Urdu is the language of decency and courtesy

There is no doubt that language has a huge role to play in a culture. Our behaviors and attitudes are influenced by the culture.  Culture is a broad term where there are many factors involved such as norms, attitudes etc.

Language plays its part enormously in a culture; it helps people to communicate with each other effectively and on same frequency. Effective communication breaks down all the complicated barriers and language provides that platform where everyone in the society can communicate effectively.

What Lays The Foundation Of Urdu Poetry

Urdu Poetry

Urdu has a quite a rich and diverse cultural and historical evolutional journey to backup one of its most sough after genres, i.e. poetry. Its each and every poem has a uniqueness and distinction of its own, bestowing great appeal and satisfaction to its readers, but still, there are certain rules, regulations, and foundation stones upon which the amazing structure of its poems (and all of the poetry) is laid.

Described below are the most fundamental ones with respect to “Ghazal”, the most popular form of Urdu poetry. Ghazal is composed of distinct couplets, called “ashaar” indigenously. Now, each “ghazal” takes into account either all, or some of the factors given below.

• Bahar: defines the meter or length of the couplet, with the restriction for each line of the couplet to have same “bahar”. There are 19 types of “bahar” categorized into short, medium or long ones.

• Radeef: represent a word or phrase that is repeated at the end of second line of each couplet. It should be same throughout the poem.

Expanding Your Resources For Urdu Poetry

Urdu Poetry

Urdu is amongst top five of the most commonly spoken languages all across the globe with the number still on the rise every passing day due to the rich cultural and historical background it boasts to have over a period of some 900 years through the pages of history.

If you also happen to be one of the active readers of Urdu poetry, then it would be of great help to you to have a couple of excellent resources of Urdu poetry to please your aesthetic demands, all the same quenching your thirst of meaningful knowledge.

If you are living in a place, country, or city where reading material in this language is available, then your local library could be a convenient and helpful resource to grant access to some very good books of poetry to let you expose to the new knowledge and joys of the language.

Urdu alphabets writing style

 Urdu alphabets writing style

Urdu Alphabets Jingle Learning

Urdu Alphabets Jingle

Ways to promote Urdu language

A very large population all over the world speaks the Urdu language. Therefore, one factor that can really promote it is the number of all those people who speak in Urdu. However, it is not the only way to promote Urdu language.

There are several other ways to promote Urdu language, some of which are given as follows.

• The Urdu language can be promoted by making good movies and documentaries in the Urdu language. The Indian films, which are said to be in the Hindi language, actually promote Urdu language. In fact, many people believe that the Urdu and Hindi are the two names of one language.
• Even if Urdu and Hindi are two different languages, it remains a fact that they have too much in common. Sometimes it is even hard to tell the difference. Therefore, another way of the promotion of the Urdu language is to stop this incessant Urdu Hindi fight.

Why the Urdu language cannot die

The Urdu language is thriving and it is going to live long. It is a very heartening fact. However, some people keep on spreading misconceptions about the status and health of Urdu. There are so many reasons due to which the Urdu language is not going to die.

Some of the reasons of why Urdu cannot die are explained in the points given below.

1. The Urdu language is spoken in one of the most populous continents of the world. It is also a fact that the population of the Urdu speaking communities is not going to decrease, in fact the extrapolation of the trends show that it is going to increase drastically. So how does a language can die when there are so many people alive who speak it.
2. The Urdu language cannot also die because of the roots, this language has. “Urdu cannot die out because it has very strong roots in Persia. The language itself is not only just the language of the Muslims, but it's also the language of the Hindus”. Ismail Merchant

Ismail Merchant’s Quotes on Urdu

Very few people know that a number of unexpected Urdu enthusiasts support the language. Ismail Merchant is one of them. The Urdu language is indebted to Ismail Merchant for his following two quotes on Urdu.

