A discussion/talk in Urdu, Hindi and English on Josh Malihabadi's Marsias. Josh’s marsias usually deal with a major theme each – “Zindagi aur Maut” has a theme of “ego, life and death”, “Tuloo e Fikr” of “the dawn of civilization”, “Azmat e Insaan” of “human achievement” etc. In each case the first half of the marsia is entirely secular and will constitute the major part of the discussion. After dealing with the chosen theme, Josh makes a beautiful and smooth transition to the story of Karbala. His narrative of Karbala is not one of mourning but one of celebration of resistance and defiance of unjust power even in the face of certain death. Some portions of the marsia after the transition to the story of Karbala deal with a profuse and linguistically superb praise of Husain.