This is a personal narrative of the life of the speaker Mateenuddin Shaikh. He narrates his childhood incidences and the early days of his adulthood when he migrates to Mumbai. Additionally, he gives information about his family members and describes his village Sonwara.

This is a personal narrative of the life of the speaker Shazia Shaikh. She narrates many of her childhood incidences. Additionally, she provides a detailed description of most of her family members as well as her village Bairidih.

This is a recording of a conversation while cleaning fishes. There was some conversation between women who were cleaning fishes. In order to get natural data, Maaz goes near to them, sits, and starts recording without alerting them. Suddenly as few seconds pass, one of them alerts, and everyone takes a surprise! But a few moments later, they become comfortable with it. They then start imitating and mocking the far northern variety of Azamgarhi spoken in Dewārā, the flood plain area of the Ghaghra river in the northern part of Azamgarh.

This is a discussion on the popular irrigation systems used in Azamgarh and nearby areas of Purvanchal, Uttar Pradesh state, before the invention of tube wells. This discussion briefly also extends to farming systems and agricultural tools. This discussion was primarily between the researcher and two residents of southern Azamgarh who were distant relatives to the researcher. It took place almost entirely in Urdu, whereas some background noises can be frequently heard in Azamgarhi.

This is a performance of a traditional song by the title ‘Dulahē tērī ãkhiā̃’ (Eng. O bridegroom, your eyes) sung on the occasion of marriage. It praises the beauty of the bridegroom and his costume. Such songs are of great significance to the community; however, until recently, their popularity and importance have started dwindling because of the penetration of urban culture into rural society.

This is a performance of a traditional song by the title ‘Dulahē kī ammā’ (Eng. O the mother of the bridegroom). In this song, the bridegroom’s mother is asked to bless her son on this auspicious marriage occasion. Such folksongs are of great significance to the community; however, until recently, their popularity and importance have started dwindling because of the penetration of urban culture into rural society. This folksong is in the Eastern dialect of Urdu.

This is a story of a teacher who once — while teaching his students — says, “I have made you human from donkey by beating, but you don’t understand.” A washerman who had no children passes by and hears this. He then approaches the teacher and pleads with him to turn a donkey into a son for his sake. The teacher agrees to this and asked him to return after six months. The washerman returns after six months and asks for his son. The teacher replies that he taught and trained him so much that he became a judge at the Allahabad High Court. The washerman then visits the court, and the story continues.

This is a personal narrative of the life of the speaker Mohammad Khalid. The narrative is in the Northern (Mandē) dialect of Azamgarhi with some code-switching to Urdu.

This is a conversation between four-five people. Maaz — accompanied by his father — visits his (late) paternal grandmother’s ancestral home in Mande village. His father and his grandmother’s sister-in-law have a conversation which was joined by her relatives too. Maaz finds the conversation quite interesting and decides to record it. It ranges from a discussion on the modern age and its issues on family members, religion, current issues, politics, etc.

This is a retelling of one of the stories on Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the eleventh and last king of the Awadh Kingdom. Wajid Ali Shah was widely regarded as a debauched and detached ruler, and this story highlights the point.

This is a story of a king who has seven children and once tells one of his children to bring a few things from the market. He instead brings a book that makes the king angry, and he evicts him. The son leaves the palace, goes to another village, and begins to stay there. He takes up a challenge and wins. The king gets pleased and marries his daughter with him. The prince then returns to his father’s kingdom, and the story continues. The story is recited by Asiya Khatoon, who is a Bhojpuri speaker hailing from Siwan district from Bihar, in (Eastern) Urdu. The researcher asks her maternal grandmother to interpret in Azamgarhi. She interprets in the Northern dialect.

This is a story about a prince whose mother died and his stepmother would never like him. The story describes how she troubles him and never gives him good food to eat, but he was lucky enough to have the blessings of a miraculous cow and feed on her milk. Later on, when his stepmother realized this, she ordered that all cows be slaughtered. Still, the prince escapes along with the cow to a different country where he grows up in a healthy environment. After quite a few years, he returns to his village, reuniting with his father.

This is a recording of a conversation on ladies’ clothes and design between four women, among whom one was sewing clothes.

