Ups And Downs Of Roman Urdu In Indo-Pak Subcontinent

South East Asian region comprising of current Indian and Pakistani territory has been considered to be the nurturing grounds for a language developed some 900 years ago, and evolved through different phases of history to develop into what we know today by the name of “Urdu”.

It was mostly taken as native language of Christians abode in Karachi (Pakistan), Rajhistan, and Uttar Pardesh (India) during the 20^th century, and is still used by considerable majority in Indian states, while being exalted to the status of national language in Pakistan.

During those time, majority of people living in those states adopted Roman Urdu as a more convenient medium of written communication as compared to a bit tricky and demanding original Arabic-Perso script used by conventional Urdu.

It was a common medium of written communication of amongst the Christians residents of those areas till 1960s. The Bible Society of India even published (still does, but to lower extent) Roman Urdu Bibles, which were quite in demand during that time; but the eventual promotion of Hindi in Indian states and traditional Arabic-Perso script in Pakistan diminished the advent of Roman Urdu.

The conditions remained like this till Bollywood (popular name for Indian film industry) started using Roman Urdu as one of the main scripts for its movie titles (along with Hindi). Since the influence of Bollywood film industry has increased quite significantly since the last quarter of the preceding century, it has helped Roman Urdu resurface all over again.

In addition to that, people have started using Roman Urdu as a convenient mode of written communication via SMS (short messaging service) through mobile phones. It has also contributed in re emergence of Roman Urdu with greater significance.

Year 2010- Fruitful For Urdu Literature and Poetry!

Year 2010 was proven fruitful for Urdu Publications. Number of poetry and literature books came in to market. Readers have shown great interest in buying and according to many readers the versatility and quality of content has inspired them deeply. This overall growth in the Urdu literature is a positive sign for Urdu language and have clearly projected message, despite many cultural sifts people are still motivated in reading and writing Urdu Language.

 Art Council of Pakistan held its third annual Four Day conference on Urdu. Aim was to discuss different challenges Urdu facing today. Also, Conference was dedicated to creative work of Meer-Taki-Meer who was pioneer in using simple but very expressive words for his thoughts and feelings on certain subjects.

Shamus Rehman famous Indian scholar and writer while expressing Meer Taki  Meer’s poetry  said he was only poet who was highly educated and talented of his era. Habib Jalib another Urdu poet was honored in another ceremony where, family of poet was also present they shared their experiences of life around Jalib. Other invited writer and scholars read papers on different books and few other participated in Mushaira.

Urdu language has been widely discussed and observed by many scholars and writers especially poetry of Iqbal  is considered vital for everyone who is either a Student or a leader his thoughts are apt that explain challenging subjects which use to be concerning during  Iqbal’s time and even for now. To have more information about Urdu Language Search on Google.

Learn Urdu-To Benefit from Thought Provoking Literature and Poetry

World is full of languages every language is unique and rich in its own way. Everyone has recognized need for learning languages. If you are good at speaking multiple languages then you should have a chance to read number of writers and poets that may target same subject however, with different approach which would enhance your understanding and help building wisdom.

Urdu Language has produced number of poets and writer their creative work is heard across the world. Poets like Iqbal and Faiz Ahmed Faiz has given countless creative thoughts to the entire world to benefit from it you need to understand Urdu language.

Different Urdu summit are called every year to bring around the importance of Urdu Language. Recent gathering on Urdu was happened in India which highlighted that in spite injustice to teaching of Urdu at elementary level Urdu is yet very popular language in India. Even today without the facilitation of Urdu and Hindi Bollywood cannot make a wider difference. Narang influential speaker inspired audience with the though provoking lectures covering Urdu as language of great expression it has beauty of words with capacity to inspire readers and listeners with it charismatic effect.

To learn Urdu there are numbers of sources, for your ease you can also use Urdu software. Before you select a source make sure you are getting help on both speaking and writing skills. For more information search through Google and Yahoo.

Faiz-Intellectual and Graceful Urdu Poet!

Faiz is a major Urdu poet his poetry has successfully conveyed message to target audience. This fact is accepted by many that after Iqbal he was the one who got international fame and recognition. Faiz poetry has targeted variety of subjects however miserable condition of liberals and those who live a marginalized life are directly pointed by his vast poetic expression.

Faiz has managed to set his name as progressive, Idealist and humanist poet among the national and international creative fraternity. Every Subject he focused has significance importance in our lives and society. Poetic standards followed by Fiaz are apt his expression has depth and abstract understanding.

