urdustan.net

Iqbal Day

2007-11-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

Iqbal was born 130 years ago on 9th November. Pakistan celebrates it as Iqbal Day and India as Urdu Day.

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THE 130th birth anniversary of Pakistan's leader and poet Allama Mohammed Iqbal was celebrated in Bahrain yesterday.

Iqbal Day, which falls on November 9, was marked by the Pakistan Urdu Literary Society (Halqa-e-Adab) and the Pakistan Embassy with a poetry evening held at the Bahrain Society of Engineers, Juffair.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=199501&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=30235

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The lovers of Urdu organised programmes at various places in the country Saturday to mark International Urdu Day on the 130th birth anniversary of the Poet of the East Allama Iqbal.

Speaking as Chief Guest in a programme organised under the joint aegis of United Muslim of India and Urdu Development Organisation in the Department of Urdu Delhi University, chairman National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Justice Suhail Ejaz Siddiqui advised the lovers of Urdu, for the promotion of the language, to take different practical measures on their own rather than only depending on the government.

"It is easy to read Allama Iqbal but difficult to understand him. It requires one full span of life to understand his thought and philosophy. He is not one of the poets who are read as pastime," Justice Siddiqui said.

http://www.twocircles.net/2007nov11/int_l_urdu_day_marks_allama_iqbal_s_130th_birthday.html

distance education MPhil in Urdu

2007-10-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

TIRUPATI: For the first time in the country, MPhil programme in Urdu through distance education mode has been introduced by Sri Venkateswara University.

Addressing students who attended the contact classes here today, Osmania University Urdu professor SA Majid Bedhar stressed the need for focusing on research in Urdu.

In his presidential address, Sattar Sahir, Head of Urdu Department of SVU, emphasised the need for more research in Urdu for the development of the language. Urdu professors K Bashir Ahmed, Nissar Ahmed and Ammanulla also spoke.

Link: http://www.svuniversity.in/

Urdu gets 2nd official language status

2007-10-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

GARHWA: Urdu-knowing people of Garhwa district as well as several Muslim organisaitons have welcomed the state government’s notification extending second official language status to Urdu in Jharkhand.

Welcoming the government decision, presidnet of Garhwa district Anjuman Taraqqi-E-Urdu Yasin Ansari said, “Madhu Koda-led UPA government of Jharkhand has fulfileld its commitment made to the public and honoured the interests of Urdu-knowing people.” The organisation’s general seretary, Reyaz Ahmad, said the state government gave Urdu its deserved place.

Amit Kesri, a graduate in Urdu (hons) of local SSJSN College said, “The UPA government of Jharkhand has proved its secular character by granting second official status to Urdu”. A number of other people including, Ramji Ram, Prof Rokhsana Hadi, Tahir Husain, Hasan Imdu (advocate), Prof A J Khan and Prof Sharfuddin Shaikh were prominent amaong those who lauded the state government’s decision

Urdu Science Encyclopaedia by June 2008

2007-10-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

LAHORE: The Urdu Science Board (USB) will complete an Urdu Science Encyclopaedia by June 2008, USB director general Khalid Iqbal Yasir told the USB Advisory Committee on Monday.

Yasir said the encyclopaedia would consist of 10 volumes and four of them had been completed and printed. He said the USB has published 750 books on 25 subjects. He said that USB had won 31 prizes on its publications. He said the USB had set up its publication outlets in Punjab, NWFP and Sindh. He added that the USB had translated many books for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). He said the USB was also preparing Urdu course books in the country. He said the board was also working for collaboration with the Urdu University. staff report
Courtesy DailyTimes.com.pk

Dard in UPenn

2007-10-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

The Hindi-Urdu Workshop Fall 2007:
"The Poetry of Khwajah Mir Dard"

Sat. October 6th 2007, 9 AM - 4 PM
Ben Franklin Room, Houston Hall, University of Pennsylvania

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~tluge/workshop/

This event is part of the semiannual workshop series organized by Columbia
University and the University of Pennsylvania. The topic of this term's
workshop is the poetry of Khwajah Mir Dard. The workshop is sponsored by
UPenn's Department of South Asia Studies. The workshop is free and open to
public, but registration is required (see below).

The work of the mid-18th century Mughal poet Khwaja Mir Dard, considered along
with Mir, Sauda, and Mazhar to be "one among the four pillars of the Urdu
language," is an important part of the standard Urdu literary canon. In
addition to his importance as a poet, Dard was also a celebrated Sufi
personality and among the few prominent Urdu poets to remain in Delhi in the
midst of great political instability. For the workshop we will examine
Dard's life and works, trying to understand his place both within the
tumultuous late Mughal Empire and as a leading figure in Urdu's "golden age."

