New Delhi, April 12 -- "Kab mili thi, kahaan bichhdi thi, humein yaad nahin... zindagi roz naye rang badalti kyun hai?"

(When did we meet, where did we part--I don't remember. Why does life keep changing its colors every day?)

These lines from Umrao Jaan aren't just poetry--they are a mirror. A mirror to the human condition, to our quiet searching, our blurred memories, and our endless need to feel rooted. And for some of us, they're more than that. They're an anchor that holds us when life threatens to drift us into despair.

I first heard this ghazal when I was a child. Nine, maybe ten. The world hadn't explained itself to me yet. I didn't know what grief fully meant or what it meant to lose things you couldn't name. But somehow, Umra...