Exams… :|

Hey people, got my time table for my Urdu exams, and I have to say, I didn’t realise there was only about a week left, which leaves me no time at all to go over everything. Most people would say that Urdu is a very beautiful language. The language of the Indian Cinema, of poetry or of love. But to tell you the truth, I’ve begun hating it. I’d think that maybe I would have seen it’s beauty if I didn’t have to wrack my brains with 2 grammar books, one history book, tons of poetry and proses, and yeah, am I supposed to write about critics as well?

Tiring… True enough, there are things that might have helped me to grow up and understand more than some girl of my age should. The poetry.  The most famous form of poetry in Urdu would be Ghazals. There would contain verses with an even number. Every 2 verses will be considered as only one shair. And each shairs, would have a different meaning, completely cut off from the other ones. You would think how that would be possible, but it is. The number of all syllables in all verses are the same and the rhyming is different. The first two verses would rhyme and then, the last verses of one shairs.

E.g. (lame one )

 ding ding

dong ding

yang ding

boom ding

I’m starting to think I’m really pathetic considering this example But that’s not all the beauty of Urdu poetry. The ideas and feelings behind urdu poetry are absolutely crucial. Without these, anyone writing what they would call poetry wouldn’t be poets. Your heart has to experience some effect due to what you’re feeling. Then, comes the words. The simpler, the better. Urdu poetry were to be written for common people and if you used difficult words, no one would have given you any attention.

When poetry were to be written about lovers only, the war in 1957 in India changed that way of thinking. The whole urdu world went through a revolution and then, boom. Patriotism, religion, slavery, everything that India was going through could be seen in those verses. The tears that had fallen, thousands of lives lost. And then, there were poets who wanted to make people laugh during the hard times and other whose minds were filled with philosophical thoughts.

Though hating what I did in class, I’ve always kept an interest in Urdu poetry. Some of them might have shown me the hardships of life, and some of them might have just shown me that life wasn’t just the black and white movie my parents were showing me.

I’ve been talking about the poems but what about the stories you’d say. Well, lemme tell you, they are absolutely NOT WORTH IT! With some exceptions of course

 By the way, do not mistake the Indian songs for Urdu poetry.

~ by Nussaibah on November 24, 2007.