Mirza Ghalib lost everyone he loved, his father in childhood, his brother in adolescence. He was a proud father of seven sons but none of them survived. Ghalib adopted a child, but he too died in his youth. These successive tragedies broke his spirit and his heart and he detached himself with life, found solace in poetry. He wrote and sang every waking moment of his life.
Kuch iss tarha maine zindagi ko aasan kar diya
Kissi se maafi maang li to kissi ko maaf kar diya
It is said that during the 1857 riots when Ghalib was arrested by the British and questioned about his religion, the unpredictable poet answered ‘I am an incomplete Muslim’. The officer was flustered and Ghalib was forced to explain his definition of incomplete Muslim as he consumed alcohol (not permitted by Islam) and did not eat meat (permitted by Islam).