Challenges in Learning Urdu for Non-native Speakers

I must say that Urdu is one of the sweetest languages and spoken widely around the world. You may agree and you may not be but, in comparison of past fifty years, growth of its literature, surpassed most of its competitor languages. When I say competitor languages I do not count Hindi among them. Because I do not consider Hindi as a separate language, in fact Hindi and Urdu both are one language written in two different scripts. Believe me, having two scripts is one of the biggest qualities which any language may have. No languages have this specialty in the world.

As if now, the world is turning to global village but still there is big obstacle for cultural exchange, and understanding each other customs of living, is language. Understanding culture fully, is not possible without learning the languages; this may be a big reason, that many people from around the world specially western and European countries travel to third world countries specially India and Pakistan. Delhi is one of the Indian cities which are considered as educational hubs of India. There are several Universities where one can take admission in language courses and learn Hindi Urdu literatures, but in terms of spoken language it is strange that you can find thousands institutions who teach how to speak a good English, but you rarely find a good institution where you can find how to speak a good Urdu or Hindi.

The other problem for Urdu Hindi language learners is, if somehow they find a language helper, or instructor, there are not much study materials available for beginners except “Teach yourself Hindi” and “Teach yourself Urdu” although there are study materials limited for Intermediate level and advanced level too. Only two good books are available in the market and they are authored by experts, Gopichand Narang and C M Naim. They are, no doubt good books but not sufficient to fulfill the thirst of language learners. In comparison of this if you want to learn French, Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese and Chinese then there are a lot many options in terms of study material, CDs, software and books available so you can choose the one that suits to you. But it is really difficult when it comes to Urdu and Hindi. The same problem persist if you talk about good and qualitative institution for learning How to speak a good Hindi or Urdu, there are not many options available to choose from except very few of them who are running in remote areas, they are not easily accessible. Either you find a private tutor or consult a teacher who works for school or collage and either one is not an easy task.

Despite of all these troubles if, being a foreigner if you succeed to speak a good Urdu or Hindi, then the immense pleasure which you feel you cannot imagine until you experience it, specially if a rickshaw driver tries to cheat you and as you speak some sentences, like kya bhaiya kya ker rahe ho, mujhe bewakoof mat banao the suddenly he feels guilty then you can only imagine how happy you would be. But the thing is that to become up to that level you need to find a good institution. For that the first thing you probably will do is, you will search online. Let me tell you there is one institution run by Ali Taqi who taught Urdu Hindi in University of Washington Seattle almost for seven years, the core competency of this institution is that they have American teachers for basic classes so it is easy for western people to understand the functionality of the language in their own way. Once students complete the basic level then they provide excellent Indian Hindi Urdu teachers to teach them further. This is my personal opinion that nothing can be easier but this way. More details about this institution can be found on http://zabaan.com
Besides this there are some online resources are available to learn. Or you can find home tutor to get help in learning Hindi Urdu at your place in your own method, without getting stuck in awful Delhi traffic. Zabaan also is one of the home tutor providers. Besides this institution you may find some other places where you can learn this awesome language. Unfortunately the so called masters of these languages did not give attention preparing course materials for non-native speakers. Most of them believe that to work for it is not a literary work and it won’t help in getting promotion as a professor. It’s bizarre. I think the best service for a language is to teach the language to non-native speaker. Nothing can be better service than this for any language.

In order to learn spoken Urdu or Hindi, up to fluent level won’t take less than two years if you are full time devoted student, although you will be able to communicate in six months or less. Learning a ne language takes time, but if you are fortunate enough to find a good language school like zabaan or other, or an excellent private tutor this may take less than the standard set time.

There are some tips and techniques, through which learning language become easier. One is learning through proper grammar, sentence structure, knowing about Noun, Pronoun, verb adjective and learning to arrange them in sentences like subject first, and then verb and then auxiliary etc. and the other technique is listen, learn and practice. Both of these techniques have merits and demerits. Through the first technique you may speak correct Urdu but you would think a lot before you speak. Because you will first think in your native language and then you will translate your thought into Urdu, moreover you will be extra careful, fearing of making mistakes but this way you will become aware of the language functionality and whatever you will speak you would be confident about it.

Through the second method you learn through listening and speak the way you heard other people speaking. This is the natural way of learning a language. Just like a kid born and learn through listening and practice. Just like your native language you are master in spoken no matter you do not know its grammar, if some body will speak wrong you will be able to say hey its wrong, but why and how and what it should be and why it should be you may not explain. Through this technique you will be able to speak well and quickly but you won’t be able to understand the functionality of language which is important.

So the best way of learning a language is mixture of both techniques. Firstly listening and practicing then understanding the sentence structure and third thing is passing time with native speakers, this helps a lot.

As per a student of Urdu Jonathan Shifley and a teacher of spoken English passing more times with native speakers is a mantra of learning any language. Being student of a language and a teacher of another language his advice and tips become valuable.

Shame on us!!

I saw in todays newspaper that, a pregnant woman was looking for admission in a Government hospital Chandigarh. They did not provide her bed, she had to wait in a cue. She was keep crying in deep pain finally she issued a baby standing in a cue the kid poped out and hit the ground and died before seeing mother's face.
shame on us!!
shame on us!!
Whose fault it is? a. the Hospital management
b. the Government of Chandigarh
c. Government of India
d. People of India
I believe it is our fault being an Indian how can we let these things happen. What do you think whose fault is it?

Zindagi Live

I watched Zindagi Live, a TV show run by IBN 7 the news channel, which surprised me today. This made me think that am I watching one of the Indian TV News channels which are famous for misinterpreting things, giving the judgment, presenting anyone innocent as terrorist or making any bad man a hero. I watched this program which was completely out of expectations. I usually prefer soap operas on news channels but nowadays there is not much difference between these two.

But, when I watched this program which was showing an interview of those people who are victims of false allegation of terrorism, it broke my heart. First time I heard the voice of the victims who were barbarically tortured and beaten and forced to admit the crime which they did not make. Usually India tv kind of news channels are famous for omitting these peoples character who are caught by the police. Before the court judgment comes they prove them mastermind of a blast or a commander of a terrorist group and blah blah…. When after two years three years or five years the honorable court says that the person is innocent then all the TV channels simply shut up, because, how they can falsify themselves?

