Urdu, a dying language otherwise, was seen in its full glow and glory showcasing its composite culture, inclusive ethos, creative richness and linguistic grandeur, during the three-day Urdu mela (fair) at the fully packed plush green lawns and buildings of Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts in Delhi at the Jashn-e-Rekhta recently.

The lawns of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts in Delhi were thronged by men and women, young and old, in suits and silks and patolas and pashminas and young boys and girls in ripped jeans and loafers. Children too had umpteen activities that catered to their taste. The Khan brothers — Aman Ali and Ayan Ali, stole the show with eminent poet Gulzar on the occasion of its inauguration.

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Many litterateurs and lovers of Urdu like, Sharmila Tagore, Prem Chopra, Prasoon Joshi, Javed Siddiqui, Saurabh Shukla, Anu Kapoor, Salman Khursheed, Basheer Badr, Kumar Vishwas, Ustad Iqbal Khan, Farhat Ahsas, Faridoon Shahryaar, Danish Iqbal and many others were featured in delightful Urdu activities including the mushaira (poetic congregation), dastangoi (story-telling), nukkad natak (play), critical appreciation, mushaira (poetic gathering), qawwali (musical saga), ghazal sarai (recitation of Urdu poetry), baitbaazi (poetic puzzling) and nashist (discussions).

The creator of this celebration of Urdu is of the view that Urdu is resurgent these days and certainly at its pinnacle. He doesn’t buy the story that Urdu is dying. “No other language can match the sweetness and splendour of Urdu that I consider to be the language of love, romance, sophistication and culture. Let me concede that Delhi’s tehzeeb (culture) is Urdu tehzeeb,” says Sanjiv Saraf, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus and the founder of Rekhta.

One would wonder why Saraf, an industrialist of Polyplex Limited, dealing in polyethylene terephthalate films and doing exceeding well in business, hobnobbed with Urdu which is neither a language of market nor for jobseekers.

He said, “Urdu and Ghalib are in my heart and I had desired to serve the language since my youth as my father knew it. However, Urdu is not merely sher-o-shairi, ghazal, qawwali, masnawi, marsiah (different genres of Urdu poetry). It’s the epitome of our Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (India’s composite culture). Urdu is a language born out of our syncretism accruing from the commonality of cultures.” Urdu has bloomed and thrived owing to the support from these rich benefactors. The creative posters atIshqUrdu and artykite were thronged by one and all.

Nevertheless, the immense popularity Urdu has been gaining in the non-Urdu knowing sections and the student community is only to be seen to be believed. What was very wondering was that the stalls associated with Urdu, like, “Urdu Bazaar” with calligraphy, bewitching Urdu posters and magnet medallions, the “Food Festival”, “Book Exhibition” and “Activity Corner”, had thumping business.

In a way, Saraf has rejuvenated Urdu to its historic Mughal era days. He reminisces, “Right from my childhood, I used to be in awe of the Urdu language, primarily due to its unmatched expressiveness and diction. I learnt Urdu and wanted to make the language accessible to more people in my country. The Urdu lovers at the carnival housed all the activity venues to the full on all three days. The non-stop flow of an estimated 100,000 visitors per day showed that Urdu was healthy and kicking in India, belying believers of Urdu’s doom. Though many malign Urdu as the language of Partition in 1947, however, it still happens to be the positive connect between India and Pakistan in a meaningful way as were hockey and cricket — activities which have unfortunately stopped.

One reason for Urdu’s growing popularity among the youth is its easy availability online in Devanagri and Roman script, according to AK Merchant of the Bahai’s House at its website, aamozish. Even celebrated Hindi poet, Kumar Vishwas, stated that Hindi and Urdu were like his mother and aunt! According to Shreya Dua, who relished Urdu love poetry on Valentine’s Day, “Umpteen college-goers are showing liking for Urdu as they feel it is the best language to express matters of heart in the poetry of someone like Ghalib, Majrooh or Sahir Ludhyanavi.” Urdu seems to be on the threshold of regaining its waning luster and the wait or its full recovery may not be too long.

The composite heritage of Urdu in different forms was evident in each nook and cranny of the gala. Prof Irteza Karim describes Jashn-e-Rekhta as a festival to celebrate the quintessential spirit of Urdu, its inclusive ethos and creative character. He was happy to declare that Rekhta had become the biggest Urdu networking hub.

Sharmila Tagore too reminisced on her fondness of Urdu after marrying Nawab of Pataudi. She stated that Urdu and Hindi were not different and the language of the films is a blend of the two, that is — Hindustani. The women’s mushaira was also a major success. Relates Anis-ur-Rehman, eminent scholar, that in Rekhta’s e-book section, a huge collection of rare books nearing 25,000, manuscripts, and other literary material and publications reciting their poetry have been preserved on audio and video, at mushairas and in studies. Till now 40,000 ghazals and nazms, thousands of poets and more than three thousand e-books have been included in Rekhta. Its watchword is quality.

Jashne Rekhta was also heaven for gourmands with a food court with authentic Sindhi, Kashmiri, Gujarati, Deccani, Hyderabadi, Lucknawi and Purani Dilli cuisines. It was the most sought after lunchtime destination. A children’s corner was set up for puppet show, face painting, storybooks, story-telling, Origami, temporary tattoo, paintings and colour-a-painting besides calligraphy. A variety of attars (fragrance) and photographs of eminent poets like Ghalib, Momin, Zauq, Mir, Firaq, Faiz etc were also on sale.

Interestingly, Urdu, world’s third largest language and considered to be the language of Muslims, globally has 39.66 per cent speakers who are Hindus. Not to mesh or politicize this sweet language of syncretism into the bandwagon of religion, the author’s intent here is to see whether the connoisseurs of Urdu can give it a kiss of life.

This year, around 200 poets, litterateurs, journalists, critics, actors, artistes, novelists, and lyricists adorned the unique Urdu celebration.

(Firoz Bakht Ahmed is a commentator on social, educational and religious issues and is the grandnephew of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad)