Azad Karachi Radio Program 003, October 31, 2005

Program 3 of Azad Karachi Radio continues discussion of the earthquake in South Asia and discusses issues of democracy, civilization and the role of the World Bank and the Military.

You can hear the program, or get information on how to subscribe to the Podcast here.

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

Siasat Group: A Vanguard for Urdu

Siasat, an Urdu daily published from Hyderabad, has been a vanguard in the world of Urdu media and journalism. It was also the market leader in terms of readership, till one Munsif Daily made a heroic comeback - after it was taken over by a Chicago based businessman - and gave Siasat a tough competition.

Siasat was founded by a philanthropist and educationist - Abid Ali Khan, the man who dedicated his life for the welfare of the masses. Mr. Khan had the vision of promoting social welfare and harmony, and for the purpose Siasat Daily was very much instrumental. For his contribution to his community and the country, he was awarded with one of the prestigious civilian award by the Govt. of India - "Padmashree."

Among other remarkable things that the Siasat Group is involved in, one of their works is highly commendable i.e., the education of Urdu. Today, the group is, in itself, an institution of Urdu. It's not only involved in promoting Urdu education, but is also involved in organizing related cultural activities, like "Mushairas" - a gathering of poets.

To my knowledge, the Group runs Abid Ali Khan Educational Trust Urdu Classes, where tremendous effort are made for educating students in Urdu. Things like Urdu Calligraphy, Urdu Software, etc is taught to the students interested in the language.

Other than Urdu, the Siasat Group continues its good work on many social fronts. Visit the webpage below to read a note from Siasat's current Editor in Chief: Mr. Zahid Ali Khan.

http://www.siasat.com/english/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=63&Itemid=75&cattitle=Useful%20Links

Siasat's online edition: http://www.siasat.com/

Azad Karachi Radio Program 002 now available

The second program of Azad Karachi Radio (I mentioned it last week) has just been uploaded. Please take a look and provide feedback:

Azad Karachi Radio is an Urdu language audio program available on the web. Published under the Azad South Asia banner, this program covers, politics, poetry, and life. The first two programs are now available at:

http://AzadKarachiRadio.blogspot.com

You can subscribe using podcasting software using the address:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/AzadKarachiRadio

Azad Karachi Radio is also available for online listening via Yahoo!s new (Beta) Podcasting service at:

http://podcasts.yahoo.com/series?s=3d848ad579b260b163d17218e7fcbad5

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

iFaqeer on Sahir Ludhianvi; Now in Audio

As a pilot for podcasting on my personal blog, I took the speech I gave a little while ago on Sahir Ludhianvi (see this and this), stuck an English introduction at the beginning and uploaded it. You can hear it here.

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

Urdu Blogs on the 'Quake

As some readers will know, there's now an extensive section about the quake-related information on WikiPakistan. (See my post on my personal blog.) One of the pages there collects personal accounts from the ground:

http://pakistan.wikicities.com/wiki/Earthquake_10-05_Personal_Accounts

Wouldn't it be a good idea to collect links there to Urdu (and English) blogs of people on the ground, both affectees and those involved in relief work, fundraising, etc.? It would give Urdu-speakers (and other people) around the world a chance to get a first hand view.

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

Azad Karachi Radio; a New Urdu Language Podcast

We've launched a new Urdu Language Podcast with the title "Azad Karachi Radio". Check it out at:

http://AzadKarachiRadio.blogspot.com/

You can subscribe to the RSS feed using the following address:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/AzadKarachiRadio

Please let us know what you think.

