Page 8 - Pakistan Link - May 17, 2019

P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – MAY 17, 2019 OPINION
n By Kaleem Kawaja Indian Urdu, Pakistani Urdu volume of such new material and
Washington, DC such writers is very small. Go to
India and try to look for Urdu
he beautiful Urdu lan- Balochistan, and Bengal. With newspapers, magazines, etc. in the
guage that was born out the active support of the govern- hope of reading some good Urdu
Tof the common man’s vo- ment Urdu literature and language material and you will be very dis-
cabulary in north India in the fl ourished in Pakistan. At the same appointed. Th e only Urdu jour-
late-1700s and time with the opposition to Urdu nalism that one comes across is
was known as from infl uential elements in the mostly about India’s politicians,
Rekhta, gradually Indian government, teaching of political parties and their machi-
acquired many Urdu in schools in Delhi, UP, Bi- nations or complaints of the Mus-
Persian and Ara- har, MP, Hyderabad, where it was lim community or religious mate-
bic words to be- the mother tongue of the Muslims, rial. As for the Aligarh Muslim
come a powerful declined rapidly in India. Urdu is University or Jamia Milia Islamia,
language of the also the native language of many not even professors from their
masses and the court. Th e word Muslims in Kashmir, Karnatak, Urdu departments are producing
‘Urdu’ was fi rst used for this lan- Maharashtra and Gujarat. much quality Urdu material. As
guage in 1780 by poet Ghulam In undivided India the Urdu mushairas in India are increasing-
Hamdan Mushafi . In about one afi cionados in Delhi and Lucknow ly becoming entertainment events,
hundred years leading to Ghadar had long felt that in comparison rahay” . duwala is more likely to use sim- one does not even hear much good
in Delhi, it became a beautiful to Punjab theirs was the cradle For reasons mentioned above pler colloquial Hindustani words Urdu poetry there. Instead geets,
literary language. of Urdu. Punjab produced many the quality, fi nesse and literary like bahas, paas, nazdik, dukh, tarannum and bhandpun labeled
In 1837 the British Indian highly reputed Urdu poets yet depth of Urdu in Pakistan has con- khushi, etc. as mazahia shaaeri are becoming
government recognized Urdu as the Avadhi Urduwalas declined tinued to climb to higher levels. About fi ft een years ago when I the staples of mushaeras.
a replacement for Persian and as to accept them at par. With the Th e essayists, playwrights, poets heard Urdu poet Ahmad Faraz say During my recent visit to
one of the major languages of In- rise of Allama Iqbal, the ‘Shaaer- of Urdu in Pakistan are continu- that Pakistan’s Urdu shaaers were India I was pleasantly surprised
dia. In post-independence India, e-Mashriq’ in Lahore in 1915 ing to nurture richness in Urdu better than India’s Urdu shaaers, to come across a TV channel on
Urdu was recognized by the In- onwards, writing volumes upon language. Th e vocabulary that one my self-esteem made me feel re- which poet Javed Akhtar regularly
dian constitution as one of the 22 volumes of highly inspiring and comes across from educated Paki- sentful. But as I continued to hear gives commentary on the various
scheduled languages of the coun- unmatchable poems in luxuriant stani people in ordinary conversa- Urdu shaaers from India in mus- genre of Urdu poetry, Urdu vo-
try. Th e 2001 Indian government Urdu, Avadhis had to acknowl- tion and in Urdu essays or books hairas in America and also shaaers cabulary and the growth of Urdu
census certifi ed that Urdu was the edge the exalted status of Urdu in of Urdu poetry by poets is of high- from Pakistan, I felt that Ahmad poetry and language. Aside from
native language of 52 million or 6 Punjab. Yet while in UP, Bihar, MP er quality - the way it used to be Faraz was right. Not only shaaers that, for the common Indian Urdu
percent of Indian citizens. Also etc. Urdu was the only language of before the partition of India. In who have passed away in recent is just an entertainment language
in Pakistan, Urdu is the native Muslims, in Punjab, Punjabi was contrast, the vocabulary and qual- decades like Faiz, Faraz, Habib Jal- that you hear when you are in a
language of over 10 million Paki- the language of the Muslims of ity of Urdu even from Urdu poets ib, Parveen Shakir, Qateel Shafaae, bar or in a Bollywood movie cin-
stanis. Punjab. and well educated people in India Hazfi z Jallandari, but also the cur- ema hall. At the same time I was
First there were three im- Th us one heard parting shots is a notch below, and either con- rent generation of shaaers from very pleased to watch some scin-
portant centers of Urdu litera- from the Urduwala Avadhis on tains Hindi words liberally or uses Pakistan are using better quality tillating Urdu plays on the Paki-
ture: Delhi, Lucknow, and Lahore. the Urdu of Punjabis. Th ere is the non-literary sounding Hindustani Urdu vocabulary compared to In- stani TV channel Zindagee. It is
Mid-1800s onwards Hyderabad well-known pun of a Urdu noble words rather than Urdu words. dia’s Urdu shaaers. Additionally, a sophisticated channel that uses
became the fourth important from Lucknow who visited Iqbal For instance, one does not the shaeree of India’s Urdu poets is no references to any religious is-
center of Urdu literature. Aft er at his house in Lahore. When he oft en hear quality Urdu words like more melancholic and full of feel- sue and is keenly and regularly
the partition of India, Pakistan returned to Lucknow his friends, takrar, jirah, atraf, qurbat, ghum, ings of mazloomiat, hopelessness, watched by many non-Muslims
made Urdu its offi cial language awed by Iqbal’s exalted status as a musarrat from India’s educated despair as Urdu in India has been in north India these days.
even though it was not the mother great Urdu poet, asked him about Urduwala Muslims in conversa- relegated from darbar to bazar. (Th e writer is executive direc-
tongue of the majority of people in the meeting. Th e snobbish Luc- tion. But in talking to Pakistani When it comes to serious es- tor of the Association of Indian
any of the provinces of Pakistan, knovi noble said, “Main ji-haan folks you always hear such good says, commentaries, plays, analy- Muslims of America, Washington
namely Punjab, Sindh, NWFP, kahta raha aur wuh han-ji kahtey Urdu vocabulary. An Indian Ur- ses in Urdu written in India, the DC)

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