A packet will be available containing poems by Khwaja Mir Dard and secondary
materials for discussion. No knowledge of Urdu is required, as the poems
will be transliterated in Roman characters and translated into English.
Copies of the packet will be available at the workshop. The materials can
also be downloaded from:

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~tluge/workshop/

This workshop is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
To register, RSVP to Sanjukta Banerjee (sanjukta@sas.upenn.edu) by Oct. 1,
2007.

For further inquiry, please contact Till Luge (tluge@sas.upenn.edu).
--
Till Luge
Department of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania

Hali and Dagh in California

2007-10-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

Dagh Dehalvi and Maulana Altan Hussain Hali will not be in California but their poetry will be discussed.

Sunday, Nov 4th from 3pm to 5:30pm
at India Community Center
525 Los Coches Street, Milpita, CA 95035

download flyer here

Noorjahan singing a Dagh ghazal:

Wordsworth in Urdu

2007-09-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

William Wordsworth recollected in Urdu
Gayatri Rajwade
Tribune News Service

Daffodils

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

Ab bahut saalon ke baad, aleem e tanhaiyee mein,
jab lethta hoon bistar par ranjofikar mein,
rangeen nargis ki vahi tasveer
ubhar aati hai zahan mein,
yeh udasi mein meri rahat ka sabab banti hai,
mera dil jhoom uthta hai khushi mein,
aur nachne lagta hai
nargis ke saath saath

Chandigarh, September 22
Eighteenth century Romantic poet William Wordsworth’s lyrical verses will now find resonance in Urdu, courtesy retired English professor Jogendra Kaushal.

While this British poet is his muse, interestingly American poet Robert Frost’s lines “And miles to go before I sleep” from ‘Stopping by woods on a Snowy Evening’ best epitomise this grand old man’s “designs”. “I believe there is a divinity that shapes our ends,” he says quoting from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But this belies the effort that has gone into translating or rather “re-writing” Wordsworth’s epic poems in Urdu which has taken him the better part of a year of working “in earnest.”

Professor Kaushal believes this is the first time that anyone has attempted translating Wordsworth in Urdu. It is a language that is fading in India he admits, but he is optimistic about its resurgence and believes he will still reach out to “millions of people” in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi even Himachal Pradesh (where it is still used as the official language in some courtrooms he says) and Pakistan.

Born in 1928, Kaushal’s primary education was in Urdu, including the geometry and algebra, which was taught in Urdu. However, he never learnt it formally. “There is sweetness in this language so I kept learning it until I felt I was comfortable with it,” he says.

However, it was towards English literature that he veered joining Punjabi University, Patiala, as a lecturer in English where he was selected for specialisation in American literature. He finally retired as director, Correspondence Studies, where he was also monitored distance education programmes as member of a high-powered committee under the UGC and was also part of the International Council for Distance Education.

However literature remained his first love and it was an official trip to Mount Abu in 1986 where gazing at the splendour of the setting sun Wordsworth suddenly sprung to mind:

And I have felt

A presence that disturbs me with the joy

Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime

Of something far more deeply interfused

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns

“I was quoting these lines to myself and I thought why not take them to those who have not read Wordsworth?” he said.

However, it was only in 1992 that he finally stopped working and started writing in earnest. “While students appreciate a high voltage teacher it is the adults that really need to be educated but that cannot come from politics, the teacher has to be literature,” he averred. He turned to Wordsworth for the complex lessons of life and for the universal mystical quality the verses possessed. He is now translating Frost.

“People are not interested in heavy literature. They read what they can feel in their pulse and Wordsworth and Frost are closest to this psyche,” he explains.

While it was very difficult to translate and ensure that the essence of the poems is not lost, Kaushal says the whole experience has been cathartic in fact akin to “salvation”.

Around 10 of Wordsworth’s more “significant” poems have been translated and are ready to be published. While Aligarh Muslim University has already expressed its interest, Kaushal is keen that his University takes the project up. He has moved onto translating Frost’s poems starting with the lines found on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s table on the day he passed away:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep

But I have promises to keep

And miles to go before I sleep

And miles to go before I sleep

Until then “the consistency of the poets, their subtle philosophy and the message they hold out to mankind” which brought him to them in the first place, continue to enthrall him. After all in the words of this 79-year-old man, “I have not taught literature, I have lived it.”

Doobiya badal jo mandrate hain doobte suraj ke girad (The clouds that gather round the setting sun)

Aak jhapakte hi uske chehre ko dhak lenge (Do take a sober colouring from an eye)

Yeh maut ka manzar hota hai (That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;)

Besasakta keh uthta hun ek aur sitara toota, Ek aur azeem ulshan daur khatam hui (Another race hath been, and other palms are won)

(Lines from Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood)

Urdu and Indian Muslims

2007-09-20T06:37:00.000-07:00

Urdu and Indian Muslims
By M A Siraj

Urdu is generally considered to be a language getting confined to the Muslim population in Independent India, notwithstanding secular credentials of its literature in the past.

