urdu

Urdu is a language which is widely spoken in the Indian sub-continent,Saudi Arabia,UK & US. It originated in India during the Mughal period and was the official language for a long time. It comprises words from Hindi,Persian, Awadhi and Khadi boli. It is symbolic of our composite culture. It is written like Persian,from right to left.
The important feature of Urdu is tehzeeb and adab meaning courtesy. Some of the best Indian poetry is in Urdu. Ghalib,Mir,Zafar,Premchand,Manto,Kaifi,Chugtai and Bedi wrote in Urdu. A famous English poet has said that if Ghalib had written in English, he would have been a greater writer than Shakespeare!
Today Urdu is loosing its purity and is becoming a hodge-podge of Hindi,English and other regional languages. I believe children should be encouraged to learn Urdu and express themselves in Urdu.This is Ghalib's famous couplet in which he compares himself to his great predecessor, the master poet Mir:^[47]

	ریختے کے تمہی استاد نہیں ہو غالب
	کہتے ہیں پہلے زمانے میں کوئی میر بھی تھا

[edit]Transliteration

Rekhte ke tumhiⁿustād nahīⁿ ho Ghālib

Kahte haiⁿ pehle zamāne meⁿ ko'ī Mīr bhī thā

[edit]Translation

You are not the only master of Rekhta*, Ghalib

They say that in the past there also was someone named Mir.

• Rekhta was the name for the Urdu/Hindi language in Ghalib's days, when the distinction had not yet been made.