This is a reading and simultaneous interpretation of an Urdu article Khōkhlā vajūd 'Hollow existence', which appeared in the Urdu daily newspaper 'The Inquilab' dated 26th of December 2019. The article was read by Naazli at her residence, and her cousin Faiza Khan simultaneously interpreted it into Azamgarhi. This was done at the request of Maaz, and the article was suggested to him by his grandfather.

This is an audio recording of Wali, 16 year old boy, having a conversation with his friend on a mobile phone. He appears to be quite upset about an event at his one friend’s house during birthday celebrations. He narrates to his friend, on phone, the heated exchange of words between him and some other friend. The swear words are bleeped.

This is a story about a prince whose maternal uncles killed his father. Once — when young — he asks his mother about his father. She replies that he was murdered by his uncle. From that day onwards, he decides to take revenge for his father’s death. His uncles wanted to kill the prince too — the way they killed his father. This story describes how the prince takes revenge. This story is in the western variety of the Southern dialect of Azamgarhi. succeeds in finding Sheherbano. This story is told in the western variety of the Southern dialect of Azamgarhi

This is a story about a princess whose mother died and her father remarries. The stepmother gives birth to a daughter, and the princess and her stepsister spend their childhood in a friendly way. As time passes, the stepmother and daughter develop jealousy and animosity towards the princess and adopt every possible technique to trouble her. Even after suffering so much, the good fate of the princess always takes care of her. All inflicted hardship by the stepmother bounces back to her daughter. The moral of the story is — As you sow shall you reap. This story is told in the western variety of the Southern dialect of Azamgarhi.

This is a story about a hen and python who were very good friends. Once, seeing the hen being quite healthy, the python’s intentions went awry. He asked the hen to go inside her stomach once and check what’s there, and then he would do the same. The hen replied, okay, and the python goes inside and finds 8-10 eggs. His intentions very nefarious at once, and he asks the hen to do the same. The poor hen does so, and the cunning snake does not open his mouth to let her out.

This is a very short bedtime story of a king and a cat narrated in a rhyming pattern. These type of stories are told to lull and amuse small children.

This is a conversation between three people in Fatehpūr village in the Maū district of UP. The conversation begins with some land issues in Fatehpūr and then moves on to modern-day farming issues faced in the village. Then the speakers move on to discussing the prospects of fisheries and then to the climate of Fatehpūr, which is relatively colder because of the Fatehpūr Ratōh Lake.

This is a conversation in (Pharaī) Chāndpūr village situated in the Maū district of UP, between Irfan Ahmad Usmani, Maaz Shaikh and his uncle Saeeduz Zafar Ali. The conversation begins with a discussion on the variety of Azamgarhi spoken in this village and continues to the Azamgarhi language and thereafter to the different local vernaculars spoken in Eastern UP and Bihar. Further, Mr. Usmani describes the village, its iconic location due to it being situated near the banks of a tributary (Pharaī in Azamgarhi) of the Ghāgrā river, and its unique tongue. Then, the conversation moves on to a discussion on relatives. Later on, his sister too joins the conversation.

This is a conversation primarily with Mr. Akhlaque. After recording some conversations in Rāmpūr village, the researcher learns the language of the Muslims to be Bhojpuri and almost the same as that of the Hindu population, unlike that in Fatehpūr. He then moves near to Mr. Akhlaque to enquire about this. Mr. Jameel then joins the conversation and adds his opinion on the ongoing topic.

This is a story about a king who once takes a walk in his kingdom to check if everyone there is pleased with him. He finds three sisters wishing that if they marry the royal cook, the vizier, and the king, their lives will change forever. This happens, and the king marries the younger sister. She gives birth to a child whom the elder sister replaces with a kitten and leaves him flowing in the river. This happens thrice. The children were found by a gardener who brings them up very well. The story, which is in the Northern (Mandē) dialect with some instances of code-switching to Urdu, continues further.

This is a story of a husband and wife who once had so little flour left in their house that only three chapatis could be made. The husband says that he will eat two chapatis, and the wife too says the same. A heated exchange took place between them, but they finally agreed that whoever speaks first will eat just one chapati while the other one, two. They lie down and silently stare at each other, and three days pass like this. The villagers, thinking of them being dead, go to their house, wrap them in a shroud and take them to the crematory. At last, the husband says to the wife, okay two chapatis for you!