In Old Delhi's bustling heart, Indian bookseller Mohammed Mahfooz Alam sits forlorn in his mostly empty store, among the last remaining that still sell literature in a language beloved by poets for centuries.
Urdu, spoken by millions, has a rich past that reflects how cultures melded to forge India's complex history.
But its literary offerings are now struggling against the cultural domination of Hindi, as well as the false perception that its Perso-Arabic script makes it a foreign import.