India, April 2 -- The news from Iran continues to be distressing. In Delhi, we are geographically removed from the war's direct reach. Yet Iran is never far. Something of its cultural spirit lingers in this city, including in the work of Delhi's great poet. To Mirza Ghalib, the Irani bhasha was the language of ambition. In 19th century Delhi, Persian commanded elite status, like the English in post-independent India or French in Tsarist Russia. Ghalib started by writing poems in both homegrown Urdu and Persian. Over time, he was drawn to the exactness and range of Persian-qualities he apparently didn't find in Urdu. Ghalib wrote about 2,000 couplets in Urdu, and a whopping 10,000 in Persian. These details are being told by poetry critic Aqi...