That is why it has no claim over a specified space and has remained stateless. It is both the strength and the weakness of Urdu. While the spatial spread of Urdu people makes them truly pan-Indian, the absence of a solid critical mass enfeebles its case for a viable medium for education and other modes of communication.
In an India that is divided into linguistic states for administrative facility, Urdu is spoken in tiny enclaves across the states.
The latest Language Atlas of India published by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner has in a special exercise cross tabulated the Urdu and Muslim population in the country. The significant aspect of the outcome of the exercise is the fact that only a little over half of Muslims (i e 51.5 per cent) residing in Uttar Pradesh have recorded Urdu as their mother tongue.
In the case of Bihar, this proportion is about 66.8 per cent. In contrast, a vastly preponderant majority of Muslims living in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra have registered Urdu as their mother tongue. Other states where proportion of Urdu speakers among Muslims is significant are Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
To sum up the position of Urdu vis-à-vis Muslims, it would be sufficient to point out that while there were 101.5 million Muslims in India (1991 Census which excludes Jammu and Kashmir), 42.72 per cent recorded Urdu to be their mother tongue. This is to say that less than half of Indian Muslims speak or use Urdu.
Let us go into the linguistic composition of Muslims in India in a little more detail. At least in three more states Muslims make up a good chunk of population. These are Kerala (23 per cent), Assam (28.43 per cent) and West Bengal (23.61 per cent). But Urdu speakers among the Muslims are merely 0.19 per cent, 0.06 per cent and 9.05 per cent respectively in these states. Similarly, in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, the proportion of Urdu speakers is 27 per cent, 37.40 per cent and 34
per cent.
The biggest surprise comes from Uttar Pradesh where only a little over 51 per cent Muslims have recorded Urdu to be their mother tongue. It clearly points to changes in linguistic demography of Muslims in a key state associated with Urdu’s development and politics. An unmistakable implication emerging from this is that the word Muslim is no longer co-terminus with Urdu.
Even as formal literacy is on the rise in the doab (region between Ganga and Yamuna) in Uttar Pradesh, the fault lines between Hindi and Urdu are more distinct due to the Devanagari script of Hindi and Perso-Arabic script of Urdu. This new shift in markers of linguistic identity now compels even Urdu-speaking but educated Muslims in Uttar Pradesh to identify with Hindi than Urdu.
Previously, in the absence of literacy and formal education, the two sister languages were easily clubbed under Hindustani. But no longer so now. Perhaps this reality pervades the Muslim existence in the entire North Indian states and calls for its factoring into the educational, curricular, media and communication strategy.
(The author works with the BBC World Service in Bangalore.)

TN Urdu Academy reconstituted

2007-09-19T05:48:00.000-07:00

TN Urdu Academy reconstituted

Chennai, Sept 18: The Tamil Nadu government today reconstituted the administrative board of the Tamil Nadu Urdu Academy.

An official press release here said State Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi would be the chairman of the board and Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammad Ali would be the deputy chairman.

Secretaries of Finance, Higher Education and Backward Classes Welfare departments would be among the members besides Tamil poet Abdul Rehman.

How about Urdu?

2007-09-19T05:44:00.000-07:00

Official Google Blog: Google Reader goes multilingual

I hope it supports Urdu too.

Urdu plays: popular in India

2007-09-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

Play of words

Audiences flock to see entertaining Urdu plays, provided they are advertised as Hindi! Where have all the real Urdu plays gone, wonders RANA SIDDIQUI

Demand is greater than supply. One is not talking about IT professionals but Urdu plays on the Delhi stage. Delhiites complain about not having seen real Urdu plays for ages. The scene is the same in other cities like Mumbai and Bhopal where theatre otherwise is said to be thriving. For years there has been only a trickle of new Urdu plays. This despite the fact that some good old plays continue to be crowd-pullers, even if many of them are advertised as Hindi plays! Decades ago Nadira Babbar’s “Yahoodi Ki Ladki” played to packed halls in Delhi. Such is the success rate of this Urdu play that it has seen 1500 shows across the country and is still a major crowd puller.

More recently, Delhi saw “Maulana Azad” with Tom Alter in the title role. The two-and-half hour soliloquy in chaste Urdu is written and directed by Mohammad Sayeed Alam. This play has done 200 successful shows. Alam is almost the lone crusader in Delhi, who, through his plays like “Ghalib in New Delhi”, “K.L. Saigal” and “Bahadur Shah Zafar” gives Urdu theatre a kiss of life. Never mind that even Alam has to sell his Urdu plays as those in Hindi!