Meanwhile the victim has no voice and enough defame for the rest of their lives. Zindagi Live and the heartbreaking grieve of the victims and their family present the real image of Indian police and the shame of the poor government of the glorified country. The country of Gandhi, the Mahatma and the country of saints, and the country of barbaric police officers, and the country of poor TV Channels and the poor newspapers like Times of India at the same time.

Yes Times of India because whenever police arrests a wrong person with the false allegation Times of India comes up with a big story, but when the allegation disproved by the Court then they do not even apologize or write anything about that. For example, the case of Ishrat Jahan and Batla House Encounter case is there. When the Postmortem report proved the fake encounter Times of India did not write even a sentence.

Hope our India Television and print media will turn to human lover and right keeper of Indian People, and unveil the barbaric and horrendous face of Indian Police someday. At least Zindagi Live of IBN7 is the first step towards it.

Experience vs Quality

If you have experience in any job for ten years, no matter how stupid you are, you will get a good job in that field. You need to have a degree, even if it is a fake. You can fake it until you make it. Also if you have a degree in different field or experience in different arena, no matter how good you are, you won’t even get an opportunity to prove yourself.

In the present scenario, Experience is counted and quality is overlooked. In order to establish yourself you stepped in the market with any job that suited you on that time, which you don’t think is your cup of tea now, and later on you realized that this is not the meadow you wanted to enter, then there is no way to get out of your current job profile.

Nowadays the HR policy is so brainless, especially in India that, at the time of interview they ask questions like: Why have you left your previous job? Why do you want to go to this specific field? Why have you chosen this xyz company to make your career with?

Despite the recruiter already know the answer of the first question that you have left your company because you want more salary to be offered, he won’t like the truth. You will have to lie to them to make it an acceptable answer. They know the answer of the second question as well that, you are not happy with the previous field. You want to switch because of many reasons; they won’t accept the fact until you distort them.

The recruiters even know the answer of the last question as well that you did not choose this company to be employed with on purpose; they advertised for a job and you wanted a job, you are just giving yourself a chance to be hired. You are only looking for an opportunity; you again have to tell a lie, like you want to make your career with this company because this company has this or that quality and achievements. Both of you, recruiter and you know the fact that this is not the honest answer, you only fake it.

If you are not smart enough to present these lies in the wrapper of truth, then your job application will be rejected. In case you spoke truth they will give you very polite reply like “It was nice meeting with you. Your application is under consideration, we will give you a call for second round of interview within two or three days. The recruiter will give you so good smile that you won’t realize until you reach home that you are rejected.

If you are smart enough in telling lies you can fake your experience like this. If you have experience of 4 months you can write in your resume that you have experience of 4 years. You are only twelve grade pass, you can mention pursuing bachelor, and you will be hired. In other hand the person who mentioned his real three and half years of experience and passed the twelve grades, will be rejected.

The recruiters are trained that way. This is really heights of stupidity.

I wonder why they do not look at their requirements and the candidate’s personality and quality whether they match or not. It is so simple.

I asked one of my friends who work in a reputed BPO that why don’t you switch job if this night shift does not suits you? He told me that he cannot, because he does not have any experience in any other field. He introduced me with a man who was very thin and younger than him; he told me that he is his manager. I thought he must be more educated than him. After little talk I got to know that his manager is less educated than him. My friend informed me that he is his manager; only because of he has passed more time in that industry than him.

India! Where are you in this real world?
Or I should correct my question.
World! Where are you in our real India?

The BJP Ideology

The BJP ideology was based on hindutva since its inception. They felt strongly that this perception is not going to help them grow, people of India jaded with the dogma that BJP carries. Last couple of years BJP tried other gears leaving their root idea saying “feel good” factor and the politics of progress. But with the recent appeal of the National president of BJP Mr Nitin Gadkari about Ram Mandir, that Muslims should help them(BJP) to build a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the statement of Ex President Mr Rajnath Singh that BJP should stick with the old ideology of hindutwa, demonstrate that BJP cannot do the politics of growth and advancement. They weighed themselves.

Mr Gadkari wants to build a grand Ram temple knowing the fact that they are not going to win judicially. BJP used to say that they will build a temple no one can stop them doing so, for a sudden change out of the blue The national president of BJP realized that it cannot be done without the help of Muslims. The help of Muslims in building temple could have been possible as it is proved with the Indian history that Muslims have set examples of secularism through building temples and all that, but the question is building a temple after demolishing a historical Mosque, you want Muslim’s assistance in building the temple. How is that vindicated?

It is same as you demolish some one’s house and began building your house at the site and on top of that you want the victim to lend a hand you building your house. It is mocking if you believe it is going to be happened.

The reason of not waiting of judicial judgment could be one of the two; whether you know for sure that the judgment is not going to be in your favor, or you know that without Muslim’s help it is simply not possible. In both of the cases you do not have the faith in judiciary and your own ideology. Either you do not respect the judiciary or you do not want to respect the judiciary.

This kind of leadership, who does not think at all about the sentiments of Indian people; believes that one day they will be able to rule in India. 90% of Hindus do not favor BJP Ideology of hindutwa means they have a big NO from their own community. One of the proofs is they are not in majority to be a ruling party. By looking at their graphs it has been proved that they are not going to be in majority to set their government in next twenty years. They have not learnt any lesson from the past.

This party is famous for the anti-Muslim remarks and misleading the people sentimentally with false promises. As far as Hundus of India are concerned, they are very pleasant towards Muslims, because whatever progress and recognition Muslims got in most of the cases hindus are involved as kingmakers.

Especially if you pick any big name of Muslims now or from the History you will find they have been taught by the hindu teachers and they inspired them to be what they are. It proves Hindus of India are not biased. For Example Shahrukh Khan, APJ Abdul Kalam, Sania Mirza, Azharuddin, Irfan Pathan, Nasiruddin Shah etc. you pick any name and ask them who coached you, who trained you Without any hesitation, with pride they will give you the names of their hindu teachers who inspired them to achieve their goals.

