We also need to promote Urdu language throughout the world where South Asians are settled.

@Kamal Pasha. Lol are you including Bangladeshis, Lankans too.

What is jashn-e-rekha?

Urdu is a prominent Indian language which was born and brought up in our soil. This is unfortunate that it has been associated with Muslims and in a narrow sense to Pakistan. Urdu has been forced upon Pakistan at the cost of Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Sairaiki and scores of other languages. Its basic origin is from Sanskrit, Farsi,a bit of arabic and other languages. Its proximity to Hindi is so much that you can never separate the twin sisters from each other. Nevertheless this language is a Godgift to our region with its mindbowing sweetness, poetic communication and unique sophistication. This has been a ligua franca of most of the Indians since decades. Never forget bollywood which thrives with the communication potency of this language. Whether written in persian or devnaagri script Urdu remains the darling of crores of subcontinent people. Let us celebrate this unique unifying agenda of all times.

@madhusudan Did you even read the article, bud?

Urdu language has dominated Bollywood movies. I have realised Urdu in the Bollywood movies is used more ofter than Hindi. Mainly religous Hindi wording is used. This shows Urdu language is very advanced and loved in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kashmir, etc.

@Sandeep Singh, Why not? They watch Indian movies and Pakistani dramas.

@madhusudan, Go back to proper school again.

Urdu is a South Indian language, with origins in Hyderabad Deccan.

@Kamal Pasha. They dont teach meaning of Jashn e Rekhta in schools. And more importantly, Sanskrit came 1000s of years before Urdu did + many urdu words originate from Sanskrit. So chill..

URDU..what a beautiful language. You only realize when you come across writers like, Ghalib,Faiz,Insha,Baba Yahya Khan,Abdullah Hussain the list goes on and on...

Urdu is a copied version of hind, arabic and farsi language.

Madhu: Jashn means Celebration or Festival and Rekhta is an old word for Urdu language. Actually Urdu and Hindustani language were synonymous till the 19th century and the language derived from Khari Boli. It was a lingua franca developed naturally as Khari Boli evolved to include words from Persian, Turkish and Arabic. British authorities in pursuance of their Divide-and-Rule strategy encouraged the idea that Urdu was the language of the Muslim imposed upon India. Prior to this time Hindustani was only written in Arabic script. In late 19th century Devanagari script of Sanskrit was resurrected to write Hindustani language and Hindi was born. At that time Hindi and Urdu were identical languages written in two different scripts but conscious efforts were made to replace Arabic, Persian and Turkish words with words from Sanskrit. The first state to adopt this language was Bihar which replaced Urdu with Hindi in 1881. After the Partition, India consciously accelerated the process of Sanskritization of Hindi and Pakistan consciously accelerated the process of Persianization-Arabization of Urdu so news broadcasts of each language became almost unintelligible to "enemy" countries. If it were not for Bollywood the shared Hindustani would have died but Bollywood realized what the bureaucrats in Ivory Towers had not realized that the languages they were busily inventing was foreign to the hundred of millions of native speakers of the language on both sides of the border and they still spoke the same shared language known as Khari Boli, Hindustani and Rekhta no matter what script it is written in.

@indianGuy: You are right. English is a copy version of all European languages but rules the world. Similarly, Urdu is ruling at least South Asia.

@Truth yeah because urdu is as Indian as hindi. They were both born on the same soil.

Urdu is a beautiful language indeed !

@Kamal Pasha. : For that we shall have to get rid of MQM's self enforced monopoly on Urdu.

@Sandeep Singh : You would be surprised to know that, according to a book written about development of Urdu in Pakistan by Anjuman e Tarqi e Urdu, the Anjuman's largest Urdu library before 1971 was located in Sylhet, than in East Pakistan, which had books written by more than 13,000 writers from what is now Bangladesh.

Urdu is one of the most beautiful and nuanced languages in the world. Hindi is a day to day language but comes no where close to urdu. Urdu has elegance, poise, an elitism, tehzeeb and we must do all we can to promote it. I love my language

The title name on the banner should have been in Urdu, would have made the celebration more worthy.

@Dr. FARO, no one asked for a comparison. Hindi-speaking people's knowledge of Urdu is far better than the other way around. Hence we admire Urdu on its own while loving Hindi too. Most languages are rich enough, though your knowledge of them may not be.

India should encourage Urdu language too as it is a base of South Asian culture. They should think over the fact that Urdu is just a Pakistani language.

I learned to read and write Persian from an Iranian friend. Then Urdu was only a small step. I, for one, don't acknowledge Urdu and Hindi as two separate or distinct languages, but rather as a range or continuum between two varieties or favors. Those who claim one "language" is better than the other, really appreciate neither. It depends on the context and/or occasion as to which "language" is more apt or appropriate. Each has its own beauty, the mellifluous Urdu or the crisp Hindi. Please don't forget all the different grades in between, enjoy them too, occasionally.

I live in Europe and I have found many words from Greek, Spanish, Italian, French and Romanian which are either very similar or totally same in pronunciation and meanings wih Urdu.

