There’s still hope for Indo-Pak relations: Gulzar
CHANDIGARH: With India-Pakistan relationship grabbing the headlines for all the wrong reasons, poet, lyricist, film director and Tagore Chair Professor at Panjab University (PU) Gulzar believes that hope still remains the best bet for the estranged neighbours.
The poet, lyricist, film director and Tagore Chair Professor at PU, who interacted with students, on campus on Wednesday, recited, “Umeed ki kiran ke siva aur kuch bhi nahi yahan, is ghar mein roshni ka yahi intezaam hai…(There is nothing in this room except the ray of hope; this is the only source of light, here.”
He recited these lines (crediting these to a Pakistani poet) after a student asked if he thought the India-Pakistan relationship will improve.
“The pain of the partition has to be accepted. It is a part of history,” said the poet with feeling that transmitted to all present.
To a question on the pain of partition, Gulzar said partition itself was not that depressing, but the way it was executed was depressing. “We should live together and not repeat riots.”
URDU HAS NOT DIED!
To a poser on near-extinction of Urdu, he said, “Languages evolve. Urdu is part of our culture and it’s wrong to say it is dying. Norway has the biggest community of Urdu language today. The language which did not have an owner has got a complete country of its own — Pakistan.”
He added, “The language, which we are using and speaking, is 80-90% Urdu, although you call it Hindi because it is our national language. The language, which we all speak, I call it Hindustani because it is a beautiful mixture of Hindi and Urdu.”