URDU
A lingua franca of South Asia
ALI ASGHAR
URDU KI NAI BASTIYAN: Papers presented at the International Seminar on the above topic, edited by Gopi Chand Narang, Sahitya Akademi, 35, Rabindra Bhavan, Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 300.
URDU, A lingua franca of South Asia, has found new settlements in the deserts of the Middle East, on the islands of the Indian Ocean, in Europe, Britain and North America.
Thanks to the immigrants' passion for their idiom, the flame of Urdu's lamp keeps fluttering even against the course of chaotic winds. Admittedly, Urdu represents a vibrant culture, which ought to flourish anywhere. But unfortunately, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over its future.
The tragedy with Urdu is that in a country, which adopted it as its national language, it has no territory of its own. And in India, where it was born, Hindi developed as its rival, whereas in countries like Britain and America it is not easy for it to compete with English in scientific disciplines.
Urdu is a language for poetry, mysticism and music; the instant popularity of film songs and the success of `mushairas' is proof of its irresistible emotional appeal. But can cultural events alone reverse the predicament of Urdu?
If Urdu is to stay alive, a lot more has got to be done for it at home and at school. Otherwise, its continued existence beyond the third generation will remain an unfulfilled dream in America and perhaps in Britain as well.
Changing the Arabic-Persian orientation to Roman script with Turkish for a model might serve to induce the new generation to study Urdu.
But for a majority of Urdu speakers, change of script is unacceptable. In such a distressing scenario, some prophets of doom feel strongly that by 2050 Urdu will cease to exist in the U.K., but not Shamsur Rahman Faruqi.
One cannot make predictions about history, which often creates itself, he asserts.
In addition to discussing various problems faced by the language, the papers give a perceptive account of the growth of Urdu in various new habitations while highlighting the contributions of prominent broadcasters, journalists, poets, translators, scholars and fiction writers. Narang deserves warm appreciation of the Urdu community for editing this publication.
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