@MHamza: Looks like you are unaware of certain facts. Get this straight. Urdu is totally, absolutely, incontrovertibly an Indian language rooted in the Ganga-Jamuna region. It also happens to belong to migrants from India called Mohajirs. Political boundaries should not be confused with cultural, linguistic, religious, demographic spaces.

@Joker Its not Urdu but Hindi which is ruling South Asia......Thanks to Indian Movies, dramas lol

@Truth Urdu is a beautiful language. I fell in love with that language after I watched Gulzar's TV serial "Mirza Ghalib". Bollywood's lyricists, poets were mostly muslim writers writing in urdu. Great names include Sahir Ludhyanwi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kaifi Azmi, to name a few. That is why old songs are gems. Bollywood movies should be called Urdu not hindi movies but the producers were just being politically correct. As Javed Akhtar said, there is not muchdifference between spoken urdu and hindi on the streets but as a literary language urdu is unsurpassed. To me, Hindi seems to stand tall in the reflected glory of Sanskrit. Now, that is another great language i had the privilege of learning. If one needs to learn Hindi, my advice would be to learn sanskrit which is a great language. Otherwise, you can't use urdu and pretend it is hindi!

@M.Saeed agreed Urdu is a beautiful language. But it has no connection in Tamil nadu Kerala goa etc. Some parts of deccan speak it. Havg lived in many parts of India I speak 7 languages. I find all languages beautiful. Bollywood is not Indian cinema. What about regional languages. I believe that a person must learn a few languages since it helps us learn cultures.

hindi is second most spoken language in the world, the credit goes to bollywood, Hindi is Indo aryan language most of the words orginates from sanskrit for ex take most commanly used words Hum and tum, in sanskrit Aham means hum and tuam means tum and Sanskrit is oldest language. History of India proves our superiority, The land of one of the oldest civilization, Yoga, ayurvreda and enormous wealth which attracted muslims, Britishers, portiguise and many other greedy and cunning people.

All indians speak Urdu. Bollywood is all Urdu. But for nationalistic reasons they call it Hindi and sneak a few Sanskrit words. Once I asked several Indians what was the meaning of khoon, khabar, kalm, kameez, kursi, kharab and they told me. Then I asked an Arab the meaning of the same words in his language, and he gave the same meaning. The Indians were shocked then realized, Hindi is actually Urdu, which originates from Arabic, Persian. They felt they are taught wrong in their country

All of India should be taught in Arabic script like Urdu. Because Hindi is actually Urdu. Then the language and written ' harf' will be in sync. Then indians will be able to pronounce words with ' khey', like khoon, khabar, kharab. Now they say koon, kaber and karab

People break into praises of Urdu, trying to prove it superior to Hindi. Guys, chill. For the normal Indian with Hindi as his mother-tongue, if he starts using Farsi, Arabic phrases, it is deemed Urdu. Urdu has no grammar of its own, it uses Hindi grammar for structure. If just having a different script makes Urdu a different language, then I guess Shahmukhi and Gurmukhi should be languages in their own right!

It's a misfortune for both our countries that Hindi and Urdu languages have religious undertones. Bollywood movies are a great unifying medium IMHO

The most beautiful language produced in India at the peak of Mughal Rule as Laskari Zaban and with the time purified to the present shape. During British Rule the court Language of Northern India was Urdu. Until 1947 I studied in a government school in New Delhi and Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians studied Urdu. My learned Urdu teacher was Janab Asa Ram. A school friend of mine I met in US as he had done Phd in Cosmic Rays and was one of the 7 top scientists in the world Dr S.P Duggal. asked me to send him some Urdu books from London for he was trying to teach his children Urdu. Urdu is Indian language and Pakistan has just hijacked it.

Modern day India is the birthplace of Urdu. It is the imported language in Pakistan. The national languages of Pakistan are Sindhi, Punjabi, Balauchi, Pushto, Hindko, Sariaki, Barahavee, etc.

All languages are Indian languages..including Urdu and Bangla. All of the languages in Subcontinents has origin in India so please dont fight and stop spreading false. Don't bind them in newly formed country. India exists from ancient times so as these languages..so in new lingo..JUST CHILL..:)

Urdu has its origin in Lucknow, India.

Indians love Urdu as much as they love Hindi. Please do not restrict this beautiful language with borders of any country.

@Abbas Urdu originates from the muslim military camps. Most soldiers spoke either Turkic, farsee, Mongol. The word ' Urdu' means ' military base' in Turkish. But there are a lot of Arabic words in all these languages.

Urdu/hindi/hindustani are one language Urdu uses some arabic/persian/turkish words while hindi uses sanskrit words Hindustani is the day to day language spoken by the awams of south asia while urdu/hindi is the language spoken by muslim/hindu intelligentsia with their own scripts to highlight and accentuate their identities

It would have been a surprise, if don´t start fighting – India/Pakistan, Hindi/Urdu, etc. etc. Why can´t we enjoy the celebration of a beutiful language from Sub-continent? I also have a stupid question: I don´t know the meaning of the world “Rekhta”. For those who are going to suggest me to go to school etc.: I am too old for any school at all. So please show your immense knowledge and tell me what is Rekhta.

