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HONOUrING Mirza Ghalib with a Bharat Ratna will be a matter of national pride, felt Lok Sabha Speaker and chief guest Meira Kumar even as she seconded this demand raised by Supreme Court’s Justice Markanedey Katju for this highly prestigious award to be given to one of the best practitioners of Urdu verse at the Jashn-e-Bahar mushaira organised last weekend in the Capital. Today, people from all over India are coming together for the cause of Urdu, for it lives in the hearts of Indians and it’s unfair to identify this essentially Indian language with any particular community. In fact, the new generation must learn Urdu, as it represents the best in our composite, secular culture, said the LS Speaker. "Urdu is alive and flourishing due to the popularity of its verse and Jashn-e-Bahar is a great forum that brings Urdu poetry to thousands of people. I admire Jashn-e-Bahar’s commitment to taking Urdu to a wider audience," said Chief Election Commissioner S. Y. Quraishi, who presided over the mushaira. "Urdu is a living and thriving language," said guest of honour Justice Markandey Katju. He quoted the example of a shair he used in a recent judgment. "Using just one Urdu couplet led to the release of a long-term prisoner from a Pakistani jail, this is the power of Urdu," he said. He also called for a Bharat Ratna for Mirza Ghalib and said that this would provide huge encouragement to Urdu in India. Kamna Prasad, founder, Jashn-e-Bahar Trust, said Urdu was a better name for our composite culture and today, its lovers are found all over the globe, thanks to the potency of the language and the diaspora. "Learning Urdu should be part of school curriculum as this would keep our coming generations rooted to their culture," she said. The voice of Egypt was also heard in India for the first time since Tahrir Square at the mushaira, which celebrated the undying popularity of Urdu verse with poets from all over the globe and all parts of India. An Urdu professor from Egypt, a young American student from Texas, an Arab litterateur who composes Urdu verse, a migrant writer from Canada, a school student from Delhi and the best among the practitioners of the art from Pakistan and India, Jashn-e-Bahar celebrated the global spread of the beautiful language this year. The mushaira, in its 12th year now, brought the best of contemporary Urdu verse to more than 5000 lovers of poetry. Organised annually by the non-profit Jashn-e-Bahar Trust, it’s the biggest non-official, non-political such event in the Capital’s cultural calendar. "Our films, the diaspora and the potency of Urdu have created a remarkable global identity for this essentially Indian language and this year, Jashn-e-Bahar, underscored this emerging aspect of Urdu’s poetic expression," added Kamna. Contemporary Urdu poetry
and the best of our syncretic cultural traditions were showcased at the
mushaira, where modern calligraphy by eminent painter M. F. Husain,
representing the sweep and reach of Urdu, found place amid cutting-edge
new media and a d`E9cor that was reminiscent of the classical age of
Urdu poetry.
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