Instead of seeking help from Muslims Mr Gadkari should offer muslims a big hand to build a glorious mosque; although it wont fulfill the loss of Babri Masjid but somehow more or less India will be thankfull to him and his party to be generous and loyal to the country for the country sake if he truly loves the country and if he truly says Vande Matram from the warm corner of his heart.

Media and police are partners

There are many things which is broadcasted on television nowadays that we call “news”. We as a common man just believe what we watch on the TV. The question is that, is that everything which broadcasted true? It must be, because the news which is in the newspaper, on the television, on the websites all cannot be false. Exactly! This is what we all think but the thing is the place where all of these media resources get the news, the bizarre is there; they create the story and hand over to the media. And we accept it as information because we do not have any other option except believing it.

One of the thousands example is Ishrat Jahan case some time back. She was postured by our media as a terrorist after some year the court said that she was innocent. The bad name her family faced she could not face it because she was killed by police bullet. Our government is elected by us to protect us. To protect us our government has the police system. But unfortunately the system work other way around. They first kill somebody in the fake encounter first and then omitting the proof of that they burn his other family member alive. I am talking about Shohrabuddin sheikh case. Obviously we cannot blame any one police officer for that because the whole case was plotted that is why it was not heard by anyone.

I do not want to say what happened in that case what should have happened I want to say that somehow and somewhere because of irresponsible media we get only the news which police made, not the news that is based on truth. These kinds of cases usually not come in light until unless somebody shows courage and complain by going beyond the system. But if a family member has been threatened and killed. We all can understand how much courage the person may have. We can only imagine how many of those cases take place everyday throughout the country.

The people who are postured by the police and media as terrorist after five to ten years later court says they are innocent still our media has no shame to utter a word of apology.
Our information and broadcast ministry has nothing to do with all that. Our police are free to arrest anyone on the basis of suspicion, so what they do when somebody refuses to pay bribe they say openly and shamelessly that they can arrest anyone. They are so creative to create a case against anybody so at least for seven eight years the one will fight for justice, that nobody likes. Police know this mentality and they get advantage of that.

The whole police and media system should be re-engineered. The management should focus on public security and should ensure the police-terror against the bad elements not the vise-versa. Nowadays police is ensuring the security of bad elements and police-terror to common and innocent people mostly and our local and national media is playing the same role and they both protect each-other.

Rahul's popularity

Is there any explicit reason for Rahul Gandhi being so popular among youngster in India? What I believe that In terms of youth participation in Indian politics is almost Zilch. If there is any then the young leaders do not want to involve themselves in too much toil for the public cause or they stay away from meetings with dissimilar countenances of India. The other youth politicians all they want, a painless recognition which has no sustainability.

Rahul is diverse in more than a few ways He does not care about flaunt. He put his spirit in no matter what he does. The true fidelity towards Indian populace is making him demanded. He does not care about what other thinks, what other believes, what other whispers; He does his duty does not care about outcomes. What other politicians do is they think about outcomes first and then they decide where to go or whom to meet and with whom sharing food is going to give them big political spotlight.

Usually leaders go to their sports ground when election come ashore. But Rahul does not care when the election is. People of his political field think if a leader visits his house before the election to hear their tribulations then he is the only person who deserves to be their leader. Youth of India always prefer works on words, so they like Rahul Gandhi.

The other political leaders because of their laziness cannot do the same so they have only one thing to do is spreading bad name against him or saying that all is only the “Drama” it does not have any reality. My question to them is, if it is a drama why have you not done this with your so called white heart yet? This is the question mark to those leaders who believe in words only and do not bother to step forward and always ready to criticize other’s effort.

In my view whatever Rahul is doing for what so ever cause at least he is doing something he is active not like most of the lethargic leaders which unfortunately we have. He has no greed of anything he has everything name, fame, money and power the only cause of him being active is he wants to serve india and its people what his family has been doing in the past. He is the only leader who does not provoke the youth to come out their homes and March outside following the leader. He is trying to wake up the youth for their cause and that awakening is going to give the leaders a big headache in the future because they will be more demanding for their rights than they are nowadays.

My exprience with Convergys (Memoir)

When I joined Convergys I was very curious towards corporate culture. The first day when I entered in the building my experience was “Wow! It is a very nice place. It must be a very good experience working here”. I could see employees in the premises, pretty young girls holding cigarettes between their fingers walking along with cool dudes who have fashioned beard and long hair talking fluently in English. Some of them were very serious having earphone and enjoying the music. There were some people who are middle aged look unfit with the environment trying to soothe their feeling of being unfit.

When I was sent to the training room I found 26 employees in that room, they all were newly recruited like me. There were all kind of people mixed, I could say by their faces they were from south to north, east to west representing the all India culture. they looked at each-other faces, few of them were introduced sitting in small groups chatting and laughing this was how they tried to remove their nervousness. I as an observer looked at their faces one by one. Some of them were chatty, some of them were calm.

There were employees who looked at me and showed their tough faces, it gave me a feel like they want to show me that ‘I had no need of job I am here just to make myself busy, and you poor guy have to survive here somehow I don’t care’.

A person walked in with full of confidence had some fear but he succeeded to hide that. “Are you all in Martin’s team?” “Yes” two or three of them responded. That was a dark skinny guy with goatee beard had a big smile on his face. Introduced him and trained the employees for almost fourteen days. In these fourteen days the group made out of those people who smoke. I was perhaps the only Muslim boy I that group but never felt left-out. In this fourteen days time I made some friends and some enemies. I could say who are my friends but I could not say who my enemies are.

In this period we had to go through many cultural activities, language classes, typing trainings, some time singing and dancing also. We did not feel that in this short period we were attached so much with the trainer Martin. It was very hard to think about switching into someone else’s class but we had. As a result many of us were unhappy and had the same expectation as we had with martin but expectation left thirsty and there was a lot of chaos.

In this journey many of the employees left the job some left it for the personal reason some left because of trainer was changed, some left because they were preplanned to work for a month or two and some of them could not pass the validation criteria. In total we were 16 in our program training. But when we hit the floor we were 10. “Hit the floor” is the common jargon of the call centers that means completed the training and begun the on job training.

