TV channels immediately reacted. Intellectually-challenged actor Shaan spent time making fun of the prime minister who used the Hindi word. Others followed suit. An article titled “A silent invasion” appeared in The News (September 3) lamenting Indian culture’s invasion to destroy Pakistan’s ideology. The word ‘vishvas’ was the missile that would do the trick.
It went on: “Raja’s choice of Hindi vocabulary… is symptomatic of a creeping cultural penetration of Pakistan by our eastern neighbour. This silent invasion is taking place mainly through the opening of Pakistan to cheap Bollywood movies, Indian TV entertainment, DVDs and videos of Indian films and, most insidious of all, the home-screening of popular children’s programmes, especially cartoons, dubbed in Hindi.”
Naively, the article refers to France not encouraging the use of English words but it forgets France, when it recommends a ban on all TV and cinema plus DVD home projections of this ‘cultural invasion’. The intelligence agencies, fired by their perceptions of Indian danger, have always said what the article discussed. Somehow, the cultural invasion by America through cinema, TV and restaurants does not affect our spooks.
America’s soft power has bothered many but no one curtails freedom as a weapon to thwart it. Now Indian soft power irks Pakistan, although it does not disturb Central Asia and Africa where this ‘slow invasion’ is also proceeding apace. Shall we curtail our freedom through police action to secure the country against Indian culture?
Pakistan doesn’t know how to respond to challenges based on culture. A number of things have happened over the past years because of this refusal or inability to understand culture as a value in human life. The people have been forced to look for entertainment on their own because the concept of entertainment cannot be discussed in Pakistan without inviting the restrictive maximalism of the clergy.
After 1947, culture was what joined Pakistan with India. Pakistan has killed culture to face India more effectively in the battlefield. Two contaminations are to be fought. The first is the local accretions that Islam suffered when the Muslims were ruling India; the second is the entertainment that comes across the border in all manner of ways.
When Pakistani singers, musicians, actors, cricketers, commentators and some writers go to India, the Indians pay them good money for Pakistan’s ‘slow invasion’. Nor are they upset by the dominance of Persianised Urdu in Bollywood songs. Indians, in fact, buy glossaries to make sense of Urdu words in them. Instead of using this as Pakistan’s ‘soft power’, some writers want the door in Pakistan shut to regional culture. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are strangely not bothered about India’s ‘slow invasion’.
‘Vishvas’ in my Monnier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary literally means “breathing freely” (trust). It gets abbreviated as ‘svas’ and appears in Hindi as ‘svast’ (healthy). Another more familiar derivation is swastika (auspicious). Punjabi has its abbreviation from ‘vishvas’: ‘vasah’. The above article in The News would accept ‘bharosa’ for trust, not knowing that ‘bharosa’ is actually ‘bharvasah’, directly taken from ‘vishvasah’. ‘Vishv’ (full) and ‘bhar’ (full) mark the transition here.
Maulvi Muhammad Hussain Azad in his Sukhandan-e-Fars twins Persian and Sanskrit as sister languages. Iran, too, has its soft power over Pakistan, but with India, the linguistic co-extension bothers the Pakistani ideologue, who sees survival of the state only as a steadily self-curtailing entity, already being nibbled away by the culture-hating Taliban.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2012.
COMMENTS (124)
@javed
We should use English words and talk to the peoples of the World .
@Lala Gee: So you agree that the language has nothing to do with religion or kings.
The truth is that language has nothing to do with religion. As per philological studies the language changes every 15 km in a minor manner. A great language always keeps it's door open to grow and is never stagnant. Open any news channel of India and see how many Urdu words are being used every second along with Hindi and words from other regional languages like Marathi, Punjabi etc. People of Pakistan are suffocating them self in all fields including religion. Open all the windows and let fresh air flow. No one is invading you.
Pakistanis shoul do following. 1. make their national sport = Muzakashi 2. make their favourite food = filafal.
On arab likes to be more arabs.
