On the last day of the three-day Pakistan Literature Festival at the Alhamra Arts Council on Sunday, writers Uxi Mufti and Sarwat Mohiuddin discussed the Punjabi folklore.
Uxi Mufti regretted that today’s generation did not speak or understand the Punjabi language.
He said that even women today had forgotten to sing Punjabi lullabies to their children because the former themselves had been ignorant about their own language. The age we were living in had compelled them to read, write and speak in the English language, he said.
Mufti said that it saddened him to see that people had been disregarding their own heritage, and they were becoming more attuned towards culture and lifestyle that was alien to their own history.
He said that the Punjabi language was the mother of all kind of arts, theatre and culture of the subcontinent.
“Western philosophy is no match to that of Punjab’s,” he said. If society had ever witnessed a socio-cultural revolution, the basis of that revolution was the Punjabi folklore.
Sarwat Mohiuddin enlightened the audience about the history of the Punjabi language. She said that the Punjabi language originally began through oral traditions because of illiteracy.
However, the literacy rate in Lahore in the 16th century was 100%, she said.
Sarwat said that the reason behind today’s generations’ alienation with the Punjabi language and their own heritage was that they were not taught these things in their schools and colleges.
She said it was high time the Punjab language was taught in schools if we wanted to see the language live and grow.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2023.
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