Commentary

Aye Lucknow Ki SarZameen
By Dr Basheer Ahmed Khan
Garden Grove, CA

When I read about the efforts of Asma Begum and Mushtaq Bilal to teach Urdu at an American university (Pakistan Link, April 19), I was happy to learn that the State Department was funding a program to teach Urdu under the Critical Language Study (CLS) scheme, and they had selected Lucknow for it. To learn about the choice of Lucknow was not a mere Dejavu, it was something much more.
Ever since the days when I had seen the movie ChaudvinKaChaandin my young age, the song penned by one of the best Urdu poets in Indian film industry ShakeelBadayuni, and sung by one of the best singers Muhammad Rafi, still fascinates me and brings tears to my eyes: the scenes of that love triangle between Waheeda Rahman, Gurudutt and Rahman come alive in my memory. The song was Aye Lucknow Ki Sarzameen. One of my ultimate wishes those days was to visit Lucknow and see that city and learn about its language. In 1974, when I was posted to Lucknow on my first assignment, it was a cherished dream come true.
As an Urdu-speaking person from the South of India where the Dakni dialect of Urdu is spoken, I was always apologetic for my accent when I had to meet many an Urdu writer and poet from North India. The word Dakani is derived from the term Dehkhan which means “The village”. Dakani Urdu lacks sophistication but it has spontaneity springing from the sincerity of the people of the south.
Indeed, Lucknow, the capital of the Awadh dynasty, was the ultimate in shaistagi (cultural decency) so much so that the nobility from all over India used to send their children to the city to make them cultured, decent human beings representing the best of deportment and demeanor. People of this city were so proud of their language and mannerism that it was difficult for them to withstand the crudeness of other people, not out of arrogance, but because such behavior was alien to their taste. One of the famous Urdu poets IsrarUlHaqMajaz was so fascinated by the atmosphere of Lucknow and Lucknow University that he refused to graduate and leave the place even though his colleagues became his professor. Ultimately, an ordinance had to be enforced to evict him from the university hostel. He spent the remaining part of his life in the famous Coffee House of Lucknow trying to bring about the fruits of Renaissance to India and writing some very fine poetry.
This effort of MajazLucknawi came a little late because the memories of Mutiny in the neighboring Residency were kept afresh for its economic and political benefits. Lucknow is also famous for many movements and their leaders. Amidst the majestically flowing Gomti River and the institutions representing antiquity like Residency, NadwathulUlema, Farangi Mahal, Imam Baras we have new impressive buildings of modern administration and sprawling cantonments. These have not only changed the landscape of the city from the time of Awadh civilization but also its demographic and psyche.
When I landed in Lucknow at Char Bagh Railway Station about which I had read a lot in short stories in BiswinSadi written by its Chief Station Master Mr Ram Lal, I was disappointed to see nothing of that shaistagi or heard that refined language of ChaudviKa Chand, Mere Mehboob, Dastak, MughleAzam that I was hoping to hear and learn during my stay at Lucknow. I could not meet Ram Lal Ji because my conveyance had been waiting for me for long due to delay in the arrival of the train. I left to join the disciplined life of the Army with my stray thoughts about language, history, culture and society.
As I was sitting in the Officer’s Mess one evening waiting for dinner to be served, I saw an elderly Sardarji entering the mess. I was alone in the mess. He approached me and I was delighted to know that he was one of my favorite short story writers, Ratan Singh. He was one of those “TaraqqiPasand” (progressive) writers who had lifted Independent thinking generated by renaissance from the morass of irresponsible thinking to the pinnacle of responsible thinking. He used to write in the Urdu literary monthly “BiswinSadi” edited by KhustarGrami. In a moment we developed a rapport because of our common interest. MrRatan Singh was then working as In-Charge of the Urdu program at the All India Radio Lucknow.
