Chowrangi

I don’t know when Urdu became my identity. It is ascribed one and I love it; really. Born and raised speaking Punjabi, I also learnt foreign languages (like English and Russian) to move about in faster lanes of life but I always express my deeper emotions and inner feelings in Urdu. Two of my books {Izhar (Expressions), Ret Pe Tehreer (written on the Sand)} are in Urdu. This (Urdu) sophisticated language facilitates you to do that. Anyone speaking Urdu in a crowd of people speaking alien languages is automatically a company.

I realized my love for the language when I was learning Russian at National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad. When my Russian teacher Alica used to say, “I have learnt more Urdu than I have taught you Russian.” When Sakina Mirkhajevna used to ask us to sing her songs in Urdu; she could not understand the meanings but, “I enjoy the sweetness with which words flow,” she used to tell.

I learnt English the hard way. I was at a professional academy and order of the day was, “no vernaculars,” even in out private quarters. Knowing that we will be asked to leave food and have a round of the mess running if we spoke in Urdu made us speak English fast. The problem is that I think in Urdu, dream in Urdu and my expressions, oral as well as written in English, still are jerky .

Other posts by shirazi

• How much do you reveal? - August 2nd, 2007
• Soul Search - August 2nd, 2007
• Cyber warfare - July 24th, 2007
• Chaudhry Map - July 19th, 2007
• Satghara: The Heritage Village - July 14th, 2007
• Karachi: Gateway to Pakistan - July 14th, 2007
• Plato's Concept of Justice - July 12th, 2007
• Information oversupply - July 11th, 2007
• Khanewal Junction - July 7th, 2007
• Alpine lakes - July 7th, 2007