@Chulbul Pandey: Chulbulji, please read for yourself and i am quoting an article from the journal of "Genome Research" and i don't utter things without reference because i incidentally happen to be a doctor.... The name of the article is "Genetic Evidence on the Origins of Indian Caste Populations"..... Sometimes, startling facts have a tendency to enlighten people. I was as startled as you are when i first discovered these things... Reference: http://genome.cshlp.org/content/11/6/994.full#sec-5
@bmniac: I stand corrected. I have certainly heard the name panchapakesan. While I knew the Sanskrit origin of Panch, I thought that aab had urdu/persian origin. Glad I said what I did because with feedback from many of you, I am now better informed.
@abdulmajeed: "Hindi is derived from Prakrit( a language used by Buddhists ) its not from sanskrit "
Prakrit word itself has a Sanskrit origin being derived from the word prakriti or nature. In other words prakrit described language that was derived naturally and organically through use by common people as opposed to the more formal and refined sanskrit.
@bmniac: "Incidentally there was a detailed report by the Centre for Cellular Biology on the DNA of Indians. From end to end (North/South. East/ West) except the deep North East, Indians irrespective of caste, region and language had a common DNA."
you are presenting new information I did not have. Would be obliged if you shared links. Would like to learn more.
@Somesh:
Somesh ji, It was amusing to read your comment, I must admit. While I cannot comment on any individual's ancestry, I would point out again that the Aryan Invasion theory has found out to be absolutely incorrect, in the light of historical data.
I hope the divide has not been so ingrained that some of us would rather hang on to "I am dravidian/he is aryan" state of mind.
Sincerely. PS. You are welcome to do some research on the subject or I would be happy to send you some links upon request.
@javed. What nonsense!! As Muslims we claim that Islam is for the world and limit its followers to Arabic?! By your definition, all Muslims who speak, Sindhi, punjabi, Pashto, Balochi, French, english, Spanish, etc etc should only speak arabic.
Broaden your mind friend and stop this "tribal" mindset.
You need help my friend. You need to educate yourself my friend. Here are some help: http://www.cheramanmosque.com/ http://www.binscorner.com/pages/t/the-first-masjid-in-india.html http://www.indianmuslims.info/historyofmuslimsinindia/indiasfirstmasjid.html http://en.islamtoday.net/artshow-232-4117.htm
@suraj: English is a Germanic language, and German is part of the Indo-Germanic languages, they in turn are all part of the Indo-European languages, of which Sanskrit through its Vedic Sanskrit origins is the oldest grammatically complete language in use. So it does not matter what people speak: English, Urdu, Persian, Hindi, Latin, Greek or French, they all have a common origin, with Sanskrit being one of its main roots. So the only option for those (in these language regions) who don't want to use any Indic/Sanskrit-origin words is not to speak or write at all.
@Somesh: I had spent 16+ years working in Kerala(both North and south) and I am well conversant with the local language and customs. I am a South Indian too and have never been taken for an outsider except in Kashmir and the North east. There has been massive conversion to Islam by the sword (Tippu's horrific invasion and the Molah riots) There have rarely been open conversions from Islam And the famous one of Rajasimhan ended in multiple murders. I know many Namboodiri families and Moslems too but you are mistaken. Incidentally there was a detailed report by the Centre for Cellular Biology on the DNA of Indians. From end to end (North/South. East/ West) except the deep North East, Indians irrespective of caste, region and language had a common DNA.
This issue is really about identity struggles more than anything else. The subcontinent has seen such a complex history that there are some people in every corner who want to assert their local identity over an over-arching subcontinental one. You see that in various parts of India like the Tamil Vs. Hindi, Marathi Vs. Hindi, N.E. Vs. Hindi debates (Hindi being the larger Indian identity). I have also read about similar scenarios in Pakistan where there is assertion of local linguistic-ethnic identities like those of the Sindhi, Pakhtun, Baloch peoples. You therefore need to look at this Urdu Vs. Hindi debate from this perspective. Of course the bigger Urdu-Hindi struggle is a lot more significant due to fact that these two represent two different religions and the equations between these religions over the last 1000 + years haven't always been cordial; you could call it the mother of all identity battles in South Asia if you will. And finally, all this talk of Farsi and Sanskrit being alien to each other is quite funny when you consider the fact that the two are quite closely related as languages. They both belong to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family i.e, they both descended from the same common language some time in the not too distant past. Arabic, on the other hand, is a completely different language with no substantial linguistic connection with either Sanskrit or Farsi.
@PK: You are right. Prakrit is the demotic form of Sanskrit.