Close friends of Fiaz has always mentioned that he was a soft, kind and cool headed person. Agha Nasir while addressing a gathering to pay tribute to Fiaz, accepted honor that he was lucky meeting Fiaz more than once in his life time, he concluded Fiaz as intellectual and Graceful person. Ishfaq Husain concluded that poetry of Faiz Ahmed faiz has become symbol of Pakistani Urdu literature, national values and culture.

Other than Fiaz there are names who have successfully presented Urdu literature and poetry to the outer world their publications have been translated in to other languages. Iqbal is another famous Urdu poet his works is widely recognized and appreciated.

Urdu language has complete expression for all diversified subjects as, an evidence Urdu poetry and literature has stand international recognition and appreciation. Give voice to your feeling and thoughts with dynamic and diversified expression, learn Urdu.

Flexibility of Urdu Language

Urdu is a beautiful language; it plays a key role in uniting the people of Pakistan together.  National language always gives a nation a sense of unity and harmony. Urdu language enjoys this charm and honor of being a national language of Pakistan.

Urdu has got this great flexibility in it that it absorbs the words of other languages as well; this attribute makes the Urdu language a very flexible one. The word Urdu itself comes from a Turkish word “ordu” which means “An Army”.  This shows that this language has this tendency to absorb the words of other languages. There are many words of Persian, Arabic and English are used in Urdu language.

Urdu doesn’t have a very long history if we compare this language to some of the other languages such as Arabic, English etc. This is a sufficient proof of the elasticity, flexibility and adaptableness of Urdu language that with such a short history it has dignified itself amongst the top ones.

Urdu is pretty much similar to the Hindi language; most of the words are the same in Urdu and Hindi. Learning Urdu means learning a massively used communication tool which can be helpful in Subcontinent.

There is one big problem when it comes to learning the Urdu language and that is the lack of resources who can teach Urdu. In Pakistan there are institutions like NUML (national University of Modern Languages) who teach Urdu in a very good manner.

The building blocks of Urdu Poetry

Urdu poetry is a very diverse and colorful experience, one that is capable to express itself very artistically and explicitly. It started its journey from as early as 11th century A.D and has undergone quite extravagant evolution to appear to us in its present form.

Although it is a very intricate subject capable of expressing itself in various different forms, there are certain basic ingredients that set the foundation of Urdu poetry, and are taken to be its building blocks.

“Ghazal” is the most dominant of its forms, constituting of almost all the basic elements that are key components of Urdu poetry in general:

• Bahar: It basically serves to be the measuring unit that takes count of the length of a couplet. Each line of a couplet must be the same as the preceding one. Additionally, every single couplet in a ghazal must be having the same “bahar”. There are 19 different types of “bahar” which can be further categorized as short, medium, and long meters.

• Radeef: It refers to the same word or phrase that is repeated at the end of second line of every couplet, and it is quite mandatory that Radeef shall be constituted of exact same words for whole of the ghazal.

• Matla: It refers to the first couplet of a ghazal. It is also mandatory that both lines of a ghazal’s “matla” end with a “radeef”.

• Maqta: The pen name of a poet is termed as “takhallus” in Urdu poetry. Usually, the last couplet of ghazal containing “takhallus” is called as “maqta”.

• Qafiya: It refers to the rhyming pattern that is followed just before the “radeef” at the end of every couplet. Qafiya is one convention that is to be followed strictly be every Urdu poem, even when other conventions are not followed strictly at times.

These are the building blocks raising the foundation of Urdu poetry and their knowledge is a must for those who want to learn about the subject.

Focus on Urdu as HRD maps minority agenda

On HRD Minister Kapil Sibal’s agenda for 2011 is special roadmap for minorities. Experts will help the ministry chart out a Minority Agenda that will look at ways to ensure the restoration of the Urdu language, and it’ll help to create opportunities for Urdu speakers besides preservation of art and craft forms associated with the language and bring Urdu within the three-language formula popular in CBSE schools.

Therefore the agenda of the Annual General Meeting of National Council for promotion of Urdu language (NCPUL) is the new roadmap to empower the Urdu-speaking population. That meeting will be chaired by Sibal and meet on Wednesday.

Social worker Kamal Farooqi, Chairman CBSE, Vice Chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University, P A Inamdar, DG Doordarshan and Chairman Commission for Scientific & Technical Terminology.

An official said in HRD ministry, “The idea is to reinforce those good technicians or experts need not have complete knowledge/mastery of English language but can also excel in the field while primarily speaking in Urdu. The aim is to focus on enhancing the capabilities and capacities of the Urdu-speaking population to enter these professions and we hope to do the same by developing equivalent technical terminology in the Urdu language”