Before joining the call center I had many misconceptions that I did not find true initially. My team got split after a month or two I don’t remember when it was. I was sent into a team that was led by a lady team leader. I thought it will be tough to deal with a lady team leader, but it was not. I met many girls in my new team who were very moralistic. After a certain period of time when I come closure to them my perception changed and I thought my judgment was not true.

When I completed my six months with the call center some one incident occurred, there were two employees terminated because of the bad conduct of behavior. When I dug into the mater I got to know that one of the security guards saw both of them (a boy and a girl) were kissing each other in the premises and that was not allowed. After three months of this incident two more employees were asked to leave. And that was because of they were doing sex in the hidden place but they were caught with the help of cctv camera more over one of them was a team leader.

It was hard to believe sometime but I thought when young men and women work together in night shifts it is hard to avoid sometime. I saw young girls boozing and behaving like a prostitute in the parties and boys behaving like animals. There was my first experience sitting with drinkers while they drink alcohol, was also in convergys.

Finally I was put in the last semester of my two years job in convergys into a north eastern team leader and the experience was horrendous and pathetic. She was a childlike team leader, shouting all the time at everyone. I could not bear that tried to complain. But no body was there to listen to me.

Overall there were many colleagues I can never forget their good behaviors with me and they were Deepak, Sunil, Kanchan, Manisha, Tola, Gaurav, Karan, and the most beautiful of them Neha although I was very closed to Sunil and Deepak.
They are part of my good memoir.

Maar gayi mehengayi

Yesterday I went to the shop to buy Sugar. I was shocked when I got to know that it is sold for Rs 48 per Kg. O my God! I shocked to hear that. I had not had this kind of expectation with at least Dr Manmohan’s government. Whom he is serving to? Is he serving to the poor people? I cannot believe it. I predict what will happen. Just before Election the price of sugar will be cut down to 40 or 35 per kilo. And we will be very happy as we always do. Shame on us. Is this the government we elected for ourselves? Even Daal Roti we cannot afford, because daal is 90 rupee per Kg. on top of that being a Muslim I had never expected the innocent killing in batla house saying that they were terrorists.

When I thought, whom should we give our valuable votes in upcoming election; I could not find any reason to vote congress. Can any one of you give me an answer whom should we vote and why.

Rabia; A book by Dr Mohd Aleem

Nowadays the tradition of drama writing is almost dead in Urdu and Hindi languages. Razing down of the stage tradition is one of the reasons behind it. Even now some theatrical groups are alive and pouring lives in to the art of drama writing. ‘little theatrical group’ New Delhi is one of those who staged some very special dramas that is the mirror of Indian culture and state of different community.Yes! I am talking about theatres in this electronic age, where there is a glare of TV shows and movies dazzling our eyes. But many years ago theatres were only one most popular entertainment tool. No surprise if I will say that it is still existing, Not only existing but with same �clat.In the form of drama, there are more opportunities to present feelings, internal dilemmas, social states and individual exploitations rather than other literary genres.The drama Rabiya presents the tragedy of the bad marriage system in a middle class Indian family. Behavioral disharmony and the dowry are very broad topics in this play. The drama Rabiya written by one of the emerging writers Mohammad Aleem, Who has his fame as a Urdu & Hindi novelist. After being staged and success the play Rabiya, He will be known as a dramatist also.Rabiya is a story of a teen girl age of fifteen or sixteen. Her name is Rabiya. Her father is not so wealthy, named Mahmood. He wanted his daughter’s marriage with a well-to-do young man. He tried from his best but he could not find the appropriate date for his daughter.In India there is arranged marriage system. It is not so bad but the male always has power to decide every thing about marriage. The female is not considered. Female has no power to select her own choice. She is like a doll or any other inanimate thing. This is a main theme of the Rabiya.Mahmood after all finds a good guy suitable for his daughter.He did not feel any importance to ask Rabia about it. She likes him or not, Will she be happy with him or not. And the marriage happened. Rabiya was a solemn girl her age was not expedient for marriage. Her husband loves her lot but she does not found comfort with him always sits silently. Her husband felt it but could not understand the reason. He exerted to make her happy but worthless.Her father Mahmood was very happy after this marriage happend. He thought he finished an important duty very well. He spent too much money and due to big expenditure he was broke. But he was happy to finish his duty.Next day of the marriage Rabiya wept more. Her husband called herFather and she came back with him.She told her Bhabhi (brother’s wife) that she does not want to go to her husband. She does not love him. Her bhabhi tried to solve this psychological problem. But she could not agree. Mahmood feinted to think about Rabiya.Next day a bad news came to mahmood that his son-in-law died. This death was not natural it was suicide. Every one was weeping but Rabiya was like statue. The question raises that, who is responsible for this tragedy, Rabiya? His father? Or the social tradition?Rabiya belongs to a Muslim family. Is this tradition of Islam? No absolutely not, the dramatist quoted one hadith of prophet Muhammad, that clears it the both of couple has power to decide his/her partner to make married life happy.There are two causes behind it. First is that the female has no power to select her partner, traditionally. Second is the expensive marriage system. Both are wrong according to Islam and society.After this compassionate event mahmood decided Rabia’s marriage second time. Reader/viewer can feel his pain with this dialogues.Mahmood: mai ab yah nahin sununga ki usey apna ghar pasand na aya. Chahe jaisa bhi ho usey ab qubool karna hi hoga.(Now I will not hear that she did not like her home. In any case she will have to accept it) Jameela: (Ghabra ker) Allah! Aap yeh kya keh rahe hain.(Hopelessly) Allah! What are you telling)Mahmood: mere ander ab itni sakat nahi hai ki is ka bojh uthaye uthaye dunia ke samne phiroon aur zalil hota rahun ….. main thak gaya hoon begum bahut thak gaya hoon.Ab agar yeh roegi chillaegi aur marti bhi rahegi to mai nahin jaunga. Kabhi nahin jaunga kabhi nahi.(I have no courage to take her burden and move toward in the world and contempt every where …. I am tiered.Now If she will weep. She will cry or even about to die, I will not go to take her. Never)Jameela: Allah! Ap kaisi jalladon jaisi baten ker rahe hain aap.(God! How you are talking like slaughterer Oh! You)mahmood: (Bharrai hui awaz mein) Haan! Mai jallad ho gaya hoon ….. Jallad: ek baap apni beti ke liye jallad!Mahmood: (in broken voice) yes! I became slaughterer …. Father became slaughterer for his daughter..)These dialogues have much compassion for Rabiya and her father’s position.Rabiya listend the whole conversation hiding and agreed to negotiate with her fate.Her inner Rabiya now had been died.The drama has more expressions rather than the dialogues, Mirror of Indian society. According to topic it’s picked out a burning issue of Indian Muslim culture.Famous stage director Habib Tanveer said about this drama:‘’A tragedy about Muslim traditional marriage, subtle profound with strong characters, requires delicate handling by director and actors.”Based on ten scenes and eight main characters Rabia is affective drama on Indian society.

