Both words are valid. As Urdu is not native for Pakistan. Neither the father of Pakistan (Jinnah) was native to Pakistan.
I know India has enough scholars and people who appreciate Urdu.
-----Original Message-----
From: Subimal Chakrabarty <subimal@yahoo.com>
To: mukto-mona <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tue, Jun 18, 2013 8:00 pm
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] FW: A Pakistani in Delhi
Please read "refuge" for "resort". The author has said that Delhi seems to have become the last refuge of Urdu in the subcontinent.
Sent from my iPhone
I have met more than a few bengali Indians (Both Hindu and Muslim) in last few years. Our hospitality blown them away. One family came back to Bangladesh after close to 40 years and they loved it. They live in Delhi and keep calling the Dhaka host religiously.
As I said at people level/personal level, we do get along.
The bitterness primarily come from policy matters and issues like water sharing, border killing, transit etc.
Increasingly the role of religion in our relationship with India is decreasing. It is still there but not the most dominant issue.
Shalom!
-----Original Message-----
From: subimal chakrabarty <
subimal@yahoo.com>
To: mukto-mona <
mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sun, Jun 16, 2013 3:54 pm
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] FW: A Pakistani in Delhi
Article by Farook Suhleria is based on the author's experience exclusively in Delhi metropolitan area. He has seen that Urdu Muslim writers have been given same status as Marx for example in JNU. He thinks that Delhi is the last resort of Urdu. Even an ordinary passerby showed him respect even after knowing that he was from Pakistan. The article points to the fact that politics divides a land but cannot divide the cultural mind.
Now let us think about the attitude of a common Bangladeshi towards a visiting Indian. I am sure he will equally welcome him as Suhleria was. Sunil Ganguly believed that Bangladesh will be the last resort of Bengali. Any sensible Indian tourist should also be happy to see how Bangladesh has given high status to many Bengali creative talents who were not even born in this part of Bengal. Unfortunately, Pakistani ghost still visits us and tries to divide us.
There are some fundamental flaws in the original article and some analysis that followed. It is true, Pakistan overused "Islam in danger" and "Blame India". It is biting them back for abusing religious sentiment. However it is not factual to think, India does not have Pakistan and Muslim phobia. It is getting a bit better but it is still there. Still at personal level most Bangladeshis get along fine with both Indians and Pakistanis. At least I have been fortunate to have friends from both countries. Feelings towards India for Bangladeshis had some fundamental changes. Maybe 40-50 years ago it was all about religion and lack of trust. Today most Bangladeshis do accept India as neighbor and do not have strictly religious based feelings towards it. One reason is we buy Indian consumer goods worth billions every year, we watch Indian TV "Religiously" and we do talk to Indians (Visits, business) regular basis. So today bad feeling towards India may have some religious component but Indian policy about water distribution, bilateral trade (India export billions but impose tariff on BD goods), border killings and broken promises are key drivers of our feelings towards india.Also India failed to lead the region. Naturally India should play the role of religion leader but NO country (Including Hindu majority Nepal) is known to have positive feelings towards India. It is some kind of mental block they have but they will be the loser and China will be the winner if they don't get their act together. Shalom!
-----Original Message-----
From: Jiten Roy <jnrsr53@yahoo.com>To: mukto-mona <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>Sent: Sat, Jun 15, 2013 12:04 pmSubject: Re: [mukto-mona] FW: A Pakistani in Delhi This is ideal journalism at it's best. Unfortunately, if we take a poll in Bangladesh, we will find that India-haters are more than Pakistan-haters. This is the reality in spite of what India and Pakistan did to us in 1971. India saved us from Pakistani aggression, and gave us independence. Yet, India could not make a positive impression in the minds of majority Bangladeshis; India is still an enemy country. It is true that percentage wise India-haters are relatively less in Bangladesh than Pakistan, but they are still majority in Bangladesh. Even, the so-called progressives have not yet settled on this issue. They are toying with duplicity as far as this issue is concerned. This is the power of brainwashing as well as influence of religious communal affinity.
I know many will think - I am advocating for India, which I am not. I am just stating the fact. I know some will blame Tipaimukh and Padma barrage issues to hide the truth. Those ignorant fools do not know that Tipaimukh and Padma barrage issues may have resulted from their perpetual hatred for India. It's a poisonous issue, and there is no scope for open discussion on this issue in Bangladesh. So, it lingers and Bangladesh suffers.
