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The petty politics and politicians of the country have tried burying this language! This \u2018connecting language\u2019, Urdu, lies crushed in the midst of the communal virus holding sway<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019d near forgotten that 21st<\/sup>\u00a0February was International Mother Language\u00a0\u00a0Day, till a senior colleague reminded me. And with that I sat forlorn, with the thought that my grasp of my mother tongue, Urdu, is dismal. And till this day I feel rather upset about this. And I do blame the political rulers and bureaucratic system for depriving the children from the minority community of their mother tongue. Why?\u00a0\u00a0Because it is not taught in a majority of schools in India and with that out of the learning-grasp of the school-going Muslim children.<\/p>\n My parents tried\u00a0their\u00a0best that we don\u2019t miss out on learning Urdu and had\u00a0even\u00a0arranged for a Maulvi Sahib,\u00a0who\u00a0would come to our home, to\u00a0teach my siblings and I our mother tongue, Urdu,\u00a0\u00a0and to also read the\u00a0\u00a0Quran. And though my siblings did fare somewhat okay, but I couldn\u2019t really go beyond the very basics. Many\u00a0years later, Khushwant\u00a0\u00a0Singh was shocked to\u00a0know that\u00a0\u00a0I wasn\u2019t very fluent with my\u00a0mother tongue\u00a0\u00a0Urdu and\u00a0insisted that I re-start learning it but then it was a bit too late for me. For I believe that what\u2019s taught in school, remains intact and along the forever strain.<\/p>\n Khushwant\u2019s rationale was that without the knowledge of Urdu I\u2019d be missing on the vast rich expanse of Urdu poetry and literature. He realized the rough treatment meted out to this language by the successive governments and the politicians of the country was along the narrow communal outlook. He\u00a0minced no words, detailing the slow death of this language, \u201cUrdu is dying a slow death in the land where it was born and where\u00a0it flourished. The number of\u00a0students\u00a0who\u00a0take it\u00a0\u00a0as a\u00a0\u00a0subject in schools and\u00a0colleges is dwindling\u2026Apart from\u00a0\u00a0Kashmir, where\u00a0\u00a0Urdu\u00a0is taught from the\u00a0primary to the post-graduate levels,\u00a0\u00a0in the rest\u00a0of\u00a0\u00a0India, it\u00a0\u00a0is\u00a0the\u00a0second\u00a0or\u00a0third\u00a0language. With the passing of years it has come to be dubbed as the language of the Muslims, which is far\u00a0\u00a0from the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n Khushwant would recite these verses of Urdu poets Rashid and Khurshid Afsar Bisrani, focusing on this near-death of Urdu.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rashid\u2019s verse:<\/strong><\/p>\n Maangey Allah\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0se bas itni dua hai Rashid \/<\/em><\/p>\n Main jo Urdu mein vaseeyat likhoon beta parh ley.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n (All Rashid asks\u00a0\u00a0of\u00a0\u00a0Allah\u00a0\u00a0is just\u00a0\u00a0one\u00a0\u00a0small\u00a0\u00a0gift\/\u00a0\u00a0If\u00a0\u00a0I write\u00a0\u00a0my will\u00a0\u00a0in\u00a0\u00a0Urdu,\u00a0\u00a0may\u00a0\u00a0my son\u00a0\u00a0be able to read\u00a0\u00a0it.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Khurshid Afsar Bisrani\u2019s verse:<\/p>\n Ab Urdu kya hai ek kothey kee tawaif\u00a0\u00a0hai \/<\/em><\/p>\n Mazaa har ek leta hai,mohabbat kaun karta hai.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n (What is Urdu now but a whore in a whorehouse \/Whoever wants has fun with her, very few love her.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n Yes, the petty politics and politicians of the country have tried burying this language!\u00a0The stark reality is that Urdu lies bypassed, neglected and deadened.\u00a0It is \u2018alive\u2019 only for Bollywood\u2019s commercial needs. Or for the particular poetry and \u2018shairi\u2019 sessions. Otherwise, this \u2018connecting language\u2019, Urdu, lies crushed in the midst of the communal virus holding sway.<\/p>\n Around 2005, when I was a visiting professor at the Jamia\u00a0\u00a0Millia\u00a0\u00a0Islamia, I had\u00a0met a researcher, Valerio Pietrangelo. He was\u00a0pursuing\u00a0advanced\u00a0study\u00a0of\u00a0\u00a0Urdu and\u00a0\u00a0Arabic from the University of Rome and\u00a0had travelled\u00a0\u00a0to Jamia Millia Islamia as\u00a0part of his\u00a0research work\u00a0on –\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Partition Literature in Urdu,\u00a0\u00a0written\u00a0by\u00a0women\u2019. With\u00a0\u00a0that in the\u00a0backdrop, I\u2019d asked\u00a0\u00a0him\u00a0\u00a0to comment on\u00a0the Indian\u00a0\u00a0Muslims he\u2019d\u00a0\u00a0been\u00a0\u00a0meeting and also his\u00a0comments on their\u00a0mother tongue, Urdu. Valerio was forthright, “As my\u00a0\u00a0main concern has always\u00a0been