One can recall names like Revati Saran Sharma whose plays like “Phir Wohi Talash” and “Aur Shama Jalti Rahi” have earned a name for their excellent Urdu and stagecraft. Not to mention the doyen of Indian theatre, Habib Tanvir, whose “Agra Bazaar” and “Shatranj Ke Mohre” are always staged to overflowing halls.
The question

So, the audiences are there but why are Urdu plays so hard to come by? Where are the Urdu knowing actors, playwrights and directors? Perhaps the face of the Urdu play has changed. It is now represented by the likes of Naseeruddin Shah-Ratna Shah and Javed Akhtar-Shabana Azmi. As is known, they have transformed the stories of Ismat Chughtai, Sadat Hasan Manto, and memoirs of Kaifi Azmi and Shaukat Azmi (“Kaifi Aur Main”, etc.) into Urdu plays.

Says Tanvir, “Actually, all good Urdu writers like Rajender Singh Bedi and Manto were with All India Radio, so they used to write radio plays. They may never have thought in terms of staging them. Moreover, great Urdu speaking actors like Prithiviraj Kapoor and Saeed Jaffery were all absorbed by the film industry. After all, films have more money and there is no one to take care of Urdu theatre.”

Agrees Nadira, “Why should the children learn Urdu? It doesn’t fetch them a job. Urdu exists only in the Constitution. For ages I have not been able to stage good Urdu plays because there are no sponsors. The Government says ‘Urdu ke liye budget nahi hai.’ (There is no budget for Urdu.) Yeh woh jung hai jo door tak haari ja chuki hai. (It is a lost cause.) There is no distribution network for Urdu books. The TV serials have further tarnish ed the language. How do we keep theatre alive if there is no language and no torchbearers?”

Alam finds it a “paradoxical situation”. He says, “Modern Hindi theatre is ‘literarily’ Urdu. For instance, a play like “Tughlaq” is advertised as ‘Hindi play’ while it is in Urdu.” He feels the prevailing confusion between Hindustani and Urdu has resulted in pure Urdu losing out. “We playwrights are also responsible for it. I am guilty of saying that ‘Ghalib in New Delhi’, and ‘K.L. Saigal’ are Hindi plays while they are 70 per cent Urdu. And I have to do it, because if I declare that the play is in Urdu, then I lose half the audience because they think I am talking of ‘Persianised’ Urdu which is never the case.”

The practitioners of Urdu theatre are not sure if the efforts of the Shahs and Javed-Shabana are harbingers of hope. Tanvir remarks, “It is just a new beginning. Whether it survives or dies, only time will tell.”

Jain & Haider no more

2007-08-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

Urdu lost Gian Chand Jain and Qurattulain Haider. Here is a link for more information on Jain and for Qurattulain Haider an editorial from The Tribune.

Quarratulain Haider personified Urdu writing

THERE are some three generations of literature lovers who have read and admired Quarratulain Haider's Urdu novels and short stories. In fact, many of them are convinced that the modern age of Urdu novel started with her magnum opus, Aag ka Darya. For all these fans and admirers, her death at the age of 80 comes as a personal loss because hardly anyone can step into the oversized shoes of this grand old, erudite dame. Ainie Apa, as she was known widely, exuded the old-world charm of Muslim aristocracy, although she would have hated to be identified with any religion. She was far too cosmopolitan to be confined to any one religion, country or even culture. If her magic worked on several generations of readers, her characters too spanned several centuries, none more than Aag ka Darya, which straddled the period right from the BC era to modern times with consummate ease.

The Jnanpeeth Award winner was one of the few writers who used the historical backdrop so extensively. Accurate detailing and research that went into her work were remarkable. Partition was one event which touched her sensitive psyche deeply and figures in her writing prominently. The theme of inclusive, composite cultures, too, occurs repeatedly.

Another leitmotif is the predicament and poignant fate of her characters. The intricate detailing of their inner landscape put her in a class of her own as a writer. Since many of these characters were strong, independent and outspoken like the author, many thought that it was her personality that was reflected in these, although she denied this stoutly. What was remarkable in her case was that she was a perfectionist to the core. That is why when it came to translating Aag ka Darya, she did not leave the job to any translator, but did it herself, in the process trans-creating this remarkable novel. The translated work is a modern classic in itself. Awards she won aplenty. Criticism also came her way constantly, because the thoughts she expressed were unpalatable to the traditionalists. She pressed on regardless, for as long as she had the physical strength.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070823/edit.htm#3

Let's not forget people who sacrificed for freedom

2007-08-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

Azadi mubarak to both Pakistan (14th August) and India (15th August). On this occasion let's not forget the sacrifice of people who got us our freedom.

Urdu journalists were the first ones to take up the cause of freedom struggle.

