently has 30 episodes available.