For Azad South Asia,

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

"Installing Urdu" on Windows XP

This blogger, in particular, has made a lot of noise about blogging in Urdu and I promised instructions on how to install Urdu as a language that your Windows XP machine can handle. Here are the instructions, from the website of the Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing in Pakistan:

http://www.crulp.org/Downloads/read_me_xp.txt

Once you have followed those instructions, you can use Urdu not just for blogging, but for pretty much anything you now use English and the English script for on your computer. And as I have said before, no, it is not the same as using InPage or some other editor to write Urdu, but using Urdu all the time. With the InPage solution (which is wonderful for "kitaabath" and page layout), what you have to do is convert your text in to a graphic and put it on your website or page, etc. But with this procedure, you can actually write directly in your HTML file, or Word document--or even while chatting with people over Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger or other IM client!

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

Urdu Tech News - A New Blog

I have been invited to join a new blog in Urdu about technical topics. It's at:

http://urdutechnews.blogspot.com/

Please check in once in a while to see what's happening.

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

Early Urdu Literary Culture and History

Someone just brought to my attention Shamsur Rahman Faruqi's Early Urdu Literary Culture and History

The first chapter, "History, Faith, Politics: Origin Myths of Urdu and Hindi" is available at the following page: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00fwp/srf/srf_early_urdu_ch1.html

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

Is Urdu Ready for the Information Superhighway?

July's cover story in Spider magazine (the Dawn Group's Internet Magazine) is titled "Sifting Scripts: Is Urdu ready for the information superhighway?". One of the stories, by yours truly, covers how the blogosphere is evolving:

http://www.spider.tm/jul2005/cstory2.html

It mentions this blog rather prominently.

Highlights of the whole edition, including the full articles on Urdu on the 'Net are available off the Spider web page. The other stories in that package actually do a good job of rounding up what's been going on with the Internet and Urdu. And mine gives you a flavour of how Urdu is starting to transcend borders for a new generation.

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

20th Volume of Urdu Lughath (Dictionary) Released

It seems the Urdu Dictionary Board has released Volume 20 of the dictionary they are compiling. They are halfway through "Noon", I think. This volume covers from "Nashaath" to "Nh. So I guess we will now know precisely what Faiz Saahab was talking about when he said "Chandh kaliyaaN Nishaath kee chun kar..."...or was it Sahir? But I wonder what "Nh" means? Is that just the "Nah", as in No?

I don't want to just steal a story from a news site and post it here, so please read the story on the sites that published them. I will post any other information I can get. For now, I just remember that back when I was in High School (late 80s), a friend of my father's, Professor Ikhlaque Akhtar Hamidi, mentioned contributing to the discussion. I am not even sure whether it was as a formal part of the Urdu Dictionary Board or not. Anyway, here are the stories:

* Story at "PakPositive" that quotes and links to a Gulf Times story.
* Story in Dawn.

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

Urdu News Channel by Prasar Bharti

India shall soon have a dedicated TV news channel in Urdu. This channel shall be a good source of news and information for the Urdu speaking populace of India. Besides, I believe this step shall also be instrumental in keeping the language more agile.

In India, most of the regional Doordarshan channels broadcast news in Urdu. Some private channels like Sahara TV runs Urdu news bulletin, as well. But having a complete channel for Urdu news would add great value to the Urdu media, and I believe, would to an extent conjugate Urdu and Urdu speaking people to the mainstream national life.

Talking about Urdu channels, Hyderabad based Enadu TV launched the first 24 hours Urdu channel: E TV Urdu. This is essentially a channel that has current affairs programs, news, and family entertainment. The channel is gradually gaining popularity among the masses.

Media has always been instrumental in creating and establishing cultures. So, with channels like E TV Urdu and to-be-launched Urdu channel from Prasar Bharthi, Urdu as a language is bound to become relatively more commonplace. And, this way, Urdu shall not be wrongly associated with any particular community or religion, and shall gain more reorganization as the language of India and all Indians - something that it always has been.

Following is the news about the channel.

Courtsey: deepikaglobal.com
http://www.deepikaglobal.com/search_newsdetail.asp?newscode=108380

Prasar Bharati to launch Urdu TV Channel in January next

New Delhi, June 24 (UNI): A new Urdu television channel is to be started by Prasar Bharati from January one next year, which Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy said would be a new year gift to 100 million viewers in the country.