Adil Hayat: The Pioneer of new wave poetry (A Book Review)

Recently published book, Sitara-e Sang, a collection of poems by Adil Hayat, one of the emerging Urdu poets, defines the new pragmatic trend in Urdu literature. The book published by Nirali Duniya Publications is different in several ways. Most amazing feature of Hayat’s ghazals (poems) is an enduring thought. One ghazal comprises nine couplets. Few are shorter than three, five or seven couplets. Interestingly, all are united and different too. Even a single couplet tells much and bestows complete meaning and thought without any conjunction.His poems are a literary revolt. At the same time Hayat maintains the features of innovative poetry, particularly ghazal that subjugates such differences and cohabits a complete thought. That is why critics never approve ghazals and castigate the intricacies of its existence.Kalimuddin Ahmad, one of the few renowned critics of Urdu poetry, famous for his negative approach says, ‘Ghazal is a semi-barbaric poetical form’. Another critic Azmatullah Khan emphasises that ghazal should be slaughtered without any hesitation. The primary motive of both is that this form of literature augments uncontenuity of thought and narrowness in its contents. Its hollowness depicts in the theme itself. the trend mostly confines to physical attributes of women particularly virgins and a phantom of their beauty that, unfortunately, should not be the only approach of literature. No doubt, poetry contributed a lot in reforming Indian society. Since 1857 Hali, Sir Syed and Shibli adopted the new trend of ghazals written in such a way that they incarnated deep thoughts. Their poetry depicted the sufferings of the time including that of partition; the second disaster of Indian history. That gory event worked as a plague for the society and people found themselves helpless and nowhere. After partition, Urdu poetry summed up the pogroms, which ultimately became history. In the present scenario (since last twenty five years) terrorism in Kashmir has found place in Urdu ghazals. Adil Hayat as a mature writer penned his assessment of the bloody effects of terrorism on Kashmir. An extract of his poetry tells much in this direct conversation —Ek Maan ne cheekh rakhkha apne mustaqbil ka naamEk beta dard ke Kashmir mein gum ho gaya.(One mother named her future cry. Her son lost in the pain of Kashmir).Besides this, Hayat vividly defines the communal disharmony in India. His poems continously make us understand the penurious effects of genocide in communal riots. An extract of his recent poetry elaborates this fact this way—Fizaoon mein har ek sou roshni haiNa jaane aaj kis ka ghar jala hai.(There is light everywhere in the skies. Don’t know whose house has been burnt).Prominent features of Hayat’s ghazals are many. One of the specific characteristics is, each couplet has marvellous continuity. They are like pearls of garland. The ghazal completes its theme in continuum in the same connotation the garland finds its final shape with its pearls. Ahmad Hamesh, editor of an outstanding Urdu magazine of Pakistan describes the features of Hayat’s ghazals in a colloquial description — Most of Adil’s ghazals from top to bottom are a continuum, just like another nazm (Poem) peering oneness of content and thought. Either it is any ghazal of Hayat encores the readers to find him very close to a quantum leap to understand the contents and thoughts.Another attribute of Hayat’s poetry is a deep feeling of life’s pains with ingenuity.Nazar aati nahin hai shakl koiBas ek saaya khala mein chal raha hai.(No face is seen; only shadow walks in the space). Adil Hayat’s other poetic collections include, collection of nazm for children namely Choti Gudia (2001) and a collection in ghazals is distinct and foolproof.

Raju: A symbol of Secular India (A Short Story)