Jiten Roy
Does anyone have any data to show which country Indians hate the most? My feeling is that the Pakistani author did not see as much hatred against Pakistan as he expected, because, unlike in Pakistan, in India children are actually not taught to hate people that are different. The reality in Pakistan is that even in regular school textbooks children are taught to hate non-Muslims, especially Hindus. The grass root level trust and friendship that Mr. Chakrabarty has asked about is unrealistic when children are taught hatred in schools.
Of course, Hindus had their caste and class hatred, which has been waning, although not as fast as desirable. However, no serious institution in India now propagates that old hatred.
I do not think that in Bangladesh hatred for Pakistan is anywhere near universal. There are plenty of Paki-lovers in Bangladesh in spite of the genocide of 1971, committed by the Pakistani military with support/acceptance by the Pakistani population. Even today, the talk in Pakistan is, 'why and how we lost our East Pakistan', as opposed to, 'how could we commit such atrocities on the unarmed civilians of our East Pakistan'?
Sukhamaya Bain
=======================================
A good article. Our rulers or political parties may want to thrive on mutual hatred of the citizens of the neighboring countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. There must be a constant and conscious effort to build mutual trust and friendship at the grassroots levels. The author claims that in India Pakistan is not the most hated country in the world. This is a news to me. But I am convinced after reading his memoir that he is right. He believes that in Bangladesh and Afghanistan hatred for Pakistan is almost universal. I am afraid that with BNP-Jamat and the so called ultra leftist politics, India may gradually take Pakistan's place. In order to arrest that trend we need to appreciate the good things of India, not focussing on and amplifying bad things only.
Sent from my iPhone
=========================
My favorite Palistani leftist writer, who writes sympathetically about Bangladesh.
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 22:15:54 +0530 Subject: [india-unity] A Pakistani in Delhi
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-183118-A-Pakistani-in-Delhi
769 499 224 2
On January 6, I nervously landed at the Delhi airport. I say nervously because I wasn't there as a tourist. I had gone to India as a researcher – to spend six months conducting research on the Indian media. As a Pakistani, I was uncertain if I'd be able to get my work done without being suspected of any other activities.
On reaching India, however, it did not take long to for my nervousness to dissipate. My Pakistani origin, I soon discovered, was not a disadvantage. On the contrary, my Pakistaniat was not only helping me achieve desired research goals, it also began to pose gastronomic challenges: in the form of endless dinner invitations.
That my arrival coincided with the alleged beheading of an Indian soldier at the LoC invoked an unknown fear within me. Four months later, Sarabjit's murder terrified me as well for a while. A fear of the unknown would grip me even otherwise – particularly when alone or lonely. 'Anything can go wrong and land me in trouble,' was a thought constantly nagging at me. However, the hospitality extended by my Delhi friends and acquaintances would lay to rest all such fears. Most importantly, a sense of familiarity – at times transforming into a sense of belonging – hardly ever made me feel alien.
My language, skin colour, name, or religion – nothing is alien to Delhi. On the streets, people would stop by and ask for directions. In one incident, while at a metro station I had asked a person standing next to me: "Which line goes to Rajiv Chowk?" Ironically, I was standing right underneath a route-map, which happened to be in Hindi. Rather well dressed and holding a laptop, I hardly looked like the stereotypical unlettered person. The man I spoke to was perhaps in a bad mood. Pointing towards the map, he shouted, "Why don't you read for yourself?". "I am from Pakistan, can't read Hindi", I replied in Urdu. At which he apologised immediately, shook my hand and politely guided me.
The similarities were even stronger in the case of Punjabis and Muslims – even though I am neither Punjabi nor religious. For about four months, I lived in Malviya Nagar, a Punjabi neighbourhood. My Punjabi language skills invoked such an affinity that within weeks I had an udhar system working with two local grocery stores.
Everywhere in Delhi, one overhears the azaan. Is it that moezzins in Delhi recite the azaan in a highly melodic way. My Swedish-Pakistani friend Prof Ishtiaq helped me understand that the azaan is also an assertion of Indian plurality and rights of the Muslim there.