An amount of Rs 65.7 crore had been set aside to prepare the software for the new channel, Mr Reddy said at a press meet here.

He said that Prasar Bharati had accepted a request to this effect made by the Central Government.

The channel will beam at lest seven hours of programme every day to begin with, he said.
The Minister said there was no dearth of Urdu journalists in the country to help develop the channel.

While the channel was not being started keeping commercial viability in view, attempts would be made to earn revenue

Urdu Adab - New Magazine from Toronto

From Munir Saami Saahab in Toronto:

Hello Friends,

It is with great pleasure that I advise you about the launch of Urdu Adab, a distinguished literary magazine from Canada.

We are committed to promote Urdu writers of quality in Diaspora, and to provide interaction with the mainstream literature both in the west and the Urdu speaking world.

The editorial committee consists of:

Editor In charge : Abid Jafri, Editor : Munir Saami, Managing editor Anis Farooqui, and members of editorial committee , Nuzhat Siddiqui, Muslim Hasany, and Kaleem Zafar.

We have dedicated the maiden issue of our magazine to the memory of distinguished Urdu poet, Jon Elia.

The contributors to first issue include, Jon Elia, Asif Farrukhi, Kaleem Zafar, Anis Farooqui, Muneeb ur Rehman, Irfana Aziz, Javed Yusf, Shaheen, Syed Taqi Abdi, Khalid Sohail, Ishrat Afreen, Humera Rehman, Shehla Naqvi, Nuzhat Siddiqui, Javed Danish, Zamir Ahmad, Iftikhar Hyder, Abida Karamat, Muslim Hasany, Munir Saami, Karamt Ghori, Rahim Anjan, and Abid Jafri, Dr. Baidar Bakht, and Peerzada Salman.

The magazine also carries a painting by Javed Yusuf depicting a verse from Sauda, and its translation by Hifzul Kabir Qureshi. Title of books by Nuzaira Azam, Jon Elia, and Zamir Ahmad are also displayed.

The editorial committee acknowledges the financial support of, Afsar Naqvi, Bashir Abdul Samad, Dr, Baidar Bakht, Pavneet Arora, Javed danish, Javed Yusuf, Rais Iftikhar, Syed Hussain Rizvi, Zamir Ahmad, Dr, Tahir Qazi, Arif Raza, Abbas Syed, Qazi Irfan Ashraf, and Mansoora Qazi.

In launching this magazine we promise the same standards that we have delivered to you in the management of the Writers Forum group.

To obtain your personal copy you may contact me and we will appreciate if you could also send a money order of C$ 5 only to cover the postage and handling.

We also invite contributions of high standards.

Thanks and best regards. Munir Saami

Here are the cover and Urdu announcement (click on either to see a larger version):

---

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

My Experiences with Urdu

Urdu language may never die but Urdu script is definitely facing a threat in India. People have already been writing Urdu in Hindi script and now among the English-knowing Urdu-speaking population, there's this new trend of writing Urdu in Roman script. Ironically enough, i am a part of such group, myself.

It isn't that i don't love or like writing in Urdu script but the fact is i don't have that skill of writing in it faster than i write in Hindi or English. The reason was the insignificant need of Urdu in our daily lives. Hindi became the National language and English - the professionally official language. In light of these facts, Urdu script lost to other languages despite the love I have for the language I call my mother tongue. Well, the only advantage that Urdu got in my life is that i used to write letters to my mother in Urdu when i was studying at Aligarh. They were short but sweet. I used to get my mother's reply with all the corrections. This is how i learned to write whatever Urdu I can. Once we got telephones and mobile phones, the practice of letter writing was also taken away from me.

But I haven't lost on it yet. I am still trying to read every bit of Urdu text that catches my eye and attention. I try to visualize writing words, phrases, song lyrics and shers in Urdu. This is what takes me closer to writing Urdu. And I have this small but beautiful dream that one day I will blog in Urdu and bring it back in my life.

