Four Hindu girls of Dr A R Undre English High School (ICSE) and Junior College (ISC) at Borli Panchatan village in Raigad district (Maharastra) which offers Urdu as an optional subject at ICSE board examination registered success in Urdu language. One of the students, Samruddhi Shyam Waghmare secured 90% marks in Urdu. She was the topper in that subject in her class leaving two marks behind Madiha Muazzam Undre who was the overall topper in the class of 64 students.
Samruddhi got 90% in Urdu whereas her other classmates, Harshada Dilip Cherphale (86%), Simran Deepak Karambe (88%) and Kshitij Pradeep Khopkar (60%) passed examination taking Urdu as an optional subject.
Her classmate, Madiha expressed delight on Samruddhi getting higher marks than her. She said she is not envious of Samruddhi but feel proud that she outshone her in Urdu.
Dr. A R Undre, a surgeon in Mumbai who is the founder of the school felt proud that his decision to change the school from SSC to ICSE Board was that it offers Indian language of 100 marks as a compulsory subject. He wished his students to not get familiarized with Urdu but also gain mastery in it to such an extent that they should be able to appreciate the literary beauty of that language. Dr. Undre had established this school in 1980 with an intention to pay back to his ancestral village.
Many non-Muslim students who opted for Urdu language say that one of the benefit of learning Urdu that they will be able to understand Urdu writers and poet. Most of the students including Muslims who have not studied Urdu, know that Maulana Azad was a freedom fighter and the first education minister of Independent India. But Samruddhi knows that Maulana Azad was not only a politician but also a famous writer of Urdu language who wrote “Ghubar-e-Khatir”, which is a collection of letters written from prison to his friend, Habeeb ur Rahman Khan Sherwani.
Many non-Muslim students approach their teachers and Muslim classmates to help them in learning Urdu. They say that they speak Marathi but when they join English medium school where Urdu is compulsory, they are confident that their teachers will help them learn Urdu.
Simran belongs to Danguri village where no one speaks Urdu. After her results were announced many of her relatives congratulated her especially for getting highest marks in Urdu. Her relatives appreciate her and feel amazed when she speaks or reads Urdu books before them. Vice Principal, Arif M Ansari told that the teachers of the school put in more efforts to see that the non -Muslim students don’t commit mistakes in Urdu and they encourage them.
It is worth mentioning that it is a common believe that Urdu is the language of the Muslims, by doing so many Urdu lovers commit serious injustice to the language which is the symbol of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (composite culture) of India. The success of these four Hindu girls of this school proves that Urdu is a secular language and the politicians should stop dividing languages on religious basis.
Noted Urdu scholar and ex-president of Sahitya Akademi, Prof. Gopichand Narang told that Urdu is the sister of Hindi and it must be treated equally on par with Hindi. It should get all the facilities to prosper in whichever state it is declared as the second official language.