It is an old matter that in our family we had an elderly person who was very fond of rearing parrots. In his courtyard, generally three or four parrots used be shut in the cage always. They used to utter some mugged up sentences whenever any guest used to enter the house.
“Assalamu Alaikum-! Welcome, please come. Thanks for your coming. How are you? Everybody is alright in your house. Thanks for your coming once more”, Assalamu Alaikum.”
In the beginning, he had a senior parrot. He had made the parrot mug up the above mentioned sentences. The parrot who came later, used to get these sentences mugged up learning from the senior parrot. And he used to start speaking Urdu this way. In this fashion, Urdu was famous and popular in his house. These parrots used to learn these sentences of Urdu for generations and in this way Urdu had become their mother-tongue. I remembered those parrots because when I had opened my eyes into this world, there was Urdu language and Urdu culture everywhere in those days. Due to the establishment of Osmania University Urdu Society in the erstwhile state of Hyderabad had reached its zenith. Urdu used to be heard and seen in the manners and etiquette, in walking and sitting, eating and drinking and almost in everything.
However, after the Independence of India, in the fiftees,. I don’t know what had happened to it. The language which had fought the war of Independence alone and had won it also, our political society had started getting astray. From our political society. Because of this conspiracy of willful and feigned apathy it first started disappearing from offices and educational institutions and then from markets and social gatherings and finally from our houses.
This sinful eyes had seen everything in respect of this language. Only my heart knows it. Three years back, sitting in my brother’s house, in New York, when I was busy writing “Mera Column” his grand daughter took stock of my engagement actively and then she asked me in English. “What is that you are scribbling from right to left on paper like the shapes of insects?” I had then told her with encumbered heart” My dear daughter-! The language in which I am writing, your grandfather used to write in it. She continued to watch my activity with great interest. I wrote many columns about this oppressed language in which I appealed to the shame of the Urdu speakers frequently. I had shifted to Delhi forty years back. There was a large number of Urdu writers whose mother tongue was not Urdu. Kunwar Mahendar Singh Bedi Saher, Puran Singh Hunar, Gopal Mittal, Hans Rai Rahbar, Prakash Pandit, Malik Ram, Rajinder Manchandabani, Krishna Mohan, Tara Singh Kamil, Fikr Tounsvi, Devan Birendernath, Surender Prakash, Kumar Pashi, Kuwar Sen Hasrath Dilip Singh, Devender Sathyarthi, Balraj Hayrath. Inder Swarup Dutt Nadaan etc. were in Delhi. How many names shall I enumerate. Because of their participation, the splendour of the literary gatherings of Delhi used to be two-fold. Gradually, these personalities started departing and the arena of Urdu started shrinking. There is a very less number of such personalities of Urdu these days whose mother tongue is not Urdu.
For a great language like Urdu, a conspiracy was deliberately hatched as a consequence of willful political atmosphere and now it is being labeled as the language of the Muslims which is misleading from historical perspective.
Since I have witnessed the peak period of the development of Urdu I therefore get aggrieved by seeing the present disgraced position of Urdu. However, it is also a fact that despite the intense conspiracy against Urdu for the past sixty years, Urdu is still alive even today and it is trying to get its importance realized. In an atmosphere, when I see any ray of light from anywhere, I welcome it from my heart. Some people have popularized this notion about me that I always write the elegy of Urdu. But the reality is not so.
You already know that for the past few days I have been discharging my duties as a visiting professor at the Central University of Hyderabad. The distinguished humour writer of Urdu, Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi wrote at some place that “once a man becomes a professor, he is called as professor life long eventhough he talks something sensible afterwards. My case is that despite becoming a professor, basically, I am a humour writer. I know very well the fact that when a person becomes a humour writer, he continues to be called a humour writer through out his life. Even if he becomes a professor in his later life. However, the real humour writer is he, who though he makes fool of others but he can’t fool himself because he knows very well his weaknesses, lapses and mistakes. For a good humour writer, Introspection is an essential condition.