@Ahmer : that is because all the languages you mentioned belong to the Indo-European family of languages. Sanskrit, Persian, Pashto, Baloch, Hindi/Urdu, Punjabi etc., also belong to the same family. Arabic and Turkic belong to different language families.

@MHamza who said urdu is a pakistani language. Pakistan is itself is made out of india. Vedic language is sanskrit. that means hindi, urdu all comes after sanskrit.

Urdu indeed is a beautiful language that belongs to Indo-Europian language family. Do not why they chose Arabic script to write an Indo-European language. Sanskrit is elder cousin of all Indo-Europian languages. Respect all languages.

@Zak Urdu on the other hand came from hindi and farsi. Hindi came from Sanskrit and pure hindi sounds nothing like Urdu. Urdu is basically a mixture of hindi and farsi . Urdu is written in Arabic script whereas hindi is written in devanagri script. And indians do not speak Urdu rather we speak Hindustani which is a mixture of hindi and Urdu. Pure Urdu no one understand ......same goes for pure hindi....

@Zak Arabic sript is not needed in India as the Devnagri script is enough to pronounce the words you mentioned in your comment...Maybe you should study more about our dialect...Actually in Arabic script most of the words can't be written as we pronounce them in subcontinent...The Arabic script is just an attempt to copy the Arabs due to a false notion that anything written from left to right is not an "Islamic language"... You should also understand even though Urdu is hugely influenced by Arabic and Farsi, its roots belong to Sanskrit like Hindi...

@Zak Arabic sript is not needed in India as the Devnagri script is enough to pronounce the words you mentioned in your comment...Maybe you should study more about our dialect...Actually in Arabic script most of the words can't be written as we pronounce them in subcontinent...The Arabic script is just an attempt to copy the Arabs due to a false notion that anything written from left to right is not an "Islamic language"... You should also understand even though Urdu is hugely influenced by Arabic and Farsi, its roots belong to Sanskrit like Hindi...

@Abbas Ali Very well said. I always wondered why you would import a language to make it as your National Language, And people who actually speak this language as their mother tongue are labeled linguistically, Urdu Speaking ?? Or rather an ethnic minority ? Moreover, choose an official language (English) which is understandable by only a privileged class.

Hindi is Urdu written in Sanskrit script, and with words from Hindu religion & culture. Many of these words from Hindu religion & culture are commonly used in other Indian languages, also. Urdu is the language of Muslim Lashkar, which ruled India, for one thousand years.

Another test is to look at the writings of those who wrote literature & poetry, you would see, those who wrote Urdu poetry and literature also wrote in Farsi. But, you will not see those who wrote in farsi ever wrote in Hindi. It is proof, Urdu is related to Farsi not Hindi.

@Zak I am sure you have PhD in Indian affairs...what a ideology you have....how do u come up with such logic? But don't stop commenting...u r adding the real -fun to this section...keep it up

Proud that this event is being held and India is such an open society that so many languages(for our neighbours who can't think beyond one religion and one language, India has more than 100+ languages and are thriving), religions and cultures are celebrated and enjoyed by many. Our neighbours should visit and live in India else you will keep commenting using your usual narrow views. True Indian from Melbourne

@MHamza "They should think over the fact that Urdu is just a Pakistani language." Buddy just check if Urdu was language of anyone in now Pakistan before 14 Aug 1947.? NON... ..Urdu has been forced upon people there and they did same for then east Pakistan.But Bengalis stood for their culture and language and result was BD. Jinhas language policy broke Pakistan and I am sure will create more problems .

@Zak There are TWO places famous for some thing unique (both have it common ) in India..I will tell the names and you tell me for what.!!!!!!!! AGRA and Bareilly.

They are celebrating Urdu > I am surprised to see nothing is written in Urdu on the back screen.How can we promote Urdu ?simply pronouncing Urdu in English script.This is step motherly treatment to Urdu Language.

@Abbas - True. All these associations with tehzeeb, adab, shayari and great food…all these are gifts of Lucknow and to a smaller extent Aligarh. In Indian Punjab, Muslims speak Urdu but with a strong Punjabi accent and totally spoil the language. Urdu is spoken in Old Delhi but they don't have the finesse of Lucknow. I want to tell my Pakistani friends that Urdu is not the language of a religion. It is the language of a region. While Urdu may be the national language of Pakistan, for how many is it the mother tongue? Punjabis, Sindhis, Pathans and Baloch all speak Urdu but it is NOT their mother tongue. Urdu is the mother tongue of the Muslims who went to Pakistan from UP and Bihar. You call them Mohajirs, I believe.

Urdu in India is Remanence Muslim colonialism of India because they were too arrogant to learn Hindi which has best grammar and much larger vocabulary. We must curtail Urdu in Bollywood which is being used as a propaganda tool. I have traveled all over India most of the Hindi speaking belt speak Hindi with more Sanskrit words. Do you really understand Fate Ali Khan? I don't