'Urdu journalists first martyrs'

LUCKNOW: Urdu journalism played an important role in the country's freedom movement. The first and the second martyrs sent to the gallows in the history of freedom struggle were Urdu journalists, said Prof Sharib Rudaulvi, former head of Urdu department, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

He was speaking at a seminar on ‘Role of Urdu journalism in freedom struggle' organised by Urdu Media Guild on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of 1857 War of Independence here on Sunday. "Had Urdu journalism not opposed the British government, it would not have been possible for India to achieve freedom from the foreign rule," said Prof Anees Ashfaq, head, department of Urdu, Lucknow University while a senior journalist Abid Suhail was of the view that like English newspapers, Urdu journalism should also change with time.

On this occasion, a senior journalist and former editor of Urdu daily ‘Qaumi Awaz' Padma Shree Ishrat Ali Siddiqui was honoured with ‘Aabroo-e-Sahafat' (Honour of journalism) award for his remarkable contribution to journalism while secretary and director, information Diwakar Tripathi was given ‘Urdu Dost' award for promotion of Urdu journalism.

Urdu in India: past and present

2007-08-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

Partition of tongues
hardnewsmedia.com

Urdu has a rich tradition among non-Muslims in north India. It is only in recent years that the language is becoming confined to Muslims alone

Hasan Syed Kamaal Delhi

Urdu, a graceful tongue steeped in Indian culture and history, lost its traditional moorings in the country after Independence and was tagged with a particular religious community, the Muslims. Was this deliberate? Or did circumstances dictate the sorry turn of events for this language? The answer lies, perhaps, somewhere in between.

Urdu was never and still isn't entirely the language of Muslims alone. In Tamil Nadu, the language of Muslims is Tamil. Former president Abdul Kalam, a Tamilian Muslim, neither reads nor writes or speaks a word of Urdu. In Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as well, most Muslims speak only the local languages of their respective states.

The world of Urdu literature includes many non-Muslim names — novelist Ratan Nath (Sarshar) who is a Kashmiri pundit, poets Raghupati Sahay (Firaq Gorakhpuri) and Balraj Komal, fiction writer Gulshan Nanda, critics Malik Ram and Kali Das Gupta (Raza), short story writers Krishan Chander, Rajendra Singh Bedi, Surendra Prakash, Balraj Menra and Sharwan Kumar Verma to name a few. Some of the best ghazal (Urdu romantic poetry) singers are Jagjit Singh, Bhupinder Singh and Pankaj Udhas, none of them a Muslim.

However, this is only one side of the story. The other side, unfortunately, is not so bright. Most of the names mentioned above belong to a generation born before or around the time of Partition and Independence of the sub-continent. The scenario has changed quickly and significantly since. The generation that came from the partitioned Punjab and North West Frontier (NWF) was 'Urdu-knowing', or rather, 'only Urdu-knowing.' To cater to it, Urdu newspapers like Aryavrat, Milap and Pratap were published from Jalandhar and Delhi. The publishers and editors were Hindus. But the next generation of these migrants opted for Punjabi with the Gurumukhi script, if they were Sikhs who had settled down in the Indian side of Punjab, and Hindi, if they were Hindus. Consequently, the children of many Urdu writers and poets, including those mentioned above, can neither read nor write Urdu. The reason for this circumstance is not any sort of bias or prejudice but the simple fact that Urdu is no more a good prospect for employment.

Why did Urdu decline in the north Indian states? For some time, it ruled the roost in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. It also flourished in strong pockets like Bhopal and Indore in Madhya Pradesh, and Jaipur, Tonk and Udaipur in Rajasthan. The story in these states was slightly different and the Congress, even before Independence, had a very strong role to play in the demise of Urdu here. Congressmen like Madan Mohan Malviya, Govind Ballabh Pant and Dr Sampurnanand were dead against Urdu. In their opinion, Urdu was responsible for the partition of the country. They propagated their point of view with a vengeance. Even the socialist movement of Ram Manohar Lohia, which was apparently opposed only to English, disapproved of Urdu.

These anti-Urdu Hindus forgot that the largest treasure of Arya Samaj literature had been written in Urdu before the Partition. They also ignored the fact that in the early 20th century, a Hindu from Lucknow, Munshi Naval Kishore, had started a printing press in Lucknow to publish the 18 Puranas and the Mahabharata in Urdu. Or perhaps they just thought that Hindi would not grow and find its rightful place in national life if Urdu was allowed to flourish.

Whatever the reasons, the fact was that the unjustified interpretation of the 'three language formula' proved to be the last nail in Urdu's coffin as far as UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were concerned. This formula was adopted on the insistence of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The idea was that children all over the country would learn English, the national language Hindi, and their mother tongue. If the mother tongue was Hindi, they would choose another language prescribed as a national language in the 18th schedule of the Indian Constitution. After the language riots in the southern states that protested having Hindi 'imposed' on them, the 'three-language formula' was changed to teaching English, the mother tongue and the language of the state in which the student resided.

