Zareefa Jan, an Illiterate Poet, Invented Her Own Alphabet to Write Poetry

There aren't many more inspiring tales than Zareefa Jan's, in my opinion. Jan, who is currently in her late 60s and resides in India, never learned to read or write. She still had the heart of a poet despite that, though. What then does a poet who is unable to compose poetry do? She nonetheless composed them.

Jan developed her own writing system since she was unable to express herself on paper in either her mother tongue or any other language. When Jan went to get some water shortly after being married, she claims she was simply overpowered and found herself in a trance-like state. This is when she realized she needed to write poetry. She awoke and brought him a poem to read.

A language of circles was what she produced. Her poems came to her in Kashmiri, a little-spoken language that no one else in the family spoke, even though her children had learnt to read and write. They also spoke English and Urdu. As a result, she started creating her own symbols to record her ideas. Although to others they may just appear to be repetitive circles, Jan claims to be able to understand them because she has practically invented her own alphabet. She has been accused of lying and the circles' validity has been questioned. Simply by recalling the poetry, she can repeat them. However, her family and other members of the neighborhood think she

Born: 1966