Urdu Diploma course for Non-Urdu speakers

The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Don't give Urdu a communal colour'

Source: The Hindu, dated May 27, 2006

BANGALORE: The former Additional Chief Secretary Chiranjeevi Singh on Friday called upon people "not to give Urdu language a communal colour."

"To associate Urdu language with Muslims alone is wrong. Urdu is a language with historical importance and it belongs to all. It represents a cultural synthesis and has no barriers," he said after inaugurating a diploma course in Urdu for non-Urdu learners.

He pointed out that the popularity of ghazal and Urdu poetry had attracted many people towards learning the language.

He urged the Karnataka Urdu Academy, which has started the course in coordination with the National Council for Promotion of Urdu, New Delhi, to give preference to "Deccani Urdu" rather than "Aligarhi" and "Lucknowi Urdu." He also suggested that the Urdu Academy should get textbooks prepared in Deccani Urdu at least up to the primary level.

Encouraging non-Urdu learners to take up the diploma course, Mr. Singh said: "If you follow a Bollywood film or even hum a Hindi song, it shows that you are interested in Urdu. It is a beautiful language. Once you master the language, you can start playing with it."

Tourism and Information Secretary I.M. Vittal Murthy promised support to the academy in popularising the language. Academy chairman M. Nooruddin said the one-year diploma course would commence from June 4. Classes, which will be conducted by specially trained faculty, would be held on Sundays between 9 a.m. and noon. There was no minimum qualification to get admission to the course and the fee for the entire year was Rs. 200, he said.

Interested persons can obtain the admission forms from the academy's office at Kannada Bhavan. Details can be had on +91 80 22213167.

~ Qais

Technorati tags applicable to this post: [Urdu] - [India] - [Pakistan] - [Culture] - [Language]

Dhaikhaingay; Lazim Hai kay Hum Bhee Dhaikhaingay

Adil Najam's Pakistan- Based on Faiz Ahmed Faiz's "Hum Daiykain Gay".
6 minutes and 35 seconds
April 24th, 2006

Here's a personal testament from one Pakistani about his country. It's also a very interesting piece of electronic art incorporating one of the most popular pieces of Urdu poetry written in the 20th Century:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6291983484610119600&q=pakistan


Technorati tags applicable to this post: Urdu - Faiz - Pakistan