Thursday, August 28, 2008
LOVE URDU POETS - HATE URDU
Thursday, August 28, 2008
To: The Editor, Afternoon, Mumbai
LOVE URDU POETS - HATE URDU
This has reference to Tavleen Singh's article: A literary interlude (Afternoon, Aug 28, 2008).
This is Tavleen Singh in all her communal glory. She writes a thousand-word article on the occasion of the sad passing of Ahmed Faraz, Urdu's most loved poet during current times. She cherishes her chance meeting with him at New Delhi airport. She extols him for his gazals that is the rage of the gazal lovers all over the world. She mentions the names of Ghalib, Mir, Iqbal, Faiz, Saadat Hasan Manto, and Munshi Prem Chand. It is a tribute to her journalistic integrity that in full commitment to her brand of communal writing, she succeeds in completely avoiding the word: URDU.
Is Urdu so untouchable; so unmentionable?
The nearest she comes to acknowledge the existence of URDU as an Indian language, when she writes: It is sad that these wonderful writers are not translated into other Indian languages and their works are not taught in Indian schools. This is at best a backhanded acknowledgement that URDU is an Indian language.
It is time Tavleen Singh reflects how much damage she has done to the Hindu-Muslim unity of the nation by her warped line of communal writings. It is time she starts rebuilding the bridges that had been torpedoed.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com
www.ghulammuhammed.wordpress.com
