LeT US learn Urdu !

Many Indian languages, especially Hindi; have been enriched by Arabic and Urdu words. Poetry wouldn’t have been as beautiful but for these languages. I realized this when I was listening to a Gazal ‘Shama’ by the legendary Lata Mangeshkar that goes like this, “Chand apna safar khatm karta raha, Shamma jalti rahi, raat dhalti rahi … Dil me yaadon ki ‘Lashkar’ se toota kiye” !

Who can forget "Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna" by Bismil Azimabadi? 'The Desire for Martyrdom' expressed in the poem was immortalized by Ram Prasad Bismil, the famous associate of Rajguru, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekar Azad. Here was a Hindu Freedom Fighter who preferred to be called 'Bismil' which is loosely translated as 'In the name of God'. Bismil also is the name of a district in Turkey.

My poor knowledge of Arabic and Urdu and even the debilitating inability to differentiate between these two languages meant, I had to ask ‘Khuda’! So I Googled and found out certain things that surprised me beyond words. ‘Lashkar’ is such a 'Khoobsurat' word and that means ‘Army’. The dreaded entity called ‘Lashkar E Tayyaba’ actually means ‘Army of the Pure’ or ‘Army of the Pleasant’. What a paradox,  the worst terrorist outfit in the world and such a fantastic name ! 

LeT it be stressed here that this is not an attempt to demean or vilify any religion or group. Bal Thakre and his clan are busy with that business. My only concern is how these ‘Merchants of Terror’ have successfully managed to almost isolate an entire community and make such a beautiful language an ‘Alien’ to a majority of the people of this country ?

The Times of India is carrying out ‘Aman ki Aasha’; an attempt to foster ‘Peace’. Who doesn’t love “Peace”? But will we ever have it? Dharmendra’s ‘Elaan E Jang’ was a famous movie released during my childhood. Now, Elaan is such a beautiful word that means ‘Declaration’! The more I get familiar with India, more are the reasons to be proud of our country.

How many South Indians know ‘Aftab’ Shivdassani is a Hindu ? ‘Aftab’ is Sun and ‘Mehtab’ is Moon ! Now look at this immortal Mohammed Rafi song, “Chaudhavi ka Chand ho, ya Aftab ho; Jo bhi ho tum Khuda ki kasam… Laajawab ho…” Imagine this song without the ‘Islamic’ words.

Let us look at the Mughals; the most important Islamic Legacy in India. ‘Babar’ meant the King of Jungle, the Lion. ‘Humayoon’ means Blessed or Auspicious. ‘Akbar’ means Greater. Shah Jehan is Ruler of the Earth. And surprise of surprises is the most hated name ‘Aurangzeb’ which means Ornament of Throne ! Such beautiful names. And finally coming to the most common name in the world ‘Mohammed’; this simply means Praiseworthy or Glorified !

How sad it is that Urdu has been tagged along with Islam and so many of us have come to hate it just because of our narrow mindset. There were communal riots in Karnataka over a decade ago when the then CM Veerappa Moily introduced Urdu news on Kannada DD Channel. This was done with the ulterior motive of appeasing the Muslims. What it achieved was a huge loss of public property, some young and precious lives and a great amount of good-will.

Why do our politicians do this ? Tokenism is the only thing they manage to do. Instead of striving to provide better quality of life to all the Indians, our politicians with few exceptions try to pit one Indian against another. Divide and rule ! But why do we people fall for this ? Don’t we have any other alternative ?

This enlightenment has come at the right time for me; as I am trying my best to arrange tickets for my family to watch ‘My Name is Khan’ tonight. I am disgusted by the fact that Shah Rukh Khan’s movie has been targeted by Shiv Sena even before it is released. What a pathetic situation we have come to !

Will we ever have ‘Peace / Aman / Shanthi ? Will we ever have ‘Leaders’ who will not divide people but unite them ? Will there ever be a Ruler who will not discriminate one group from another and be equally good to ‘ALL’ ? Will I be able to name my second daughter ‘Mehtab’ without risking severe opposition and even enmity from my own people ? Will India ever be able to say… “ALL izz Well’ ?

This is what 'Aman ki Asha' all about. It is better to hope for a better tomorrow than live with pessimism. 'Hope' or 'Asha' or 'Ummeed' is the most important feeling that drives humanity. I remember a famous Amitabh Bachchan dialogue from the movie 'Khuda Gawah', "Roshangar-e Khuda ko ho manzoor, Aandhiyon me Chiraag jalte hain... Khuda Gawah hai"



Dr. Pun-dit

Those Wonderful Little Things !

Proud Father of a Loving Daughter !

Life truly is strange. Little things in life make a big difference to us and little kids often humble us. I am talking about my own kid. My most precious treasure that is my Daughter.

She is all of ten years old and is in Class VI. Her name is Samskruthy. The meaning of this word is civilization or culture. I had always kept this close to my heart and wanted to name my daughter Samskruthy.

I always yearned for a baby girl for myself even while I was a very young boy. When I was 21 or so, I decided to name her Samskruthy ! I married 5 years later and she came another year later. Ever since, my life and that of my wife has revolved around her.

I am a proud father because my child is a fairly nice kid and is reasonably good at studies. She also loves to sing and dance, like most of the kids. I have encouraged her to do what she loves. She is pretty famous with her friends, teachers and even my friends because of her nature, looks and talent.

I have thought of my daughter to be very lucky because she was ‘blessed’ with a doting father and a loving family. It never really struck me how much my little one loved me and what I meant to her. And then happened this ‘Little’ incident during our recent visit to Goa.

It was a family affair at Goa with a lot of people from my father’s family gathering for a function. Since we settled down in Kochi about a decade ago, our visits to my native place and to our family members have been rare and only for special occasions.

My little one was thoroughly enjoying the affection and adulation of people from my place. Everyone was talking about how cute and beautiful she has grown up into. Every adult was congratulating me for having a very obedient child.

And then there were the other children; the children of my cousins. One teen-aged boy whose name is Sreenivas aka Shinnu was the leader of the pack. There was Venkatraman aka Ajay, Anusree aka Ammunu and Kanthisree aka Tipny. Shinnu was very keen to play 'Big Brother' to my daughter because he rarely got a chance to do that due to the distance between our places.

We were staying in rooms attached to the Maha Lakshmi Temple at Ponda. We had to walk about three quarters of a kilometer to the canteen for the dinner. On our way, I was walking ahead of all. Shinnu was leading the kids a few paces behind me. They were chatting and were generally enjoying.

Shinnu suddenly asked my daughter, “Who is your favorite hero ?” I overheard my little one tell “Govind Raj Shenoy” This was absolutely unexpected for all of us around and it completely humbled me and Shinnu was absolutely surprised.

He came running to me and was ecstatic ! He was shouting jubilantly, “Govind Bappa it is so wonderful to hear Samskruthy. Simply superb ! I expected her to come up with answers like Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan or Hritik Roshan. But what she told means 'My Father is my Hero' India will be a much better place with a father like you and a daughter like her !”

Now, isn’t it cute, touching, heartwarming, humbling, overwhelming and love-inspiring all at once ? I am writing this with a real lump-in-the-throat feeling.

I don’t know if India will be a better place with fathers like me, but it sure will be a wonderful place with daughters like HER ! I have learned a very precious lesson about love and affection and I shall remember and treasure this !

Dr. Pun-dit