In the northern Hindi-speaking states, this formula was twisted further by the 'right-wing' in the Congress governments. Instead of allowing the teaching of Urdu to those whose mother tongue was Urdu, Sanskrit was introduced as the third language for all and sundry. As a result, except for those schools and colleges that were run by Muslim trusts and orphanages (which were very small in number), all other schools and colleges closed down Urdu classes and departments. It became difficult for even Muslim students, let alone non-Muslims, to learn Urdu in these institutions. Urdu was thus confined to Muslim schools and madrassas.

Astonishing as this may sound, despite past and current roadblocks littering its path, it cannot be denied that Urdu is growing in India even today and has more readers than ever before. The most visible change in its growth and spread is that the language has shifted its citadel from north India to the south and west of the country. Maharashtra, in particular, provides the best environment for the language today. When I came to Mumbai to join Urdu Blitz as a sub-editor, the two prominent Urdu dailies of the city Inquilab and Urdu Times had a combined circulation of 25,000 to 30,000 copies. Today, the city has four prominent Urdu dailies, and their combined circulation is greater than 1,50,000 copies, which is more than that of the Hindi dailies in the city.

Parts of Maharashtra that never had Urdu medium schools now have many. A student who made it to the merit list of the IAS this year received his entire education in the Urdu medium. Three years ago, a boy from an Urdu-medium school in Sholapur, Tanveer Muniar, topped the list in the SSC exam in Maharashtra.

Similar stories have emerged from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and to some extent Tamil Nadu also. There are many doctors and engineers in these states who have received their education through the Urdu medium. It is noteworthy that in states where Urdu is not perceived as a threat to the local language, there is no resistance to it. After the reinstatement of the state language as compulsory learning, Marathi, Telugu and Kannada are not threatened by Urdu and there is no hindrance to its being taught as the mother tongue to those students, mostly Muslims, who use it at home.

Even Bihar has started opening up in favour of Urdu. When Lalu Prasad Yadav became chief minister of Bihar, Urdu was allowed as one of the languages to be used for the Bihar Public Service Commission exams. Hence, some relationship was established between employment and Urdu, making a big difference for the growth of the language in Bihar. The same was not done by Mulayam Singh Yadav's government in UP.

However, it is unfortunate that today it is Muslims alone in all these states who are learning Urdu. It was former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who, while giving an interview to a Hindi weekly Dharam Yug in 1967, had said that Urdu is a language spoken by a few Muslims in north India. At that time, it was not correct to say so; but sadly enough, today, it is.

The writer is a lyricist and former editor of Urdu Blitz

Tabish Dehalvi

2007-07-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

Some links on Tabish Dehalvi:

on Wikipedia

at LoveUrdu.com

at UrduLife.com

PDF of an article published in The Herald.a

Job in Univ. of Virginia

2007-07-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

Lectureship in Hindi/Urdu Language

The Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Virginia invites applications for a two-thirds time, non-tenure track lectureship in Hindi and/or Urdu, to begin Fall of 2007. Teaching responsibilities include first- and second-year language classes in Hindi and/or Urdu. Ideally the candidate would be proficient in the Urdu script (because the University of Virginia teaches Hindi and Urdu together for the first year) as well as qualified to teach advanced conversation courses. Applicants must hold an MA or have equivalent experience, and they must have native or near-native fluency in Hindi and/or Urdu and English. This position carries a teaching load of two courses per semester. Prior experience teaching language classes at the university level is preferred.

Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, a current curriculum vitae, and the names of three references to dl2h@virginia.edu. Alternatively, materials may be sent to:

Daniel Lefkowitz, Chair
Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures
P.O. Box 400781
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4781.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.
The University of Virginia is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

---------------------------------------

G.A. Chaussée, Lecturer (Urdu & Hindi)
gc4n@virginia.edu
Middle Eastern & South Asian Languages & Cultures
office: 434.243.2019
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Earliest Urdu publications

2007-07-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

The Hindu reports that:

It is said that the lyrical novel “Masnavi Padam Rao Kadam Rao”, published in Bidar between 1325–1338 is the first ever publication in Urdu. “Research in Karachi University in Pakistan has confirmed this,” says Quazi Arshad Ali, editor of the Hindi daily, Bidar Ki Awaaz.

My own research indicates that :

The first manuscript in Urdu written in 911 Hijri ( 1515 CE) by Hazrat Sharafuddin Yahya Muneri and is in his dargah in Muner Shareef.

The Credit for publishing first Urdu book in Northern India also goes to the state of Bihar; the book is Seedha Raasta published in 1670.

If The Hindu's is to be believed then that puts Urdu's age to about 700 years.

Urdu symposium in Orlando, FL

2007-07-19T04:48:00.000-07:00

PAPAERS: Noshi Gilani, Ishrat Afreen, Rashida Ayan
Shahida Ansari, Andaleeb Ghazal, Agha Zulfiqar
Qaisar Abbas, Arif Zaheer, Sabir Husain Sabir
Salahuddin Siddiqui, Sarfraz Habibi, Sarfraz Ahmad.