@gp65: I fear there is an error. Pancha (five) and aapa (water) are fairly common Sanskrit words in fact one of Shiva's names is Panchapakesa (after the five rivers from the Himalayas)
As brought out already by some other readers many verbs are from Sanskrit. (I write these words in Devanagari script to convince you all!) "khaanaa" (khaadati-खादति), "karanaa" (karoti-करोति "dekhanaa" (drish-दृष्), "peenaa" (pibati-पिबति), "koodanaa" (koordati-कूर्दति) just to give a few examples. Have Pakistanis become obsessed with Indophobia and see ghosts where none exist? And here are we Indians who love ghazals sung by Ghulam Ali, Late Mehdi Hasan, our own Late Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Udhas, Anup Jalota etc. And as only verbs are familiar but other words are not, we listen to ghazals with a dictionary in Devanagari script (most of us can't read Urdu) and pause the ghazal the first time we hear it, understand the meaning of the unknown words to really enjoy the ghazals. When we do so much to learn basically your language (though it is one of the official languages of Uttar Pradesh), why are you afraid of a word like "vishwas"! Come on brothers! Have some love for your neighbour and our common heritage.
Pakistanis and Indians should stop the drama of so-called promotion of Urdu and Hindi respectively. They teach their kids in English, all major newspapers are English, entire official paperwork is in English and all business in the private sector is done in English. It is like fighting for the sake of fighting.
-This is just like Wahabi & Muslim going to mazars or sufi muslim. In india all Muslims whether Sinni or shia goes to Sifi's Mazar like Azmer. Urdu is nothing but Hindi except some persian words. Only main defrrence is script.
@somesh very funny description. I think we all are alien came from another planet and then settled here.
@Lala Gee: Jainism and buddhism are indigenous religions coexisting alongside hindusims for milleniums. Sikhism is not that old but started by Guru Nanak and incorporates teachings from both hinduism and Islam and infact the subsequent gurus of sikh fought the mughals. religions are always evolving and will keep on doing that.
@Somesh: " ... Similarly a Hindu priest of the current day of say Kerala can actually be an Arab descendant who later got converted ... "
You need help my friend.
@Zalmai: Brother,going through your comments, i am impressed by your understanding of India. Definitely many Indians themselves don't know about different parts/aspects of India that you have seen/understood.
@Chulbul Pandey: Dude i too am a Dravidian (atleast that is what my mother tongue - Kannada - a Dravidian language suggests me). But as much as i remember history even Dravidians were not natives of this land India. Its just that they arrived in Indian subcontinent before the Aryans did and when the Aryans came in the northern India, Dravidians were pushed to the South. Even before the Dravidians came, i believe it is the Hans who had come to India. Basically what i mean is no one is native to this land (in the sense that those who were here since their genetic make up came into existence). Further, things get even more funnily complicated when there have been multiple wars and invasions and changes in religion or faiths since the ages of Hans, Aryans and Dravidians and inter religion/faith/race marriages. Now, the state is we don't exactly know who is an Aryan and who is dravidian and if there is any Hans genes left in the subcontinent. A Muslim sitting in Lucknow or say Agra mosque can actually be a Han/Aryan/Dravidian who has been converted or even more funnily he can even be of a mixed race.... Similarly a Hindu priest of the current day of say Kerala can actually be an Arab descendant who later got converted (assuming the arab genes to be present in some of my Keralite friends who appear so fair and have so distinctly Nondravidian and Nonaryan physical features which match more with the arabs!!!)
@Mirza: Dear Mirza saheb Urdu ziaban ki kahani by moulvi Abdul has says that whole building of Urdu is based upon Hindi and color on it is from Urdu and arabi. I agree few words here and ther does not make any difference @ Khalid saheb , other local language other than punjabi has similar word vesah
Raja has seen too many Bollywood movies. Most Pakistanis do not use the term visvash, they can and should if they wish but they don't. Anyway I thought they spoke English, Tamil and Marhati in India? As for the Iranis they don't really have any soft power in Pakistan. It's dead and gone. We dont listen to Irani music, read irani books, learn farsi. The British cut off the subcontinents connections to the persian cultural sphere. It all just nostalgia. We prefer Bollywood to Rumi simple as that. Even India has very little impact apart from Bollywod. How many Pakistanis can name five Indian authors? Five types of Indian dance (apart from Bwood)? Five quality magazines? Urdu is fine as a national language and I am glad we don't have farsi as a national language. Urdu connects us to 500-600 million people around the world.