In India, I get to read Urdu on the Railway stations of the states which have Urdu as one of their official languages. I get to read it on signboards, notice boards of Masjids, Madrasas, Hospitals backed by Muslim institutions and on posters of seminars and conferences conducted by institutions like SIO, IRF etc. Another example of Urdu reading material is promotional pamphlets of new establishments and shops in the city, distributed outside Masjids after Friday prayers.

I also remember my mother trying to get us to read a children's Urdu publication called "Khilona" which we didn't like much because of its poor printing quality and unattractive graphics.

I think, this is most of what i could recall from my personal experience with Urdu.

~ Qais

A commentary on Allama Iqbal's Nazm - Himalay

For lovers of Urdu script, this is a commentary on Allama Iqbal's nazm - Himalay, by Dr. Ludmila Vassilyeva -

http://www.urdustan.com/mazameen/iqbal_himalaya_ludmila.html

Dr. Ludmila is a reasearher of Indian Literature in Institue of Oriental Studies, Moscow.

Post about "Urdu Blossoming on the Internet"

I am pretty hyped about all that is going on in this community of ours that seems to be developing around blogging in and about Urdu and the affiliated Wikis, etc. So I decided to tell the world. (Bear with me, I am not being pretentious--well, maybe a little.) I have posted the following on my own blog (iFaqeer.blogspot.com) and will be talking to a magazine/newspaper or three about publishing articles on this, and am also working on presenting the process of how to do all this and engage with this phenomenon (or just write e-mail to your mother in Urdu) at some Urdu classes and as part of a technical lecture series here in the Bay Area.

And now that I am doing or planning to do all that, I thought I would come back here and report back to those that are actually making all this happen. (I know this is being picked up by Urdu Planet and suchlike, so folks will see it. And y'all are using Firefox's RSS Feed live linking feature, right? right?) Now to the post.

----[First published on iFaqeer's blog.]

For those not familiar with it, Urdu is the language associated with the Muslims of South Asia--fully almost half of the world's Muslims. It is the language in which the madrassas of Pakistan and India operate. The official language of Pakistan, a country that needs no introduction to most readers in this day and age, it is also the language in which a great volume of literature, especially poetry, has been written--a lot of it with Sufistic content or undertones.

On the Internet, Urdu has had a presence for a while. But up to now, it has been in the form of content created using specialized software (like the ubiquitous "InPage") and then converted to a graphic format (like GIF or JPG) and then placed on a website. The content itself has usually been in the form of poetry, literature, or news and current affairs that has been created for another medium--or in another time-- and "re-purposed" for the Web. Original content creation specifically for the Internet has been very tentative; though we have had some poets use the Web as their first or main outlet and some news sites, etc. have come up.

But all that is changing. In the last few months or so, I am tracking a blossoming of Urdu language for blogging and other live discussions, and original content being developed for, and often on the web.

Blogs, of course, are where everything "is at" nowadays. And blogging in Urdu seems to have been triggered by the direct support for Urdu script that is available in Windows XP and the phonetic keyboard developed by the CRULP (the Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing at the National University of Science and Technology in Pakistan). A follow-up piece to this one will lay out the how-tos of this. Please watch this space and feel free to get in touch with the author/editor of this piece.

By way of background, this phenomenon has been preceded by the explosion of blogging in Farsi. And yes, I use that word advisedly; if what is happening in Urdu now is a "blossoming", then what has happened in Farsi is an "explosion". Farsi is reputedly now the third most popular language for online journals, and Farsi blogs are to the political scene in Iran what printed pamphlets were to revolutions in the early 20th century. But I digress. You can follow the links earlier in this paragraph to catch up on that discussion. Back to Urdu.

Here's a short round-up of things that will provide you a lay of the land, so to speak.