Urdu\u00a0\u00a0language and literature, my contact with the Muslim community in\u00a0\u00a0India\u00a0has always been\u00a0filtered by my perception\u00a0of the language\u00a0issue. My impression is that Muslims are in a certain sense a backward community, at least many of them. As I met Muslims, I realized how dramatically they are shifting to Hindi and other Indian languages since government is not promoting Urdu language and literature. I think language is an essential element of group identity, therefore, I feel that Muslim identity is threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n In today\u2019s India, Urdu stands reduced to such lows that knowledge of Urdu cannot ensure employment; nor the basic means to survival. This treatment meted out to a language that carries the subtle power to heal and control emotions. In fact,\u00a0a detailed\u00a0study\u00a0conducted by the Lucknow-based\u00a0\u00a0Centre for\u00a0\u00a0Biomedical\u00a0\u00a0Researches\u00a0\u00a0(CBMR) published in\u00a0an edition of\u00a0\u00a0international\u00a0journal\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Neuroscience\u00a0\u00a0Letters\u2019 states that\u00a0reading\u00a0\u00a0Urdu script and Urdu couplets helps in brain development. This report, based on\u00a0extensive\u00a0research,\u00a0\u00a0goes to\u00a0prove that\u00a0learning and reading\u00a0\u00a0Urdu\u00a0couplets\u00a0helps in controlling\u00a0emotions,\u00a0\u00a0coping\u00a0with\u00a0\u00a0stress, delaying\u00a0dementia. It could also be helpful for children with learning disabilities.<\/p>\n I can say with much confidence that\u00a0another positive is that Urdu couplets, dripping with romantic strains, carry the ability to distract one from the dark realities of the day.<\/p>\n Perhaps,\u00a0this particular verse of Sahir Ludhianvi relays the stark dark truth of the hypocrisy ridden times we are surviving in:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe same cities where once Ghalib\u2019s voice resounded<\/p>\n Now have disavowed Urdu, made it homeless<\/p>\n The day that announced the arrival of freedom<\/p>\n Also declared Urdu a cursed and treacherous language<\/p>\n The same government that once crushed a living tongue<\/p>\n Now wishes to mourn and honour the dead<\/p>\n The man you call Ghalib was a poet of Urdu<\/p>\n Why praise Ghalib after suppressing his language.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here it gets significant to detail that my grasp of the Hindi language has been good and remains so. Why? For two basic reasons. Because it was taught at the school level. And at the Intermediate level I had even opted for Advanced Hindi. And that meant Hindi together with Sanskrit. But when I found the going to be tough, my father had engaged a Panditji who was teaching Hindi at Lucknow’s Islamia Intermediate College.<\/p>\n This tutor, who was called \u2018Panditji\u2019, taught me with so much of patience and earnestness that I fell in love, with the language, that is! With paan tucked in his mouth, Panditji wouldn’t look at his watch and would go on teaching for hours. Though\u00a0he always\u00a0declined the chai-paani offer, presumably because of the non-vegetarian food cooked in our Muslim\u00a0household, but\u00a0he didn\u2019t\u00a0make it apparent. I recall his one-liner, by way of declining, “ab to paan kha liya hai.\u201d(<\/em>I\u2019ve had paan\/ betel.)\u00a0<\/em>Mind you, he would carry his own paans, tucked in a small cloth bag.<\/p>\n Whilst teaching me he would narrate the various connected factors and details to the Hindi and Sanskrit languages and that alone made the lessons so very thorough and interesting. Not to overlook the ever enchanting mythological tales he would weave in. And he would do so, so very subtly that till date all those details are with me.<\/p>\n Of course, not to overlook the basic fact that those were good old days of both the communities, Hindus and\u00a0\u00a0Muslims, living in harmony, without Hindutva communal brigades hovering around, threatening and harassing, killing and lynching \u2026ruining our collective togetherness.<\/p>\n I wish and hope those old good days get back and\u00a0peace prevails.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The petty politics and politicians of the country have tried burying this language! This \u2018connecting language\u2019, Urdu, lies crushed in the midst of the communal virus holding sway I\u2019d near forgotten that 21st\u00a0February was International Mother Language\u00a0\u00a0Day, till a senior colleague reminded me. And with that I sat forlorn, with the thought that my grasp […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14828,23,2205],"tags":[9186,8590],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336018,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336016\/revisions\/336018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/336017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}