A small theatre hall with film posters and photographs of actors pasted on its walls could be an unlikely venue for a ‘mushaira’ (Urdu poetry reading session). The participants and the audience, however, made up for the mismatch as most of the ‘nazms’ (poems) presented there were accompanied by calls of ‘wah wah’ and ‘bahut khoob’ (excellent).
The event was organised by the Kerala branch of the Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu-Hind, a society to promote Urdu language, at the Government Teachers’ Training Institute for Women at Nadakkavu in the city on Tuesday.
The session began with a presentation Sarhad par jawan... by Moideen Kutty Mahroom, who paid homage to the Central Reserve Police Force personnel who were killed in a terrorist ambush at Pulwama. Another of his poem lamented the slow drift of society towards ‘Nathuram’ instead of Ram. The brutal rape and murder of the young girl at Kathua too figured in a poem presented by another participant. Ghar ke liye apne vatan ke liye was in praise of those who toil in the Gulf countries for the sake of their families back in the State. Earlier, Mazhar Mohiudheen from Hubballi, Karnataka, who chaired the session, pointed out that Urdu poetry recital sessions, previously organised by kings and royal families, now belonged to ordinary people’s groups.
The event, earlier scheduled to be held on Monday, had to be postponed in view of the hartal. The participants included those from States such as Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, whose mother tongue was Urdu and others who belonged to Kerala. The former was given five to seven minutes each and the latter 10 to 12 minutes.
Kalathil Ahmed Kutty, secretary, Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu, Kerala, told The Hindu that the organisation had been working in the State for the past two decades to promote Urdu.
They have around 300 members. He said that though Malayalis appreciated Ghazals and Hindustani music, Urdu was not very popular here. “We had people like the late Baburaj who promoted Hindustani music through his songs and later Umbayi who came up with Ghazals in Malayalam. But proficiency in Urdu is necessary to understand its essence,” he said. Mr. Kutty said they would hold ‘qawwali’ sessions and seminars in the coming days to promote the language.
