Page 8 - Pakistan Link - May 17, 2019
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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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