There is now a list of Urdu blogs:

http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/05/listed-at-urdu-blogs-directory.html

The above link is to a post is from "Urdu ke Naam", a collaborative blog that includes contributions by the current author, and announces that blog's being included in the list. A closer look at that blog entry will also point to a page--on, what else? a blog--that describes how to start blogging in Urdu. And one that provides templates for setting one up.

The comments on that post above also mention "Urdu Planet", a site that aggregates the content of a lot of Urdu and Urdu-related blogs in one place:

http://urdu.zackvision.com/urduplanet/

The list of blogs that page points to is hosted on the "Urdu Wiki":

http://www.sovereign-renditions.info/urduwiki/UrduHome

For readers not familiar with them, "wikis" are a wondeful new class of websites which are great for colloboratively creating content and gathering infromation. The "Urdu Wiki" has become a good place for the community forming around this whole phenomenon of Urdu on the Web. Among other things, it has pages where the community is starting to do some of the work on developing and fine-tuning the terminology for computer usage, for example. To use another link from Urdu ke Naam, see:

http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/05/technical-terminology-in-urdu.html

South Asian readers will remember that, till very recently, this kind of list was sent around as a joke, with satirical translations of Windows features into Urdu, Punjabi, or what-have-you. Now we are working on the real thing. And I do mean "we"--anyone can participate. I wish everybody would.

Which brings us to the next topic. A real encyclopedia in the language. The Wikipedia community has set up an encyclopedia in Urdu. Everyone can and should participate; it is a wonderful way to engage the Urdu-speaking community and Urdu lovers with the Internet, while helping the collection and growth of knowledge in Urdu. The address to get to it directly is:

http://ur.wikipedia.org

By way of background, here's a link to an earlier post by the current author on this topic:

http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2005/02/wikis-and-encyclopedia-in-urdu.html

One could see a conflict, or redundancy between the above two projects--but I dont. Here's why: One is a place for collaboratively developing content about Urdu and related topics, while the other is a real encyclopedia about anything and everything (or aims to be, anyhow) in Urdu. A project that, to my knowledge has not successfully been carried out since before colonial times.

To give you an example of the kind of discussions that are starting to happen as the use of the language starts to mature in its use on this medium, see the following posts on "Urdu ke Naam":

http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/05/urdu-speaking-wikipedia-users.html
and
http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/05/on-being-saahib-e-zubaan.html

Before I close, a few specific observations:

The community I am talking about spans India and Pakistan. Which, IMHO (in my humble opinion), is a good thing. It is good for the health of the language and intellectual strength of the community using it, as well as for world peace. The interesting thing is, the only tensions that arise in this online community do not arise out of national differences, but about things like the strong feeling amongst some users that the Urdu script should be the only one used for such discussion. (See the comments under the main post at http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/05/genres-of-urdu-poetry.html and then the current author's own post at: http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/05/blog-post_11.html)

Secondly, from where I sit, the discussion of just a couple of years ago about whether Urdu is on its way out in India (see, for example, the 2003 article on Chowk that has been making the rounds on e-mail again recently) is moot. Some of the most passionate members of this community are currently based in Hyderabad, one of the historical "homes" of the language.

Another interesting thing is that the diaspora of Urdu speakers and lovers around the rest of the world is the furthest behind in this regard. Most people one talks to around Silicon Valley, for example, start the discussion with a "but I can write Urdu now, in InPage (a software for desktop publishing in Urdu)". When, after a few minutes of explaining that what is being talked about is exactly that one now does not need specialised DTP software and can employ the Urdu script anywhere in their day-to-day computer use, you can practically see the lightbulb go off above people's heads. What follows is requests for "how to" and so on.

And lastly, an expression of humility. I write this piece not to take credit for any of this, but to pay homage. The people in the trenches, doing the real work, are people like Asif Iqbal, father of the Urdu Wiki mentioned above; Danial, a blogger in Karachi; Umair Salaam, who makes a rather credible claim to have started the first blog in Urdu; Qais Mujeeb and Manzoor Khan, founders of "Urdu ke Naam"; Qadeer Ahmad Rana, the 19-year old student in Multan, Pakistan who finally scolded and shamed the current author into learning how to write in Urdu. (Wish him luck, he's in the middle of exams now.) Heartfelt khiraaj-e-thehseen and nazrana-e-aqeedhath to them. For these are the "Asathaza", the founding fathers, as "hamaari zubaan" moves into a new medium.

