More on Urdu

Tomorrow I complete the third and last book in the series that I had started. The readings have become much more complex in the last month with whole pages of vocabulary I just do not know and sometimes cannot properly pronounce. So, once I finish this book I am supposed to go over it all again before the end of the month. But I do not mind because this last book has various autobiographical tid-bits on the heavyweights of Urdu literature with small snippets of their well-known works. Many of the names I've heard of- Premchand, Manto, Ghalib (for those with some background in Urdu) I'm finally getting to read. Since the world of Urdu literature is small, my teacher knows many of the contemporary writers and I get to hear stories now and then about some of them.

So more background on Urdu for those who are interested...Most of the writers I'm reading are from the 18th century onwards (although Urdu began to take shape around the 14th century with saint/poet Amir Khusrao whose grave is in Delhi and visited daily). The 18th century was around the time that there was economic depression, political instability, and drastic changes in social values...So, this makes for interesting readings, most of which are relevant in present-day India (e.g. like this poem I read called "Grave" which compares a grave to the condition of poverty where there are no windows, no food, no one to aid you, etc.)

Urdu is heavily dominated by poetry and I don't know why that is, but I'm assuming it has something to do with the inherent beauty of the language. One practical result is that Urdu speakers actually memorize couplets. How this works is that you could be having a conversation on some matter and and the other person might just erupt with a couplet that is usually used in a rhetorical fashion to back up his/her point. Maybe this phenomenon exists in other cultures too, but it's a fascinating one that makes literature/poetry seem less esoteric and actually part of daily speech and living.

The other interesting thing I've learned is that Urdu has and still is I'm told closely associated with the Progressive Writer's Movement. This Movement was active around the 1930's and heavily influenced Urdu writers who began to write more explicitly on social issues.