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Saturday, April 7, 2007 |
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Saturday, April 7, 2007 |
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There
are two notions about the
future of Urdu in India that need a second examination: Urdu is fast
dying out and it is exclusively the language of Muslims. There is no
doubt that there has been a steep decline in the use of Urdu since
Independence, but it is by no means near extinction. What is dying out
rapidly is the use of the Arabic script in which it is usually written.
At the same time, it is being regenerated by use of Devnagri and
Gurmukhi in northern India. A telling couplet by Rashid aptly sums up
its status: Maangey Allah say bas itni dua hai Rashid Main jo Urdu
mein Vaseeyat likkhoon beta parh lay All Rashid asks of Allah is
just one gift: If I write my will in Urdu, my son will be able to
read. This gloomy prophecy is likely to come true: even Muslim fathers
may soon have to write their vaseeyats in Devnagri or the
regional languages for their children to make sense out of it. The
brighter side of the picture is th spate of books on Urdu poetry
published in English, Devnagri and Punjabi. Leading the pack is Dr K.C.
Kanda of Delhi University. His latest is a full length biography with
poems translated in English of Bahadur Shah Zafar and another is a
selection of poems of great poets: Glimpses of Urdu Poetry (Lotus).
Though his translations are not in verse, they are accurate. Alongside
every translated piece are transliterations of the original. Those
wanting to try their hand at rhyming have a veritable gold mine opened
to them. Then there is T.N. Raz of Panchkula (Haryana). For the first
time a lover of Urdu poetry, Kulwant Singh Suri of the Lok Sahitya
Prakashan of Amritsar, has published two of Raz’s compilations in
Gurmukhi script: biography and couplets from the pen of Asadullah Khan
Ghalib and a selection of couplets on different subjects like love,
envy, hatred, drinking, etc entitled Ranga-rang Urdu Shairee. I
am not ashamed to confess that I am thoroughly enjoying reading Ghalib
and other Urdu poets in Gurmukhi. Ghalib can be very obscure and his
penchant for using Persianised composite words like qaid-e-haayaat-e-bando-gham
(prison of life and shackles of life). Often make him hard to
comprehend. The absence of punctuation marks like commas, colons,
semi-colons, question marks or full-stops in all our languages add to
problems of comprehension. These have been introduced in the Gurmukhi
version. Raz explains in simple terminology and that makes him a joy to
read. The latest addition to the list of missionaries of Urdu is S.S.
Bhatti of Chandigarh. He has compiled Contemporary Urdu Poetry:
Contribution of Poets of Punjab (Siddarth). He has selected eight
Punjabis of recent times who have made significant contribution to Urdu
poetry. The last and perhaps of the least importance is your humble
servent. Between Kamna Prasad and myself, we have produced Celebrating
The Best of Urdu Poetry (Penguin-Viking). Starting with Mohammed
Rafi Sauda (1706-1781). I have ended with Kishwar Naheed (b. 1940) and
Zehra Nigah of Pakistan. We have bits and pieces of all the best known
poets like Zauq, Zafar, Ghalib, Momin, Iqbal and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. I now
await with some trepidation what Urdu scholars will make of my
verification. The second assumption — that Urdu is exclusively a
language of the Muslims — can be dismissed in one word, rubbish.
Neither Kanda, Raz, Bhatti, Kamna nor I are Muslims. Nevertheless, we
love Urdu with the same passion as most devout Muslims do. All that
needs to be done is to see that Urdu never dies out is to write it in
Devnagari, Gurmukhi or scripts of regional languages and make it a
compulsory subject for students in schools and colleges. Poetic
musings When the jacket of a book does not reveal much about its
author, the reader has to conjure up his image in his mind. This is
somewhat easier in the case of poetry than of prose or fiction. Most
poets cannot help exposing their inner feelings, particularly if they
have been disillusioned by love or have broken marriages. I found that
reading the first anthology of poems Across the Divide by Ranu
Uniyal (Yeti). All she divulges about herself is that she was born in
Lucknow, studied in Jawaharlal Nehru University before she went to Hull
(England) as a Commonwealth scholar and has written on Anita Desai and
Margaret Drabble. At present, she teaches at Lucknow University. From
her name, I can guess she is a Pahari Brahmin. I’ve no idea how
old she is, single, married, divorced or a mother. About her first
impression of being in a British University, she writes in the title
poem: I know I am a foreigner in this country Yet how swiftly I
unlearnt namaste and wheeled in hai! That cool ambience with which I
ignore Those I wish nor to exchange words with I just walk by with an
indifferent air. My long legs, in black-ribbed tights Spread easily
over cans of lager. Another poem Apparition tells of falling
in love: "Now that you have become/a presence/everywhere/in
and out/out and in/the air is heavy/with the burden of your smiles. The
streets do not smell the same. They stretch at endless nooks/and my feet
are afraid of being worn out./ The walls and bricks suddenly haunt
me/and I with a chest soaked in guilt/cringe at every corner/afraid you’d
know/I have lost my face/ and can find it no more. Two verses of a
poem entitled What you will Tell about disillusionment with life:
"I know of a day/that shed its light/craving for the dark to
hold/the sepia autumn grief/of a worn out/leaf that had once been
green. "I know of a man who/loved her truly/but bowed to the
winds/that held her fragrance/and whisked him/away to another. Watching Elizabeth-Arun’s wedding in Jodhpur Stood
aghast Harry, Dick and Tom Damian, Liz’s son, was one of the
Baraatis, At the wedding of his beautiful mom. (Courtesy:
G.C. Bhandari, Meerut)
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