“Kahoon kiss say main keh kia hay, Shab-e-gham buri bala hai,
Humain kia bura tha murna, Agar ek bar hota”-GhalibThese verses and many more of Ghalib and his contemporaries have brought immense joy to their readers and listeners. Urdu is a language for poetry; it simply flows off the tongue. There was a time when knowing and reading Urdu poetry was considered to be a mark of sophistication, not any more. The grave of Ghalib in Delhi, India and our linguistic heritage, share a common fate; it is in ruins. Uncared for by its heirs.
In Russia, they are teaching Urdu in their Universities, “Sada-eRoos”, a radio program in Urdu is aired from the Russian capital. Where Russian authors like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are a mile stone in classic literature and are still read widely; the Russians are reading Manto.
Unfortunately, we never really appreciate our own until it is celebrated by the West. Take our Sufi’s and their teachings. Rumi came back in our lives after centuries of being around. He was reincarnated by the West, celebrated by them. His work, his poetry, his message, his dervish. Now that Rumi is a bonafide celebrity abroad, we all take a shine to his work. Similarly, Iqbal and his work is recited with great fervor in Iran, here is limited to “Shikwah and Jawab-e-e-shikwah” for the matriculation students. I guess we should wait for a twist of fate to befall Bulleh Shah, Faiz and Jalib, and hope that some westerner takes a fancy to their work and makes them avant grade.
I acknowledge the benefit of having a command over the English language. I believe that every language is a doorway into a unique culture and should be learned, but what sorry people leave their own immense treasures and pursue only others. When and how it became “unfashionable” to know and speak Urdu was a sad chapter in our history. The focus of the literate (read fashionable) families today is English, period. The children speak English, eat English and breathe English. I have seen them taking immense pride in the fact that actually, they can’t (were not taught to) speak Urdu at all. They spend a lot of money sending their kids to elite institutions where they will learn French and German. Where, as stated above, I believe it is a huge advantage to know any language, the intention to learn the same, is just as important. How inwardly insecure and shallow we must be to not own our language, our hero’s, our literature. How blind! Where the world celebrates our poets and teaches their kids our language, we are deliberately omitting it from their lives. And to what end.. appear modern!!
I hope that we, the people of this Nation will some say understand the importance of owning what is ours. No one respects a people who have no respect for themselves, who do not pride in their own. The very people, who we are so focused on impressing, cannot be impressed by a cheap imitation of themselves. Being modern entails much more than just learning a language and donning their wear .If the goal is modernity, or even imitating all things west; let’s start by imitating them in their superior moral and social practices of tolerance, honesty and hard work.
Nah, that just hard work…
