India, Pak don't scuffle over Urdu anymore: Meher Faroorqi

Neighbours India and Pakistan may not see eye to eye on a whole range of issues but not anymore over the Urdu language, says Meher Farooqi, the author of Oxford India Anthology of Modern Urdu Literature.
"We still have a scuffle over the border, but it's about other issues, it isn't about Urdu anymore. Urdu is off the dark now," Farooqi told PTI on sidelines of the annual Jaipur literature festival here today.
The author pointed out "After Partition, due to political reasons Urdu stayed on a sort of backburner in India for a while, whereas Pakistan was promoting Urdu actively against Punjabi and Sindhi, the main languages then."

A resurgence of interest in Sufi music, gazal, poetry and also just the sweetness of the language itself, said the author, led to the change.
"I find a huge following for the language in the younger generation. They have no problems in learning the script too. So, the future of Urdu is not really dark. It is no longer the language confined to the madarsas," she said.
Farooqi, an Associate Professor of Urdu and South Asian Literature at the University of Virginia, believes that the grounds for learning Urdu are still "not so fertile."

Despite having specific departments for the language at the university level there aren't enough Urdu teachers, the academic pointed out.

"So for a number of years, they weren't the kind of students flocking to the Urdu department. When you don't get the right students, you don't get the right teachers. With things now sort of changing, I do see Urdu opening up," said Farooqi.
The author believes that India and Pakistan has different set of archives to offer, for researchers on the language.
"If the research is on classical Urdu, India is the best place to come. We have libraries in Rampur, Hyderabad, Delhi. They are full of materials and we have largest manuscript collection as well. We have Ghalib, we have Mir," the author said.

On the other hand, she said, Pakistan has better archives on contemporary Urdu and can offer those interested in feminist poetry a wealth of writing by contemporary writers.
Farooqi was participating in a session titled "The Mirror of Beauty." She was in conversation with writer and Urdu critic, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi and author Chandrahas Chaudhury.