Vancouver is not as social a place as say San francisco or New York so I had the devil's own time trying to find someone toteach me Urdu. IT took about 6 months, but am very happy. Nadeem Parmar is in his 70s and is teaching me Urdu-he is a poet (Jagjit Singh has sung some of his ghazals and acknowledged him on CDs and in Canadian performances as well). So yes its one on one and I am learning a lot of interesting trivia from him too. Apparently he learnt Urdu from a Brahmin scholar in Lahore in the late 30s before coming to Punjab. In those days Urdu was much more spoken in the Punjab than it is now and although brought up a Sikh, he gave himself the penname Nadeem to hide from his family that disapproved of such leisurely pursuits as writing poems! There are mushairas happening in Vancouver from time to time and perhaps i will go to some as well. Its doubly fascinating for me as a South Indian with no context for Urdu, no personal acquaintance with partition with family members' recollections of partition etc. If you have read City of Djinns, there is a place in Delhi where they still teach Urdu and Persian in a fairly secular setting. Its not too far from Red Fort or Indraprastha college, my alma mater. Regarding why Urdu subtitles disappeared, I will speculate that the slow fading away of yesteryear Urdu poets-Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi, Firaq Gorakhpuri may have something to do with it although Javed Akhtar still composes(personally i think he is a better scriptwriter than a poet). A couple of years ago I met Naushad and he was bemoaning the same thing and the demise of both Indian classical music and the Urdu ethos. 2006/4/26, Abhishek Hazra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > >>(am learning to write Urdu now) > curious to know how? one-on one sessions with an Urdu expert? or DVD, > websites and other such pedagogic material ? > it is interesting to note that till late 70s hindi films from bombay would > have Urdu titles...at least just some key credit tags or perhaps just the > name of the film...but soon urdu just vanished from that space... > have been really interested to visit one of these re-invented madrassas in > calcutta...i have heard that in many cases they have managed to generate a > lot of interest in Urdu, and a lot of otherwise 'kupamundak' (frog in the > well) Hindu bongs have actually started taking classes there... > > > On 4/26/06, Radhika, Y. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > for all of you fans of six degrees of seperation (a film i recommend), the > story of how i got onto Silk might prove the now common adage. I took the > train to Bangalore from Chennai in December 2003 when i had come to India to > undertake a training course in video editing (chose to combine this with > holiday). I began chatting with the gentleman next to me-one Biju Chacko-on > a variety of inconsequential things and he mentioned that I might consider > Silk as a place to converse(he added that most of the conversations would be > similarly inconsequential and attractively odd!). I later found out that I > had another connection to Silk through Vardhani (my friend Preetham's wife). > > > > The thread that binds me to Silk is lurking. I professionally lurked at > the World Bank for a few years and now I work at a non-profit in Vancouver ( > www.icsc.ca) and lurk in the dramatic documentary shorts world. I speak > Spanish and gravitate toward languages (am learning to write Urdu now), > writing poetry, and music of all sorts. The skills I really envy are the > ability to draw or paint and to play an instrument(can only play my voice). > Its pretty safe to conclude that my numerical literacy except for dealing > with household budgetary figures every now and then is fairly dormant. > Somebody famous once said that mathematics is the ability to predict the > future and truly i am unable to do that! My Eureka moments are likely to be > in the middle of congested traffic and when in a crowd rather than a > bathtub! > > > > We keep a cozy house at our apartment but house guests are always welcome > and my culinary skills are in an emerging market situation right now-there > is greater demand (from my husband of 3 months vintage) and supply seems to > be keeping up. Well, one of you will have to pay me a visit and verify that > for yourself! > > > > Cheers. > > Radhika > > > > > > 2006/4/25, Ashok Hariharan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > Since introductions seem to be the flavor of the moment, here goes. > > > I 've been on silk for about a year, i think. I was on the evolt.org > chat > > > list, and one day Madhu sent > > > a link to a thread on this list, dont remember what it was about, but it > > > was certainly interesting. > > > after that I signed into the silk list. > > > > > > i am originally from Madras (and before that from Pune, Calcutta, > > > Tinsukia, New Delhi etc... my dad > > > was in the army). about 7 years back, I shifted myself to Kenya, where > I > > > 've been ever since. I am > > > a technology consultant specially focused upon the sub-saharan Africa > > > region that includes: > > > kenya, uganda, tanzania, ethiopia , rwanda and burundi. At one time i > used > > > to deal with congo, but > > > they tend not to pay with currency, so i had to drop that. > > > > > > in this region there are no specialized software companies, call > centers, > > > development houses etc... > > > but people still want software, customized applications, websites, > > > services and so on. generally its > > > the governments, the NGOs and the aid agencies, or big shady > corporations > > > who have money to > > > spend - and so i basically chase the money. i also tried my hand at a > > > couple of other things on > > > the side,like for e.g . importing toilet paper from egypt and selling it > > > her, but it was a dirty business, > > > so i quit. > > > > > > i like drinking beer, reading, travelling (not neccessarily in that > order) > > > apart from work. at the moment > > > i am reading the book of mormon, because one of their missionaries (and > we > > > get plennnnty of > > > them types here) left a free copy at my doorstep. if any silk-lister is > > > anytime in this part of the > > > world, i promise to buy them beer - and if you are decent enough, i have > a > > > spare room in my house. > > > i blog intermittently at http://www.unganisha.org. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Radhika, Y.R. > > Project Manager, ICSC > > Centering Women in Reconstruction and Governance > > International Center for Sustainable Cities > > Vancouver, BC > > Ph: 604-666-0061 > > > > -- > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > does the frog know it has a latin name? > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-- Radhika, Y.R. Project Manager, ICSC Centering Women in Reconstruction and Governance International Center for Sustainable Cities Vancouver, BC Ph: 604-666-0061