POETS: Waseem Barailvi, Athar Shah Khan, Anwar Shaoor
Nayyar Jahan, Rashida Ayan, Noshi Gilani, Ishrat Afreen
Zareen Yaisn, Agha Zulfiqar, Qaisar Abbas, Arif Zaheer
Sabir Husain Sabir, Andaleeb Ghazal, Ahmed Tanha
Sarfraz Habibi.

Musician & Vocalist Satpaal Singh
Contacts for Information:
Dr. Qaisar Abbas, 561-297-3958 qabbas@fau.edu
Arif Zaheer: 407-240-2223 az@vistahorizons.com
Ahmed Tanha: 407-317-7236 tanha@poetic.com

In Collaboration with:
Gehwara-e Adab, Remax Vista
Bazm-e Adab Tampa

download flyer here

Glossary of Urdu legal terms soon

2007-07-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hyderabad, July 17: What is the exact translation of Value Added Tax in Urdu? How do you describe bona vacantia, amicus curiae, quo warranto or for that matter injuria non excusat injuria.

No need to throw up your hands in despair. There are equivalents for all these terms in Urdu. In fact one can get the correct expressions for all those difficult to pronounce Latin words and phrases.

Thanks to the efforts made by Syed Mushtaq Hussain it is now possible to find all administrative and legal terms in Urdu. His labour of love is at last ready and is awaiting publication.

The Glossary of Administrative and Legal Terms compiled by Mr. Hussain is a ready reference book for the terminology used by various Government departments.

With Urdu being declared second official language in 14 districts, this work gains all the more importance. Mr. Hussain, who retired as special officer of Urdu from Board of Intermediate Education, has taken seven long years to compile this glossary. Running into 922 typed pages, it provides translation of more than 70,000 terms from English to Urdu in alphabetical order.

The unique thing about this glossary is that it offers the correct Urdu words for the terms currently in use in various departments – Revenue, Irrigation, Registration, banking, Weights and Measures etc. It also contains a good amount of legal and business terms. “The glossary will be of immense help to students, translators, Urdu media and those doing official correspondence,” says Mr. Hussain.

The absence of a good dictionary of administrative terms in Urdu is said to be a major reason for its tardy pace of implementation as second official language.

During the erstwhile Nizam State, such a glossary was prepared by the Dar-ul-Tarjuma department of Osmania University. But it is all but lost.

A similar work was also undertaken by the Bureau for promotion of Urdu, Delhi. Mr. Hussain has made use of these works and added new words to come up with a comprehensive glossary to answer the present day needs.

Apart from time, he has spent substantial money from his pocket to prepare the glossary. But this pensioner doesn’t have the wherewithal to publish it. He hopes the Government or some organisation would bail him out.

step-motherly treatment with Urdu in India

2007-07-03T18:26:00.000-07:00

Indian government and administration has time and again showed that they either really dislike Urdu or they do not want to give it an inch of help.

While government claims that it is doing much by creating Urdu radio and TV channel but reality is that they are nothing more than window-dressing.

This latest news that Urdu radio was running 15 months old report because it did not have new programmig is really shameful.

Please contact Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and say you are not amused:

Smt. Stuti Narain Kacker
Joint Secretary (P&A)
R.No. 552, A-Wing, Shastri Bhawan,
New Delhi -110001
Tel.(O) : 23382597 , (R) : 24649599
Email : jsp.inb@nic.in

Gandhi on Urdu

2007-06-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

19 days before his assassination, Gandhi discusses the Urdu script and Hindu treatment of Muslims in newly-independent India.

Gandhi announces his regret at having to discontinue the publication of his mouthpiece, Harijan, in the Urdu script, though he sees it as inevitable because of the dwindling demand:

‘The dwindle was to me a sign of resentment against its publication ... My view remains unalterable especially at this critical juncture in our history. It is wrong to ruffle Muslim or any other person's feeling when there is no question of ethics’

Gandhi urges the advantages of learning Urdu script

’The limitations of this script in terms of perfection are many. But for elegance and grace it will equal any script in the world’

He considers the potential of Urdu for shorthand, and for the transcription of Sanskrit verses.

‘(Any suggestion of a boycott on Urdu script is) a wanton affront upon the Muslims of the Union who in the eyes of many Hindus have become aliens in their own land. This is copying the bad manners of Pakistan with a vengeance’

The address ends with a ringing call to 'Muslim friends' not only to support the Urdu edition but to learn the Nagari script and thus 'enrich their intellectual capital'. Gandhi founded his mouthpiece publication, Harijan, in 1933, originally in order to deal with the Untouchable question. The present article was written for the journal during the period of inter-communal tension which followed immediately upon the Independence and partition of India: the following day Gandhi announced his last fast, in protest against communal violence. On January 30, 1948 he was assassinated by a Hindu extremist whilst on his way to evening prayers.

