A Question of Our Identity

As I traveled the streets of Karachi, I realized there are only two constants in this city – people and schools. It would be easy to fool someone into believing the overwhelming number of educational institutes inhabiting every nook and cranny of a seemingly never ending metropolis exist because of people’s thirst for knowledge. That theory is quickly discarded when searching, often in vain, for non-curriculum books or just a library.

Does anyone read anymore? The correct seems to be when trying to become a doctor or an engineer.

Each institution claims to be ‘certified,’ usually by a foreign university or college in an attempt to validate its existence in an otherwise monotonous collection. Medium of instruction is almost always English making it hard for anyone to guess the national language is Urdu. If the obsession with light skin was not enough, the inferiority complex has managed to find its way in other walks of life.

This had become starkly clear upon attending my cousin’s graduation from the Pakistan Naval Academy. The officer corps boasted titles inherited from the British Navy and the English language. My cousin was commissioned to become a sub-Lieutenant while the sailor class, presumably those who studied in Urdu medium schools, left with Urdu titles. The ceremony was conducted in English, speeches were delivered in English, and I’m certain if there was a way to eat the food in English that would have happened too.

Another cousin of mine born and raised in Pakistan stared blankly when I used the word ‘mushkook.’ Initially, I imagined it was the look of offense for calling her suspicious but quickly realized she was trying her best to decipher its meaning. I repeated the word in English hoping the angrezi-medium schools have done their job properly but she was just as puzzled.

I meet people in increasing numbers who begin their sentences in Urdu and finish in English or vice versa. Others seemingly incapable or unwilling to express themselves articulately without resorting to the language not their mother tongue.

To take away a nation’s identity, first step is to take away their language. I hope we can still turn around.


23 thoughts on “A Question of Our Identity”

  1. SL
    One correction to your statement. English is not the only official language of the government of India. But it is a practice to use Hindi and English both in the central (Delhi) government business. Each state government does their administrative business in their respective state languages plus English or Hindi if they want. This includes all government and local assembly proceedings, courts, circulars, notifications etc.

    English scores over other languages in India for one simple reason. It is the language of higher education and industry. So all business happens in English and everyone has to start studying in English once they pass school and enter college, no matter which language they were studying in school. I thought this is the same situation in Pakistan.

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  2. SL
    In India Urdu is regarded as a beautiful and rich language by everyone no matter who. Urdu lends itself well to speacially express high emotions such as the ones in movies. It is a good medium for artistic purposes and sounds good to the Indian ear. Formal Hindi on the other hand is complex and reminds people of government forms and notices, no one likes it. I think Urdu is essentially Hindi grammar with a good amount of Farsi and Arabic words, isn’t it?

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  3. @Faraz: People don’t read books, as found in libraries, as much anymore because of the Internet. My parents had a bookstore for fifty years, about 130,000 titles, and when the internet came along, business dropped more and more, but there will always be a market for a physical, printed paper book.

    Interestingly, there IS an English way to eat. My dear auld Scottish mother, may she Rest In Peace, lived in the US for her last fifty years, but never stopped piling her bite of food onto the BACK of her fork, jamming it between the tines with the knife, English-style. We always laughed at this–it seems so inefficient–but that’s the way they do it in the UK.

    I once had to get documents typed into Chinese; the Chinese typewriter had 2000 roots and 2000 radicals, one die for each, and each pictogram would require one to six strikes. It was Godawful slow. I only had one typist who knew how to use the accursed thing, and Heaven help if it slipped out of adjustment. The Chinese are trying to simplify and modernize their language to make it more computer- and print-friendly, but it’s not an alphabet, as you know, and scholars and traditionalists argue eternally about how to effect changes. Don’t hold your breath.

    Probably the most straightforward language is Hangul, which was created artificially some five hundred years ago, and which most language experts recognize as in a class by itself, but the only people who speak it are Koreans, so the most likely candidate for a world-language remains English.

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  4. @ Hend: You have given good reasons for English being the official language of government in India. In Pakistan, however, the people are very emotional and Urdu has been identified with independence (since most of those who sacrificed their lives and lands were from the Urdu-speaking areas of India like U.P., Hyderabad, etc.). I’m myself from Gujrat (India), where Urdu is spoken and understood widely. But I’ve never understood why the language of Bollywood is Urdu (although you may say it’s Hindi). Is it because the majority of poets, singers, actors and others in Bollywood were Muslims (especially in the early years of talking movies)?