PS: Shapar86, my apologies for writing another piece in English, but I really wanted to reach an audience outside those that are already set up to read and write in Urdu.

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

On Being "Saahib-e-ZubaaN"

I posted the following:

http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/05/urdu-speaking-wikipedia-users.html

after I created a tag on the English Wikipedia to identify users who are "Native Speakers" of Urdu. That drew at least one very appropriate comment, one that leads to a very interesting discussion about the phrase I used in Urdu for native speakers: "Saahib-e-Zubaan-e-Urdu". Here's what I replied to a comment on that post:

This is ... only specifically for users of the English-language edition of the Wikipedia, (a free and open encyclopedia). Just that one version of that one project.

Secondly, we need to get out of the ethnic designation and all the chauvinism associated with it. The purpose of this label and all the others like it that are listed at the link I proivded is to help identify the level of competency of various users with the languages they know. But even if you do want to address the wider issue, and this is as good a time and as good a forum as any to do that, the most appropriate meaning of "Saahib-e-Zabaan" (and, when you think about it, the literal meaning) is about the same as the meaning that the Wikpedia itself has for a "Native Speaker" of any language (not just Urdu, any language):

"if you're a native speaker or have a grasp of the language comparable to a native speaker".

For example, I consider myself just such a native speaker of English. In fact, if you really got down to brass tacks, my competency with English is higher my skill with Urdu. On the other hand, if you stayed with the chauvinistic ethnic classification, I could very well be smug in my links to Lucknow and Allahabad and call myself much more Saahib-e-Zabaan than say, Faiz Ahmed Faiz or Ahmed Faraz--or even Iqbal. (Allah mu'aaf karay for even entertaining the thought!)

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

PS: Please see: http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2005/02/wikis-and-encyclopedia-in-urdu.html for a discussion of the actual Wikipedia project in Urdu.

Delve into the Diwan-e-Ghalib

A colleague mailed me the following link: http://users.adelphia.net/~asghar/.

This site apparently has translation and commentary of Ghalib's verses from his famed Diwaan-e-Ghalib. The interesting part is the explanation of the verses that is provided, along with the meaning of Urdu words used.

A very good resource for Urdu lovers, and particularly for all Deewaaney of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib.

~~Manzoor Khan

Urdu-Speaking Wikipedia Users

Urdu-speaking users of the English Wikipedia can now identify themselves with a "Babel tag", a User language template that puts standard text on their user page saying:

ur	This user is a native speaker of Urdu. یہ شخص صاحِبِ زبانِ اردو ہے

All you have to do is put the following text on your User Page:

{{user ur}}

See the following page for details:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Babel

and my own user page for an example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:IFaqeer

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer

"آپ اردو میں کیوں نہیں لِکھتے؟"

یہ سوال بار بار آتا ہے.

اگر سارے جہاں میں دھوم ہونی ہے تو سب اردو یی میں تو نہیں ہو گی؟ بھٔیّا امریکا میں مُقیم ہوں اور رومی کا زِکر سُن سُن کے کان کُچ پک سے گیٔے ہیں،گوروں کو غالِب و اِقبال و میر و داغ سے شناسأی دلوانا بھی مقصود ہے

اور پھِر ہر اِنسان آپکے طرحا مملِکتِ خُداداد میں نہیں پلا بڑھا یے ۔ ہم میں سے کُچ لوگوں کو خاسے چنے چبانے پڑے ہیں اردو لِکھنا پڑھنا سیکھنے کے لیٔے!

آداب	Adaab,
فقیر-i	iFaqeer