The New College’s Urdu Department and Anjuman-e-Danishmandan-e-Urdu in their efforts to keep the Urdu language alive organised a mushaira and felicitated two eminent poets on October 9. At a time when Urdu, a rich language with its shers, nazms and ghazals, is fading, the organisers came up with this programme.
Anjuman-e-Danishmandan-e-Urdu has been on a mission since 1991 to get more students engage with the language and develop a passion for it. Initially the organisation provided Urdu (syllabi) books to students in Chennai when local book sellers did not have copies of the text books prescribed. Anjuman-e-Danishmandan procured copies from Aligarh, Delhi and Hyderabad. They offered financial assistance to deserving post-graduate Urdu students. They also came up with new ways such as organising mushairas to bolster the effort and open up new horizons.
“Poets are our ambassadors, who can arrest the slide and rekindle the interest in Urdu. So we decided to honour two of them,” said Dr. Md. Ubaidur Rahman, former HOD, Department of Urdu, New College. Altaf Hussain Shadab Bedhadak, a poet of international fame, was given the Prof Syed Hamza Hussain (renowned Persian and Urdu scholar) award and a cash prize while Shazad Aabro received the Prof. Syed Safdar Hussain (a scholar who served the college for 40 years) award and cash prize.
Honouring poets
Dr. Rahman further said, “In our efforts to save the language we have compensated the poets with handsome gratitude. More initiatives like bringing out a Risala book, oratorical contests, promoting endowments are lined up to develop urdu.”
Eminent scholar Dr. Syed Sajjad Hussain, and Dr K. Habeeb Ahmed, Head, Department of Urdu, University of Madras, were among those who spoke.
The audience enjoyed the rendition of ghazals by Shadab Bedadak, Shazad Aabro, Shahid Madrasi, Akash Deep, Dowlath Madrasi and Asif. While Shadab humorously touched upon current issues, others recited in a traditional manner. They conveyed the beauty of the genre through their singing.
This prompted Elias Sait, treasurer, MEASI, to make an announcement that the New College Alumni Trust will conduct an all-India Mushaira to showcase its project to find talented poets.
Dr Abdul Jabbar, Principal, New College, welcomed the gathering and Dr Tayyab Kharadi, Head, Department of Urdu, New College, proposed a vote of thanks.