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  5. Very difficult to answer in case of emotional issues where even a trivial reason can seem justified and a justifued one can seem trivial.

    The major resistance to Hindi comes from the south where the languages are completely different and not of Indo-European family. The people have entirely different customs, habits, behaviour, food, clothes, names.

    For those that are Hindu – even the religious traditions and methods are different, they even have different names for the Gods and may not celebrate the same festivals.

    Their film industry is different and larger than Bollywood, actors are different – they don’t follow bollywood.

    They have their set of politicians and parties and they don’t entertain the big Hindi heartland parties like congress or BJP. I think 2 years ago there was a plan to destroy a natural under sea bridge near Tamilnadu, BJP objected claiming it was built by Lord Rama and DMK chief counter acted by asking Who was Rama? Which engineering college did he pass from? I am giving this example just to explain the magnitude of difference between the north and south.

    Some parts were not even under the Mughals. In short their integration with Hindi speaking people is really less.

    From a neutral perspective, you can probably understand why they would not accept Hindi a relatively new language when their languages go back 4-5000 years. Tamil is probably the oldest language in the world which is still spoken.

    From my experience in those states, it is very difficult to find people on road who can understand even little Hindi to explain you the directions. Some would be rather offended at hearing Hindi.

    After the south there are some states which are not south Indian but not even North Indian – Orissa, Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra. I don’t know about Orissa and Bengal but Bengalis are known to be very sensitive about their language and culture. Idea of giving Hindi and equal importance could be a blasphemy for them.

    I am not sure of Gujarat but in Maharashtra people generally speak don’t mind speaking Hindi in addition to Marathi. Their own film industries were wiped out by Hindi Bollywood because they enjoy Bollywood but problem is because the Hindi speaking people (read those from UP and Bihar) are looked down upon in Maharashtra and Hindi heartland politicians like Laloo and Mulayam are hated, add the fear that making Hindi the main language will handover all the competitive advantage in educatipn and jobs to Hindi people and that translates in resistance to Hindi.

    There are Sino-Tibetan speaking states in the North East like Assam, Manipur, Tripura which would be very sceptical about Hindi ‘taking over’ because as it is they don’t understand it much.

    Remaining non-Hindi states would be northern states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab etc. Which I am not sure reject Hindi as much as others.

    Given all these sensitivities, regional rivalries, river water disputes, boundary disputes between the states and more recent problems of mass migrations of cheap labour from Hindi speaking states…and given the fact that much of India looks upon Hindi heartland people and politicians with suspicion for their political motives.

    AND given the advantages that English has to offer.

    The choice is simple.

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  6. @ Hend: Sindhi is a much older and more developed language than Urdu, it is written in the Arabic script, while Urdu is written in the Persian script. Sindhi speakers don’t like Urdu as the official language. The others (Pashtu, Brahvi. Hindko, Seraiki) also don’t want Urdu. Punjabi is spoken by the majority, but the language is not developed. Sindhi and Seraiki languages are similar, just as Hindko and Punjabi are similar. But you can’t say any of these languages should be the official language, which is why English is still the language of government and the courts.

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  7. Though it is not possible in case of India due to language sensitivities, I think in case of Pakistan, Urdu can be a good option in place of English, if there is consensus among the public.

    Any such change will involve the kind of ongoing effort which I had mentioned earlier in order to make the latest and best information available in Urdu.

    One more advantage for you is the script is probably the same for Urdu and all other languages. Unlike India where the scripts also are significantly different.

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  8. @ Faraz: the Japanese and the Chinese have been independent for most of their history, their languages are highly developed and that’s why they don’t need English. Urdu developed as a language to be used for communication with the invaders and the locals, which is why it has so many Persian and Turkish words, as well as English ones. The rulers of the subcontinent did not attach much importance to science and technology, so the languages of the subcontinent are not suited for the study of science.

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  9. Hend, you are right that India/Pakistan are much linguistically diverse than other countries but we have after all adopted English as the dominant language to be used (unofficially or otherwise).

    Why can’t we do the same for one of the languages already spoken in the country be it Hindi or Gujrati or Marathi in India and Urdu or Punjabi in Pakistan?

    I realize in India there is a great deal of friction regarding the language issue. But barring the West Pakistan fiasco, I have not noticed a resistance movement against Urdu even though it is mother tongue of a minority yet the one language spoken by the majority.

    Why is it that the Chinese or the Japanese or other countries, though not original participants in the industrial revolution, care enough to transform their languages to suit the business/technical needs but we found it easier to import a foreign one?

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