When I told him about my interest in visiting some local families to enjoy the original Lucknawi Urdu, his reply was both interesting and amusing. He said: Doctor Sahib, Ab kahanaap us Urdu ko Lucknow meintalashkartay ho. Taqseemkebaad hum sardaron ne to uskahuliyabigaddiyahai (meaning where are you searching for that Lucknow brand of Urdu now. After partition immigrating Sardarjis have destroyed that language). His reply was a masterpiece of disarming honesty which should be the hallmark of any true writer who uses his pen to advance truth. He promised that he will take me to Begum Akhtar when she returns to Lucknow. I was not to meet her because a few days later it was not she but her dead body that arrived in Lucknow and instead of meeting her I had to attend her funeral prayer. I have written about this in my article “Remembering Begum Akhtar” (Pakistan Link, October 21, 2016).
Ratran Singh Ji and I were both sad at not being able to meet the living Begum Akhtar. Therefore, he took me to old Lucknow to the house of an old lady in her sixties who was living with her sister to give me a taste of the dying Lucknow culture. The lady and her family were the descendants of a Magistrate of Lucknow during the Awadh period. They were living in a spacious house extending from the main road to an ally in the back. The bench and the bar were part of the house adjacent to their living room. The accused were brought before the magistrate from the door in the alley that opened into this court chamber.
As we were sitting in the sitting room sipping Fanta I observed the dust on the floor and the sheets covering the sofas and also the cobwebs that were aplenty on the roof. These elderly sisters because of their failing health could not take care of the house. They had no pension and were subsisting on little money which the younger sister earned and on the money drawn from the equity of the house through mortgage. The depressive surroundings did not give me a chance to make anything of the chaste Urdu she spoke or what she spoke. A line from an old song reverberated in my mind then and for a long time thereafter: Hai bhahar e bagh e dunyachandroz, meaning the beauty of spring in the gardens of the world is there to last only for a few days and thereafter the advent of autumn is inevitable.
Ratan Singh Ji took me to his home for dinner that evening where his wife had prepared delicious rice and parathas and meat curry. He told me that the meat was from a Muslim butcher to make sure that I ate it.
When I mentioned one of his stories about the relativity of time, he showed me the view of the road from the window of his sitting room at the opposite end of which the bus stopped to pick up his children for school. He said: As I stand in the window to watch the children crossing the road those few seconds appear long to me during which I fear that a speeding car or bus or rickshaw may run over them. On the other hand, these few hours with you now have passed so quickly. Time is not just what the mechanical clock shows but also the mood in which you spend it. Anyway, these were the few memories of Lucknow.
Against the backdrop of my experience of Lucknow I was both happy and amused at the choice of the city by our State Department for the study of Urdu under the Critical Language Study (CLS) program. The article “Pressing need for a Vibrant Media” by the Editor A M Faruqui in the same issue of Pakistan Link was apt to draw the attention of Pakistan Embassy to the missed opportunities and improve the situation.
I have written a number of articles about the importance of Urdu language ever since my first article on the subject “Urdu, A Paradise Lost” (Pakistan Link dated Feb 2, 2011), and I am thankful to the Editor for publishing them. I would suggest to the enthusiasts who want to promote Urdu amongst the Americans to instill a taste of the language instead of teaching them alphabets and grammar. A language is learnt by those who do not know it, not because of our sincere and parochial interest in teaching it, but because of its usefulness to them. Urdu will not get them any job, that is why even Pakistanis don’t learn it.
People are thirsty for ideas, entertainment, enlightenment and true knowledge. They are thirsty for it as they are lonely and melancholic in the fast modern day life despite dazzling lights, scintillating music and beauty surrounding them. If they know about the richness of the Urdu language and its capacity to keep their minds busy in something which inspires their quiescent intellect and soothes their disturbed emotions and opens a window to a fresh look at life, they will learn the alphabets and grammar later, no matter how difficult and expensive it is. Therefore, we should talk about the ideas from the literary masterpieces to inspire interest in them to learn Urdu as a language rather than abort their interest in the language prematurely by putting them into the cumbersome practice of mastering alphabets and grammar.

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