Irresistible Appeal of Urdu and the Bilingual Pakistan

Irresistible Appeal of Urdu and the Bilingual Pakistan

by Aakar Patel

Columnist Aakar Patel writes how irresistible Urdu language is for him and as to how much does he like it. In his words, “In India, Hindustani in the Devanagari script became the national language. But far too many of India’s states were distant from Hindi and so it wasn’t really enforceable and so our regional languages have thrived. This has meant that the common medium of communication for urban Indians has remained English alone. In Pakistan, Urdu has permeated and flourished since Partition.

There is one last thing that makes Urdu appealing. It is our language and can better express our emotions than English. Wielding it correctly, as so many Pakistanis do, makes the listener proud of our shared culture.

Perhaps, unfortunately for Pakistan, the only nation that can really appreciate this lovely quality of theirs is not China or America, but India.”