1. Urdu cannot die out because it has very strong roots in Persia. The language itself is not only just the language of the Muslims, but it's also the language of the Hindus. Ismail Merchant
2. A few words of Hindi appear here or there, but it's all Urdu. I feel that if the popular culture, which is what Hindi films are, uses Urdu, it's not going to diminish. Ismail Merchant

In the two quotes that are mentioned above, Ismail merchant has made many strong points. These points really matter due to the persona and accomplishments of Ismail Merchant. Ismail Merchant was a highly accomplished person in every sense of the word accomplished. Therefore, for this very reason, his quotes on Urdu matter a lot. Ismail Merchant made the following points about Urdu.

Ismail Merchant’s promotion of Urdu

So many people have promoted the Urdu language. Most of the people know that Ismail merchant was a Hollywood producer. He was a Hollywood filmmaker but this is not his only credit. He was an ardent promoter of the Urdu language.

Being in the film industry and living in India, he knew all the ins and outs of the both languages called the Urdu and the Hindi. He never saw a point in the separation of the two languages. He never saw a point in the ever-present fight between the promoters of the Urdu and the Hindi.

“A few words of Hindi appear here or there, but it's all Urdu. I feel that if the popular culture, which is what Hindi films are, uses Urdu, it's not going to diminish”. Ismail Merchant

The Urdu language used in the Indian films

“A few words of Hindi appear here or there, but it's all Urdu. I feel that if the popular culture, which is what Hindi films are, uses Urdu, it's not going to diminish”.
Ismail Merchant

The Urdu language is one of the most popular languages of the subcontinent. It is one of the very famous arguments that whether or not the Urdu language is used in the Indian films. Many people in India claim that the language used in the Indian films is actually Hindi and not Urdu.

The importance of unity among the Urdu speaking people

The Urdu language is spoken all over the world. Especially in the sub-continent, a significantly large population speaks Urdu. However, in the international community the importance of Urdu is not as much realized as some of the other languages of the world. The examples of these internationally acclaimed languages are English, Spanish, French, and German etc.

It is a fact that even the Chinese language is more internationally recognized as compared to the Urdu language. “What is the reason for that?” any intuitive mind would readily think. If the population plays a role in the spread and recognition of a language then why does not the Urdu language, is famous?

Urdu is a secular language - Governor (part 2)

Focusing the importance revival of linguistic heritage, Governor said in fact, the real friends of India were found in Arab countries which were readily extending their cooperation in matters of providing oil and natural gas.India was commonly known for promotion of values of pluralism from times immemorial and will continue to promote Urdu as part of its constitutional duty, Mr Bharadwaj added.

The purpose of two day Urdu meet was to provide platform for luminaries of the language to exchange ideas with regards to the status of Urdu in India and abroad, and discuss the measure to taken for the protection of the language and the cultures associated with it.

Read More: Urdu is a secular language - Governor

Urdu is a secular language - Governor (part 1)

Governor of Karnataka H R Bharadwaj said to promote better Indo Pak relations strong religious tolerance is required between Hindus and Muslims in the country.  While addressing the world Urdu meet here on Wednesday December 29, 2010 in Bangalore. 

 He said "The politicisation of cultural values like saying Urdu belongs to only a particular community, is misleading". He termed Urdu language as a secular language which is indepent of religion as well as region. Mr Bharadwaj said the language is lingua franca of the masses in India and had survived through all odds and will continue to thrive. Urdu language has co-existed with several other languages like Kannada, Telugu, Kashmiri, Punjabi, and Hindi in many states across India, he added.

Urdu language originated in the region from New Delhi, he said, adding some vested interest was working against the secular values of Urdu Language.

Read More:  Urdu is a secular language - Governor

Phases in Evolution of Urdu Language

Urdu is part of the Indo-Aryan family. The background of this language originates from Saur Senic Prakit. Sanskrit was evolved from Saur Senic Prakit but later Saur Senic Prakit.was majorly influence by Hindi dialects

The evolutionary phase is majorly affected by the literature of Insha. The Insha’s literature work later, took a form of picture of new language which is commonly known as Urdu these days. In the result of this, Urdu and Hindi were differentiated that time. Cultural impact on the society also played major role in evolution of Urdu language because Muslim of the subcontinent used to speak Urdu or Farsi and Hindus used to speak Hindi. The difference between both languages was very clear that Urdu was derived from Persian, Arabic and Turkish, on the other hand  Hindi was derived from Sanskrit.