It was the dark night with pin drop silence. The wee hour was approaching. Whole Street had engulfed into eternal silence. Raju was in deep sleep. He had encountered a nightmare in his dreams. He had never thought that he would have to sleep on the piles of the garbage. And finally morning welcomed him “with disinterest”. He had not eaten a score of food. He was also feeling thirst. He just wanted to grab the jug full of water. “Oh! Shit! What is it?" He was half asleep when the school bus had come and woke up Raju. Other kids in the school always looked at Raju. They used to laugh at him in seer compassion. They expressed their feelings on occasions…"oh poor guy! Why God had made him like that?"He was not born street kid. He was a loving child of his father and had his own home. He had a family that cared him. The family that was very much fond of each other. He'd a pretty sister, mother, father, a servant and a very beautiful house. He used to play and enjoy in the garden in front of his house.But these privileges are no more a reality for him. He goes into it only in his sweet memories that end into curse ---none less than a sweet dream for Raju.This morning Raju was too much hungry. "I should eat something but how can I? It is better to stand beside any restaurant over there, perhaps some gentleman would offer me something to eat", he thought. But no one even noticed him until the mid of the day. The owner of the restaurant was readying himself for his prayer. As soon as he saw Raju, his face became colourless. "O boy what are you doing here? You people always disturb us at the time of prayer, go away right now,” he roared and kicked Raju out."Oh am I not stupid, why had I come in front of him at the time of prayer? Perhaps he would have fed me if it were not the prayer time, "Raju consoled himself. He was feeling weak and hungry. He stepped forward. He saw the sign board Shakahari Bhojnalay (vegetarian restaurant). He saw a man in white maruti 800 car in front of the motel. The man in his mid forties was busy with his children and wife. They were eating puri sabzi and dahi-bhalley. His son, a bit younger than Raju saw him and whispered something to his father’s ears.The man saw him and came nearer to Raju. “Have you eaten your lunch?” he asked Raju kindly.“No Sir’’ Raju replied bashfully“Come and have lunch with my children, come boy come!” He was very friendly and they walked near the car. The man introduced Raju to his children “Meet him he is your new friend.”“Hello, what’s your name? My name is Ajoy, Ajoy saksena”“I’m Raju”“Let me introduce you to my family. She is my mom, my younger sister Rashmi, and my elder sister Aparna. Now I’m going to introduce you with one of the most important members of our family,” he said. He took a pretty white dog into his lap. “Meet this gentleman this is very naughty but good friend of us, no…no…no not us only mine because Aparna doesn’t love this. Today she chides him and Rashmi was also supporting her. No one supports me. Now you are one of my friends. I expect you would support me ok…will you?”“May I interrupt my dear brother?” Aparna abruptly spoke. “He is a chatterbox. His chain of talks never stops and don’t wind up until he sleeps. Come and have some food. You too are my dear brother like Ajoy” she toned naughtily.“Ok Boss I’m coming.” Ajoy replied in same playful tone.”Mr. Saksena started talking with Raju“What’s your name?”“Raju”Where do you live?“In the garbage pile”Garbage pile! What?“I mean on the footpath”“On the footpath?”“I mean I have no shelter.”“Oh! That is very sad.”“Where your native place is?”“Native place, what”“Native place means where does your parents reside?”“I don’t know because I have no parents”“No parents?”“Yes they were killed in the communal riots.” Raju started weeping.“I am sorry Raju. I did not know this anything about you, I’m really sorry”“It’s ok uncle”OK beta bye ...see you.”“Can Raju come with us Papa?” Ajoy Saksena interrupted.”Oh! Sure why not! Raju Beta! Would you like to come with us? You said that you have no shelter. You can live with us, if you like.“I’m sorry, I cannot go with you”“But why so?” Ajoy asked. “You don’t want to live with us?”“No! No! I am thinking that what will I do in your home?”After all Raju agreed to go with them. On the way He was thinking about the riots that made him homeless. They were Hindus and so cruelly they killed all of his family members. He thought that if they had known that I am a Muslim then they would have behaved differently. It is good that because of my name it is not clear which religion I belong to. How is it possible that they are such nice people and Hindus as well? He was going deep down into his monologues. Suddenly the car stopped and the chain of Raju’s thoughts broken. Raju got out of the car and looked at the “Saksena house,”Wow! It’s marvelous! The big house was like a palace. The children came out from the car and started running into their house. Raju was standing outside and looking at their garden. There were flowers like roses, marigolds, daisies, jasmines and a variety of colorful plants. Raju entered in the garden and sat down on the velvety grass near a cactus plant. There were green lights all over the garden. It had been a long time since Raju was in a clean place like this. He starred at the blue sky and tried to search something there amongst the little stars; he did realize that someone was standing behind him.” What are you searching for in the sky”? He recognized Mr. Saksena’s voice and said” Uncle I heard that when people dies they become stars. Is that right?” So to whom are you searching for? I am searching my Mom and Dad. Uncle can you please help me to find them? “Oh! How can I?”I never met them. How will I recognize them? “OK I describe them. They were just like you…just like these stars. Do you know uncle how much they loved me?” Tell me how much.” Raju spreads his hands in the wind. “This much? No…No…No this much.” Then he spread his hands more. “Actually this much. “ Uncle if they are among these stars then they can see me? But how can they? They are so far but they can listen to me. I call them” then he surrounded his mouth with his hands and calls loudly “Mom... Dad! Where are you? ”They cannot hear you my son” Mr. saksena said. Raju’s cheek became wet with the tears….He started living in this new found home. He felt it that it was a rebirth for him. Days passed and everyone forget that Raju was an outcaste in the family and not a family member. Arpna Rashmi Ajoy all of them loved Raju very much. One day Ajoy and Raju were playing on the roof. Raju was trying to catch Ajoy but he was running too quickly. Suddenly Ajoy slipped and was about to fall down from the roof. Fortunately he was caught hold of the rod near the window. Raju tried his best to rescue Ajoy. And succeeded in rescuing him but in this process Raju himself fell down. He fainted. With the noise of his falling all the family members came out screaming and yelling. Mr Saksena called the ambulance that brought him into the hospital. After some days’ coma Raju woke-up.“Ya Allah”. He pronounced this after gaining conscience. He saw around his bed --- all family members were there. They all were sad and praying for him.Raju called Mr Saksena and whispered something into his ears. Mr Saksena told everyone to go outside the room.“Uncle I don’t want to hide anything about myself before you.” Raju said“What? What do you want to tell me?” Mr.Saksena asked. “Uncle do you know I am Muslim”.Ok I know this so what? What’s the matter?“You know it? Uncle Hindus are the enemy of Muslims. You are a Hindu and you know that I am Muslim so …” Raju left the sentence incomplete. “Oh! Now I understand what the matter is?” Mr. Saksena said “You are thinking that your parents have been killed in a communal riot and Hindus killed them. So Hindus are cruel and why I am not like them being a Hindu myself? It is stupid thinking my son.“What do you think that those fanatics who killed your parents were Hindus? No of course not. They were criminals. Criminals!Criminals don’t have any religion. They are neither Hindus nor Muslims. They are only criminals and crime is their only religion. So don’t think about these stupid things and get well soon.Ok? ““OK Uncle I understood that they all were criminals. Neither Hindus nor Muslims are. Now there is no barrier between you and me. Now I will call you Papa. I am sorry Papa. I had it all wrong” Raju said and lived happily there as a member of Saksena’s

Survival in Delhi is not so easy (My experience)