As if to appreciate this plurality, I would candidly discuss the Kashmir question as well as the situation of Indian Muslims with my non-Muslim friends and comrades. My interaction with Muslim and Kashmiri students at Jamia Millia Islamia, with which I was attached, helped me enrich my understanding of their situation. While Kashmiri students – infested with conspiracy theories – visualised Pakistan as an Islamic paradise, Indian Muslims have no such illusions about Pakistan even if, like any other Indian, they are concerned about the crises in our country.
Also, like any other religious community, Muslims are divided along ideological and sectarian as well as class and caste lines. Jamia Millia epitomises Muslim diversity as well as the cultural progress Indian Muslims have made.
Imagine a campus in Pakistan with statues of Mirza Ghalib and Maulana Jauhar. While the road to the Mir Taqi Mir Hall is dedicated to Manto, a beautifully built auditorium is attributed to Noam Chomsky. However, my favourite hang-out was the Castro Café surrounded by the M F Hussain Gallery and the Maulana Azad Hostel.
Beyond Jamia Millia, my favourite escape was Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Away from conservative Delhi, JNU's walls – graffitied with huge images of Marx, Lenin, Che, Bhagat Singh and Manto – offer relief to any frustrated progressive. However, it is Faiz one finds all over the place. But Faiz and Manto are not confined to the JNU's romantic campus. They are all over Delhi. In fact, Delhi it seems has become Urdu's last refuge in the Subcontinent.
While the annual Jashn-e-Baharan Mushaira symbolised Delhi's role in preserving Urdu, a qawali session during Khusro Week at the National Museum or an evening with dhrupad master Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar at the India International Centre (IIC) convinced me that Delhi is also protecting other forms of culture that Muslims have greatly contributed to.
There is a vibrant Urdu press and a flourishing publishing business. At the International Book Fair held in February at Pragati Maidan not merely offered a glimpse into Urdu publications, it was interesting to see an Ahmadiyya bookstore next to Tahirul Qadri's Minhaj-ul-Quran bookstall. While Urdu press and publications promote a conservative agenda, progressive Muslim voices have found refuge in the recently-launched DD Urdu.
Visits to Doordarshan were always a great experience owing to the warmth shown by its Additional Director General, Ranjan Thakur. However, Faiz's life-size portrait – surrounded by those of Gandhi jee and Tagore – at DD's reception would add a special touch to every visit. Once a profitable enterprise, DD is now running huge financial losses. However, it remains committed to its social responsibility.
Apart from DD, the Indian television media is sensationalist. TRP-hungry channels have compromised themselves – journalistically and morally. Luckily, sections of the daily press, notably The Hindu and some magazines, haved stayed committed to the Indian tradition of quality journalism. Interestingly, India is the only major newspaper market that has expanded even after the arrival of the digital age.
But electronic media – the television – has outdone other outlets. The sprawling Noida Film City, on the outskirts of Delhi, is a testament to this growth. An enviably modern and efficient, though overcrowded, metro is the best way to reach Noida. Ironically, from metro station one can reach huge media houses via cycle-rickshaws. Initially, I tried to avoid using cycle-rickshaws pulled by skinny migrant workers from Bihar. But they were unavoidable as well as living proof of India's 'combined and uneven development', a theory brilliantly propounded by Leon Trotsky.
Beyond glaring class contradictions, one also comes across sights that would be very familiar for a Pakistani. The traffic is messy; manholes are usually uncovered; and there is an utter neglect for monuments (with few exceptions) and old buildings. Apart from some posh areas, most streets are littered with garbage. While there may be no power cuts, there is a real water crisis.
Since my return on June 4, I have been quizzed by siblings and cousins, friends and acquaintances. 'What do they think about us? Do they hate us?' I am asked. 'I do not know. However, I had wonderful time,' is my standard reply. Honestly, such simple questions cannot be answered in a similarly simple manner. Also, I do not have any documented evidence to substantiate or deny any claims. I can only narrate my impressions. And I think Pakistan is not the most hated country in India. We could say that about perhaps Bangladesh or Afghanistan where Pakistan is disliked near-universally. However, I can safely assert that the only country where I have been warmly received as a Pakistani is India.
The writer is a freelance contributor.Email: mfsulehria@hotmail.com
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