Urdu Literature in the 20th Century

The literature of any language is deemed to be healthy only if it evolves. Of course the Urdu literature cannot be any different. The indicator of the health of this literature too is its evolution.

The Urdu literature has undoubtedly evolved a lot. The Indian sun continental society before was a closed agricultural society. Nothing much used o happen in the peoples live. The whole life was spent in the same circle. At that time the literature used to depict such lives.

Contemporary Urdu Literature

The Urdu literature is flourishing since 18^th century. Of course it has been evolving throughout. The different eras have been marked with different types f stories and novels. The themes of the stories and novels etc keep on changing.

The following are the current topics of the Urdu literature.

-Women rights

 In the Indian subcontinent the women are generally suppressed. Even the urban and metropolitan cities are male dominated. The state of rural areas is even worse. So the current Urdu storylines often revolve around the topics of the women rights.

In India the authors are also touching the sensitive topics of the widow rights and the remarrying of the widows.

-Feudal culture

In India the feudal culture is eradicated. However in Pakistan the situation is worse than ever. The gap between the rich and the poor is constantly increasing due to the feudal lords. The middle class is almost non-existent. So the Urdu writers in Pakistan are touching these topics now to create awareness.

Urdu literature plagiarism

One way to indicate the health of the literature of any language is the check the extent of plagiarism in it. Unfortunately, the Urdu literature is showing very bad trends of plagiarism.

The Urdu writers of both India and Pakistan are producing great pieces of work. However, it is really a shame that there are not enough laws and punishments to save the rights of these writers. Their work is constantly being plagiarized. Both countries are responsible for this trend.

Many literary works from India are published in Pakistan with different names and unfortunately, people never get to know about the original writer. The situation is just as bad in India. Pakistan produces some great popular fiction digests in Urdu language. One of such digests is called Pakeezah.

Urdu literature can tie India and Pakistan

India and Pakistan are two neighboring countries with an extremely interesting history. The two countries have been in war for more than once. However, the people of these two countries have very much in common. In fact, there are so many split families living gin both countries. It is extremely important for the families that their respective countries are on good terms. Without these, their interaction becomes too hard.

For the overall peace of the region too, the relations between the India and Pakistan should be of cordial nature. There have been many CBMs in the past, which worked. The Urdu language is common to both countries. Especially the urban population speaks in the Urdu language.

How to eliminate plagiarism from the Urdu literature

The condition of Urdu literature in terms of plagiarism is too bad. The genuine writers are producing great stuff consistently however the increasing amount of plagiarism everyday might discourage them. We cannot afford it. A language lives by its literature and we are an unfortunate bunch of people who are not doing anything for their great writers.

To make the Urdu literature thrive, measures must be taken to reduce the plagiarism. The government is responsible for not making clear copyright laws and not putting the people responsible for continuous plagiarism to task. However, we must also realize that for the Urdu literature the situation becomes tricky. The Urdu is the language of both India and Pakistan and the governments of both countries should be held responsible. There should be body to indicate the plagiarism and a body to punish the people who plagiarize the work of others.

Urdu literature - An Answer to Terrorism

The second annual Urdu conference was held in Karachi recently. It was a five-day event filled with literary fun activities and lots of music. The conference started from 17 November and ended on 21 November.

 One the 17^th of November, Jashan e Faiz was held. It was meant to celebrate the Urdu poetry of Faiz and to pay tribute to the great poet who never bowed before anyone. Poetry of Faiz was recited. Faiz daughter Salima Hashmi and people like Kishwer Naheed, Iftikhar Arif, and Shabnam Shakeel were invited to discuss the life of Faiz Ahmed Faiz. 

On 18 November, a discussion session was held on the Urdu novel writing in Pakistan. The discussions touched the topics of Modern day Urdu novels, Quratul Ain Haider’s novels and themes of Urdu and Sindhi novels.