A few years ago, when businessman Sanjiv Saraf decided to incorporate more Urdu literature into his life, to his surprise, he realised that there were hardly any credible and authentic sources available.
Ajab hai yeh zabaan, Urdu
Kabhi yunhi safar karte agar koi musafir sher padh de Meer, Ghalib ka
Woh chahe ajnabi ho, yahi lagta hai woh mere watan ka hai
Badi shaista lehje mein kisi se Urdu sun kar
Kya nahi lagta ke ek tehzeeb ki awaaz hai, Urdu
~ Gulzar
(Urdu is a unique language. During a journey if one comes across somebody who recites a couplet written by Meer, Ghalib, even if he is stranger he seems to belong to my neighbourhood. Listening to Urdu in a very polite tone, doesn’t it feel that Urdu is the voice of a culture?)
A few years ago, when businessman Sanjiv Saraf decided to incorporate more Urdu literature into his life, to his surprise, he realised that there were hardly any credible and authentic sources available. Having grown up in a home where the likes of legendary singer Begum Akhtar were regular visitors, Saraf decided to milk his background and start an Urdu website. Today, his 60-member venture attracts Urdu professors, poets, and lovers from all over the country.
Not satisfied with just that, the Chairman of Polyplex — a polyester film manufacturing company, launched a full-fledged Urdu festival — Jashn-e-Rekhta, in 2015. In its debut year itself, the festival marked its presence with the grace and the poise that befit the beautiful language.
The third edition of the three-day festival, which was inaugurated on Friday, has leading writers and poets, including Gulzar, Javed Siddiqui, Azhar Inayati, Rumi Jaffrey and Kumar Vishwas, talking about the language. In addition, there will be performances by Sufi musicians, Dastangos (oral storytellers), Qawwaals and Bait Baaz. The event is free for all those who register on the website.
“It is an attempt to let the common man get introduced to the beauty and sweetness of Urdu. When we first started, we did not anticipate such a warm response. We had planned the first edition for 2,000-3,000 people, but a little over 18,000 people turned up. That number went up by five times last year, reaching to 85,000,” Saraf says.
Apart from poetry sessions and discussions, the festival will have workshops by Urdu calligraphers from Old Delhi and food stalls selling Awadhi, Hyderabadi, Parsi, Pashtun, Kashmiri, Afghani, Mughlai, Sindhi, Punjabi, and nomadic cuisines. The food festival has been titled Aiwan-e-Zaiqa.
The group will also launch an Urdu learning website, Aamozish, at the festival. “This website has a user-friendly interface and will be available as an app on android devices. We have also updated the Rekhta mobile app with new features,” says Aparna Pande, who works with the foundation.
An even bigger achievement is the fact that almost 70 per cent of the participants at the festival are youngsters. In fact, because of the high demand from other cities, the self-funded foundation is now planning smaller versions of the festival, Rang-e-Rekhta, in cities such as Hyderabad, Bhopal, Lucknow, and Bareilly. A similar event was organised in Chandigarh in August, 2016, where Mushaira and Qawwali by Saabji brothers received an overwhelming response.
Apart from all this, in the last two years, the Rekhta team has managed to digitise works of over 2,100 poets and have created 4,000 videos and audios related to the language. So far, over 25,000 books have been made available on the website.
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