My experience in Delhi is not good at all. Here if you are fresher then your salary will be nominal and the house rent will cost you about half of your salary. If you are a bachelor then you are bound to live with a roommate otherwise you will not be able to afford it. Unfortunately if you are working with a call center then sooner or later your roommates will either kick you out or you will kick him out. The cause is clear; your work schedule will be unusual, most of the call centers have night shift, and your roommate will not be able to tolerate you sleeping in the daytime or you will not be able to tolerate him making noise during your sleeping hours. If you are not working with a call center but you fortunately have another job then it is bit better. Even though you will have other problems like if you do not smoke and have a roommate who smokes, or you are disciplined and others are not or you like cleanliness and that is not your roommate’s habit. The worst problem I have perceived is that if you like to stay quiet and alone and your roommates have many friends who come by all the time and ask you “Hello How are you” and they are really get your nerves. If you have some job experience then you can probably get a better salary and you can afford a flat by yourself, this is good, but if you are not happy with your landlord then it is a big trouble for you. You cannot find another home easily. To find another home you need to contact to a property dealer who will ask you for one or two month’s rent as a commission, that will cost you probably your one and a half month’s salary. If you are married and a fresher then please do not come to Delhi. Your life will be too tough to survive some time impossible. If you have many bachelor guests they will visit you once or twice a week. They will not be busy at their home, so they will just come to your house to have a fun talking to you and your wife. You will obviously not forget about Indian hospitality and offer them some food, which put a strain on your budget. Let me tell you my story. I am an Administrative Manager of a training company. I am a married 29-year-old man and my salary is about Rs 13000/-. My house rent is 4000/-. My house is not big but the rent is. I have a one-room set that has one room a small kitchen and a bathroom where you cannot put your washing machine. If you put your washing machine inside, then you will have to take a bathe sitting on top of the machine. One day I got a call from my father. I was informed that they are coming to see me, and they will stay here for almost two months. I began searching for a two-room set. My office hours are 9am to 5pm. It was not easy for me to search for another house.There was a property dealer behind my house but his office hours were 11am to 4pm so I could not meet him without taking the day off from my office. I got a one-day leave from my office and fixed a meeting with the property dealer Sharma Jee. Sharma Jee was a very good man. He assured me that he would search for a good home for me. He gave me another time to visit different houses. I tried to convince him that I couldn’t get another leave in a week but he would not give up. He told me clearly that if you want to change your house then you have to come on Wednesday to visit some good houses. I began thinking of some excuses to tell my boss. The next day I called my boss and told him that I have a meeting with the property dealer therefore I will not be able to come. My boss replied “No problem you can get a day off without pay for however much time you would like I have no problem with that at all. I listened to him and took my head in my hands. I did not want to tell my boss another excuse. But what could I have done? I met Sharma Jee the next day. He showed me two or three houses. One house was good but the neighborhood was not. There was a young couple living over there, always shouting at each other over nothing. I did not like that. The one I liked was quite decent. I told Mr. Sharma to go ahead with this place. The second step was a meeting with the landlord. Mr. Sharma told that the landlord is out of town. “It means one more day” I thought. This time I did not call my boss. I thought I would see what would happen. After this meeting I will not skip for any reason. Finally I met the landlord, and the negotiations happened. It was bit expensive, but the house was very good so I thought I would manage. This was about Rs 8000/- a month. At the end of the meeting the landlord asked me “ How many of you are going to live here?”I told “Me, my wife, my two children and my parents.” As soon as he heard this he surprisingly said “No no no I have this house only for bachelors. I cannot rent it to a family. I already told Mr. Sharma. Mr. Sharma apologized it and told me that he had completely forgotten about this condition. Next morning I was determined to go to the office. On the way I was continuously thinking about what would I say to my boss. I had not come for a long time. I entered my office and I shocked to see that a lady was sitting there and working at my desk without my permission. I directly went to the director’s office where he said to me that I was fired. I went to the account office and receive my PF and my balance salary and came back home. I could not understand what I should do? I called my father and told him that I am coming home to Patna because I got a long leave. I left Delhi forever.When I arrived at Patna Railway station I met one of my old friends who was going to Delhi. “Are you coming from Delhi?” “Yes I am” “Do you have any idea about house to live in Delhi?” “What?”

Maazi ka Aindah: The future of the past (A book review)

The sweetness of Urdu, especially poetry doesn’t need any introduction in terms of its influence to the mass. No doubt, the different genre of poetry has that specific power, which can bring big changes and revolution in the society. That ‘effectiveness’ of the poetry nowadays is almost vanished. No doubt still people say stories, write songs and Ghazals, but that effectiveness, which can create revolution, has been changed into silence. If any one will try to find the cause probably the person like me would think might be the poetry is not so up-to-date. This is the age of electronic media, but that is not right, because the genre of communication, and the media of communication are totally two different things… Poetry also can be portrayed through the electronic media. But the thing is that do we have that ‘effectiveness’ in today’s poetry, which can provoke the mass for good or bad reasons. Here the quality works. Yeh zulm-o-jabr ki Aandhi yeh Khamoshi ka HesarKisi bhi shakhsh ke munh mein yehan zaban hai kya(The wave of brutality and the circle of silence,Is there anyone who has tongue in his mouth?)If you look at this couplet you can find that ‘effectiveness’ that has the ability to provoke the society and this kind of poetry has the ability to bring big changes (revolution) in the society. Unfortunately we do not have many examples of this kind of poetry.The above couplet I found while I was turning the pages of a book of Urdu poetry named “Maazi Ka Aindah (The future of the past)” the name was so different and philosophical; it forced me to read it. The time we are in at present this is also a valuable future of the past, very similar to the great philosopher T S Eliot’s kind of ‘Time’ philosophy. I turned the pages further and one by one found many couplets that contains Sea in the cup. Though we can notice different let-outs of his poetry as love and hate, time and period and so on. But what I believe that his main poetic approach is of course sadness. Here to make my view authentic I think it is a strong necessity to prove it, with examples. I would like to present here two of his couplets of his Ghazals, through that the approach of sadness you would feel strongly. Bada-e-Gham se hai sarshar mera batin bhiAur usi gham se ujala hai ye bahar saara.(My inside is all flourished with the wine of sadness And all out side is blazed with the glow of the same.)When we talk about sadness, it reminds the big name of Urdu poetry. Faani Badayuni; the person who has left his foot-print behind and Mr Mazhari is one of his followers who repeated the history.Yeh gham hi madawa-e-gham hai meraMujhe gham se bahar nikalo nahi(This pain is the healer itselfDo not pull me out of this pain)I believe now it is clear with the above example that, how Mr Mazhari has mastery to present the thoughts full of sadness through the sweet Urdu couplets. Jawab us ki nazar mein yehi munasib thaZaban kaat li us ne meri, Sawaal ke baad.(This was the right answer that suited him,He cut my tongue, as I asked a question.)These kinds of couplets have the ability to provoke the society to raise voice against the brutality and nastiness in the society. I read this book completely I had the curiosity about the poet. Who is this person? Is he from 18th or 19th century? It is not true because I know him as a contemporary poet and critic.This book reminded me that, the Urdu poetry still exists. With the same éclat, and with the same sweetness, which is, it’s identity. There are some poets like Mr Kausar Mazhari who have the same zeal to serve the Urdu poetry like the people before had it in the history of Urdu poetry like Haali, Iqbaal, Faiz, Nun Meem Rashid Etc. After reading this book I got the curiosity to know little more about the Author. There was no surprise when I came to know that Mr Mazhari is an author of several books in several Genres Mr Mazhari is an author of not only this Maazi-Ka-Aindah what I was talking about but he has authored several other books like a Novel Ankh Jo Sochti Hai, An Urdu translation of Khalil Jibran’s Novel. The Broken Wings, Juraat-e-Afkaar, (A collection of literary essays.) Jadeed Nazm Haali Se Meera Ji Tak etc. When I went through the first 25 pages of the book I got more about the author and his background. The author is a lecturer in the Department of Urdu, Jamia Milla Islamia, There is a brief introduction of the book in the beginning by Dr Maula Bakhsh, Head Dept. of Urdu, Dayal Singh College Delhi University. His remarks on Mr. Mazhari’s poetry are worth noticing. He writes:“ Mr Mazhari’s poetry is a small fire among another pile of his works of criticism (the work he is famous for) in other words his poetic talent is not so much focused because of his other literary businesses.” (Page:24)The book “Maazi ka Aindah” is worth reading and highly recommended.