Role of Urdu speaking community in freedom struggle

2007-06-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

Role of Urdu speaking community in freedom struggle highlighted

Special Correspondent

“Urdu poets used poetry to enthuse freedom fighters”

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala on Saturday highlighted the important role played by the Urdu speaking community and the Urdu language in the freedom struggle.

Speaking at the Urdu Teachers Day celebrations organised by the Government Muslim Teacher Training Institute Alumni at the Raj Bhavan, Mr. Barnala explained how Urdu poets used their poetry to enthuse freedom fighters. In Tamil Nadu, the Governor noted that there were 327 primary schools and 24 higher secondary schools offering Urdu education. He honoured Syed Mohammed Ismail, former Vice-Principal, Government Muslim Teacher Training Institute, with a silver plaque for his contribution to Urdu for over 39 years as a teacher.

The Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali exhorted the minority community to be united to take Tamil Nadu to greater heights, especially in the cause of education.

Mr. Ismail, accepting the recognition, thanked the people of the State and the Urdu speaking community in particular for honouring him.

Mukhtar Badri, a poet, highlighted Mr. Ismail’s contribution in propagation of Urdu.. Mohammed Shanawaz, President of the Institute, J. Fareed Ahmed, Secretary, spoke.

Urdu in India: opportunities and challenges

2007-06-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Since Urdu was recognized as a language, people have been claiming that Urdu is dead or going to die very soon. This trend still continues even though now we have more Urdu speakers than ever before.

Prophets of doom may predict the date when Urdu is supposed to be finished but all indications are that it will continue to survive and may be even flourish if it is allowed to grow.

Urdu Book Review is a bi-monthly magazine published by Arif Iqbal. People like him and journals like UBR give hope that Urdu can not only survive but achieve its full potential.

there are spaces and opportunities that we need to make use of’. ‘Ultimately’, he says, ‘it is up to lovers of Urdu to save, protect and promote the language’. And by publishing his magazine against heavy odds for over a decade now, Iqbal shows what a major difference a single individual can make in this regard.

To see what heavy odds that people like him or Urdu is facing, you just have to read this news item.

"The trend of supplying question papers in a language other than that of medium of instruction for the sake of administrative convenience is bound to seal the fate of not only Urdu medium schools but also the very language itself," said Jayant Parmar, Urdu poet of national repute, who was conferred national award last year by HRD Ministry for his outstanding poetry in Urdu which is not his mother tongue.

Need we say more?

Now instead of crying about what government is doing or not doing. How about we help those who are doing something about it.

Please click here and subscribe to Urdu Book Review.

Gulzar in Japan

2007-06-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

Gulzar is a successful Bollywood director. He is also equally successful song writer and many of his songs have become super hits. He considers himself a poet of Urdu language but unlike Javed Akhtar he has little recognition in Urdu literary circles.

News of Gulzar reciting his Urdu poems to Japanese audience is very encouraging because most of us have tough time understanding him.

If you study carefully, his songs have fanciful arrangement of words but lack any meaning or totally nonsensical... but yes, they sound great!

From this same news report:

People are constantly calling up to know what I mean by ose (dewdrop) mein gholi mint ki goli. They want to know, why mint? I've no answer.

but we have lots of questions.

Georgetown University Urdu Poetry Activity to Continue in Fall 2007

2007-06-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

Urdu Poetry and Culture in Society with Moazzam Siddiqi

Georgetown University Main Campus, Place TBA

Wednesdays Evenings (Provisional)

This is the first part of a non-credit seminar that takes socio-historical, literary, linguistic, and political perspectives on Urdu poetry in society. In the fall semester, we explore the poetry\'s beginnings in Indo-Persian poetry, medieval Hindi/Hindavi or Bhakti and Sufi traditions (from the 13th century onward), and early 15th century Deccani poetry. We then turn to its florescence in important literary centers of north central India--Delhi (early 18th century), Lucknow (19th century), and Lahore (20th century). Later, we culminate with discussion of the modern era, including European influences and impacts of socialism, communism, and the Progressive Writers Movement. Discussions of authentic texts and their contexts are supplemented with historic and contemporary performance recordings.

Dr. Moazzam Siddiqi (PhD UC Berkeley) recently retired as a senior policy analyst with the International Broadcasting Bureau. Earlier he directed the South and Central Asia Division and the Urdu and Hindi News Services of the Voice of America. In addition, he has taught at leading US universities on Urdu, Hindi, and Persian, and on rich performance traditions of these languages.

This activity is free and open to all interested members of the community. Some knowledge of Urdu or a related language is helpful but NOT required. For more information and to hold a seat, please contact: maggie.ronkin@gmail.com. General information and notes for the sessions are distributed by email.