“LANGUAGE is being; it is also the interface of culture,” said writer, scholar, critic, and linguist, Professor Gopi Chand Narang, at a reception recently in Riyadh given by Tanzeem Hum Hindustani (THH) in collaboration with the Bihar Association. Narang spoke eloquently for more than one hour to a spellbound audience on “The Past, Present, and Future of the Urdu Language.” Born in 1931 in Dukki (now in Pakistan), Narang is at present Professor Emeritus at the University of Delhi. He is the recipient of awards worldwide including the prestigious National Padam Bhushan award in India and the Sitar e Imtiaz National award in Pakistan. “Urdu,” according to Narang, “has been the language of interfaith harmony and has served as a common bridge between Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims from the time of Ameer Khusro in the 13th century to Munshi Prem Chand, Firaq Gorakhpuri and Faiz Ahmed Faiz." Prof. Narang has authored more than 60 books in Urdu, English, and Hindi, many of which have been translated into different regional Indian languages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, London, and a recipient of Ford Foundation and University of Michigan grants and a Commonwealth Fellowship. He was the chairman of the Sahitya Academy (National Academy of Letters) for many years and served as visiting Professor in universities in the United States and Canada. For many years, Narang was the Head of the Department of Urdu and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University, Delhi, and brought fame and prestige to the institution. At the reception in Riyadh, he said that one should not be pessimistic about the future of Urdu, although it has been used for playing political games and creating rifts with Hindi. He said that in spite of the fact that many national schemes for the promotion of the Urdu language and the teaching of Urdu in schools were not being executed properly, Urdu would continue to flourish in India and abroad. Narang said that one should think of it as Urdu/ Hindi/ Hindustani, the word Hindi itself being a Persian word. “Hindi and Urdu are supplementary and complementary,” he added. “They are like sisters strengthening each other. The language of print, electronic media, and the film industry in India reflects this truth.” “Over the centuries Arabic and Persian words when blended with local languages have created the beautiful Urdu language which has the secular ethos of Indian culture,” he said. “Urdu is here to stay,” Narang stated. He provided some interesting examples to substantiate this point. He said that the name of the famous Indian sweet “ Gulab Jamun” is a mixture of Persian and Hindi. Gulab in Persian means rose water, in Urdu it refers to the rose flower, and when joined with the name of the indigenous Indian fruit, Jamun, it became Gulab Jamun. He said that if people were honestly attached to the Urdu language, it could never become obsolete. “Languages are not enforced by governments,” Narang said. “They are like rivers that flow naturally and take with them whatever comes in their way.” Rajive Shahare, deputy head of the Indian Mission in Riyadh, was the guest of honor at the event. In his address, Shahare said that Professor Narang's scholarly lecture had clarified many ambiguous historical and cultural concerns. __