Dynamic is a boon (A review of an English Training Center)

Communication in English language is the key to success nowadays. There are many people who are capable working for companies with their skills and experiences but they are unable to crack the interviews due to their lack of communication in English. A person might be a talented engineer, a qualified technician or an organized manager but if he doesn’t speak good English, he won’t be able to impress the employer. As a result despite of having good qualifications thousands of people are cursed every year because of their communication skill. With due frustration, they pay the institutions that offer them a guarantee of learning spoken English within 60, 80, 100 days. At the end of the day they feel cheated.

In this regard there is an institution named Dynamic Training Services Private Limited established the 1st of April 2005 in South Delhi. The Institution was established by the Native American and eminent Educationist Mr. Jonathan Charles Shifley who dedicated almost half of his life in teaching spoken English. During his tenure in teaching industry, he taught In America, Japan, Pakistan, and now in India. Mr. Shifley earned his bachelor and master in Education from United State of America itself. Although there are several outstanding institutions in Delhi based in Connaught Place and south Extension but most of them are not affordable for an average population.

Dynamic offers courses start for less than thousand rupees a month and within four months they show tremendous progress. They proved themselves within the short period of four years of their existence in south Delhi. Many of their students belong to the Muslim community who are considered less educated in India. The area Mr. Shifley chose for his first branch of his planned education chain is Jamia Nagar, which is within a kilometer of the famous University Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Nagar New Delhi. It can be reached by visiting http://www.dynamicindia.com/.

Within this short period of Dynamic’s existence it served people almost from every age group. They have enrolled the people who are masters of their specific fields, want to go to anywhere of the gulf countries but they were unable to face the client’s interviews. Dynamic’s training made it possible for them. A big number of Darul Oloom Graduates also benefitted with the service of this particular English Institution. Now the old perception is changing that is Graduates from Madrasas are only good for the religious activities they cannot cop-up with modern education. Now in Jamia Nagar people graduated from Madrasas can be seen everywhere speaking good English. And they get jobs as a translator from Arabic to English and vise-versa to many government and non-Government organization and companies within the country and abroad. All became possible with the collaboration of the head department of English Darul Oloom Deoband Mufti Obaidullah and Dynamic Training Services for many years.

A certain number of Students are of the people from Gulf countries living in India in order to get higher education, gets benefit of the quality service of this institution. Besides this public service Mr. Shifley offers corporate service for the groups and companies who have more than fifteen employees. They sign the contract of minimum six months of English training for their employees. Companies need to pay a certain fee to Dynamic and then Dynamic provides all the course materials and teachers and handover the progress report to the client every month. In an interview with a journalist Mr Shifley revealed that they gave their service to corporate like Sharda University to train their students, Greater Noida, Employees of teletech in Gurgaon, and to the trainee nurses of All about staffing Connaught place so far.

In short Mr Shifley has re-engineered the English teaching industry in India. And it is a boon for the resident of Jamia Nagar in order to receive the communication in the English language and soft skill trainings.
Languages of the employees are the biggest barrier in terms of an employee management and a company growth. In the gulf countries they hire translators to communicate with the workforce. And for the workforce there are no chances to be promoted until they know either English or Arabic.

Dynamic has fulfilled our thirst of English and we as an Indian have a dire need of an institution of Arabic speaking the one who have the same quality as Dynamic have for English. Because of there are a lot of people who go to the gulf countries every year for an employment and they face language problems there, some time some of them losing their jobs because of it. Delhi is still waiting for some Arabic Educationist to come forward in order to serve the people for the Arabic Education. Learning Arabic in Arabic speaking country is difficult. As per an article of Daily Herald dated 28/03/2009

“…trying to learn Arabic in an Arabic-speaking country can be difficult. For one thing, Egyptians jump on any chance they get to practice English, even if they only know a few words. And spoken Arabic dialects are hard to master no matter which country you try to learn them in, because they're often so wildly different from standard Arabic that they seem like a different language”

For Indians it won’t be difficult to learn the dialects, because they face this problem even within the country. every five kilometers there are different dialects in India. If they would learn the standard Arabic They will be able to manage with dialects by living and talking with them.

As per Mr. Jonathan Shifley the owner of Dynamic Training, the key of learning any language of the world is spending time with the target language speakers.

©Anwarul Haque