As visiting professor of the University, I quite often meet the research scholars of M.Phil and Ph.D of Urdu Department and the exchange of views on various topics also takes place. Most of my time is spent with them. On the other hand, I was aware of the new intergrated programme of the University Grants Commission under which a student who has passed intermediate examination can seek direct admission into M.A. Course and obtain the postgraduate degree. I was also aware that the University of the Hyderabad had introduced this course in 2006 for the first time and the country under the guidance of its former Vice Chancellor Dr. Syed Ehtesham Hasnain. A student who is admitted into this course can obtain M.A. degree by selecting subjects like Sociology, Economics, History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, linguistics and fine Arts. It may be noted that in this course a candidate can select Urdu also. But I did not know that such students are required to study a language other than their mother tongue.
For this purpose in a very farsighted fashion, among the four Indian languages which Dr. Syed Ehtesham Hasnain had selected, Urdu was one of them. He had also included Telugu, Hindi and Sanskrit. I had no knowledge about this that the students who are learning Urdu are in majority. It was not less than a revelation for me. I also came to know that the University of Hyderabad is the only University in the country where the students have the facility of learning basic Urdu language. As a writer of Urdu when my eagerness enhanced, I wished the Head of the Department of Urdu Dr. Baig Ehsaas that I want to meet the students of this course personally. I therefore, got the opportunity to visit an examination hall where these students were busy writing the examination of basic Urdu. On this occasion I happened to meet Dr. Nishaat Ahmed who is incharge of this course and Dr.Zahidul Haque. I saw that in three big halls, more than 90 students were busy writing Basic Urdu Language Paper. These were the students whose mother tongue is not Urdu and who had taken a vow to learn Urdu out of their own interest.
Although, I never wanted to interfere in the examination of these students. However, I happened to see the answer scripts of 20-30 students who were solving Urdu paper. I had a brief talk also with these students. I am writing the region against the names of these students so that one may have an idea that how many languages are being represented. Some of the students are: Anushree (Kerala) Nagarjun (Nalgonda) Spoorthy (Krishna) Ameetha Basu (Kolkata) Anuradha (Bihar) Venkatesh (Hyderabad) Anakha (Kerala) Ala Mohammed (Libya) Moni Cap (Tamil Nadu) Vanti Lemala Longchar (Nagaland) Vatushree (Manipur).
On talking to most of the students, it was revealed that in selecting Urdu as an optional language, the consent of their parents is also included. It is a matter of happiness that the intense conspiracy which was hatched on prejudice and distrust after the independence of India is now fading away with the passage of time and the younger generation is taking interest in learning Urdu.
Urdu poetry has played a pivotal role in resolving the matters of love and beauty. Every Tom Dick and Harry gets youth and at some stage or the other, every young man needs Urdu poetry. This is the reason that the fondness for learning, understanding and singing Urdu poetry is getting popularity these days. At this juncture, I recollect Zameer Jaffery’s couplet:
Dareeda Daamanoun Kee Chak Damanoun Kee Baatein Hain
Ghazal Mein Jitni Batein Hain Sub Musalmanoun Kee Batein Hain
(There are stories of those whose clothes are lacerated (whatever stories are there in Ghazal, all of them belong to the Muslims.)
I don’t say that these students would become shamsul ulema (Sun of the Scholars) of Urdu. They are learning only the script of Urdu and they are constructing sentences on their own. However, the atmosphere of prejudice and distrust which has been created in their minds would certainly be removed.
Dr. Nishaat Ahmed is incharge of teaching basic Urdu in the University of Hyderabad. How much influence a teacher casts on his students was known when I went saw their Urdu handwriting in the answer scripts. Since the early education of Dr. Nishaat Ahmed has been in the Islamic School of Jamia Darussalam Umrabad (Tamil Nadu) there is an impact of Naskh (Commonest Arabic Script) in his Urdu writing. The handwritings of these students almost resembles that of the teacher. As an evidence I reproduce the specimens of the handwritings of the two girls who are his students. By spending some time in the company of these students I felt very good. Not only this, I could see a ray of hope. The Department of Urdu of the University of Hyderabad deserves congratulation that it has included Basic Urdu as a second language in its curriculum.
In the end, Dr. Syed Ehtesham Hasnain also deserves the compliments from Urdu speakers that with his farsightedness and broadmindedness, he got Urdu included in the category of four Indian languages. It may also be borne in mind that such facility is not available in any University in the country.