This writer attracts Indians like bees to honey. At least they like something from pakistan. Otherwise this whole exercise appears rather silly. As for PM, nation had VISHVAS in him as power minister how can judges not have vishvas now.
@javed: What you keep forgetting is that you are not of Arabian stock but Indian stock. Your language is not Arabic but Urdu. This is the problem with Pakistani Muslims. They think they are Arabs but Arabs will not have them. Their ancestors were Indian Hindus who converted to Islam. If they just remember that India and Pakistan will not have wars but brotherly relation though the brothers follow different religions.
The word Pak itself is derived from Sanskrit/Latin : Pavitra/pure.
@Observer How about changing Pak name to "Pakarabia" or pure Arabia !
Interesting article. While we are at the subject, I think the Pakistanis should change the name to something else since "-stan" in Paki.stan came from Sanskrit word "sthana".
The name "Pakistan" should therefore be changed to an Arabic name- "Pak.ard" or Pak.ushri.
@Joy
The people of Meghalaya speak Khasi, Garo, Jaintia and most of them also speak Hindi. The people in Silchar do speak Bengali but they also speak Hindi. The Assamese speak Hindi besides their native tongue. Most of these people confessed that a generation ago their parents refused to assimilate and learn Hindi but this new generation are very well integrated and most watch Bollywood movies whereas their elders mostly watched Hollywood movies.
This Hindi - Urdu is useless discussion. There is basic truth about who are we. Using Arabic and Persian wording in Urdu will not make us Arabi or Irani people.
For peace in subcontinent India should remove visa regulation and make free tourism so that people from Pakistan can discover own self by discovering India.
Google on Proto Indo Eurpopean, the root of most major languages of the world. Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin have a lot in common, and Sanskrit is considered to be a superior language (check out Wikipedia).
The ancient Indians have given a lot to this world. Most Pakistanis, like it or not, had ancestors who made such contributions. Now, instead of being proud, you guys are distancing from it.
You can think of yourselves as Arabic, but fact is, it is practically impossible to distinguish between an Indian and Pakistani. We look alike we talk alike, and we think alike.
"Mujh Par Vishvaas karain" Why just "vishvaas" ? Mujh, Par, Karain are also of Sanskrit origin. Only way to prevent using Indian language is if you stopped talking/writing .
As they knowledge is power. Khalid sahib, hats off to you, well written and well argued article. Any body with a counter-argument..!
@abdulmajeed: Dear Hindi is derived from Khari boli , which itself has developed from Sanskrit.Even Prakrit itself developed from Sanskrit. In any case Sanskrit is the grand father/mother of Hindi. So no points......
And do you know that Buddhism itself developed from concepts of Hinduism/Sanatan Dharma (eg. cycle of birth and death, focus on Meditation for self enlightenment and Nirwana/moksha etc.).
@zeshan ji,
"----@Zeeshan
I am one hundred percent Afghan and I read, write, and speak Pashto and Dari/Farsi and if you care to engage outside of this forum I would welcome a healthy debate. I will let you choose the language because I can speak multiple languages and I will make it easy for you. ----"
FINE_may i connect with you , outside this forum ? HOW ? Do you have an email address ?
"Indians, in fact, buy glossaries to make sense of Urdu words in them. " .. Absolutely right. I think Urdu is a beautiful language. I watch many Pakistani current affairs TV programs only to hear the participants talk in Urdu.
Its a case of 'bharvasah' transitioning to 'vasvasah' given the recent state of affairs in Pakistan ...
Grammar of Hindi and Urdu is based on Sanskrit. Try speaking Urdu on Arabic grammar.
@ Zalmai: " I visited Delhi, Bangalore, Goa, Kolkata, Darjeeling, Gauhati, Shillong, Jowai, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Ludhiana and Chandigarh. Most people in the northeast whether they were Muslims, Christians or Hindus did not speak Urdu but their Hindi speech did contain some Urdu words, which are actually mostly Farsi words but they mispronounced them."
The north-east has 272 languages and dialects.Forget Urdu or Parsi, even Hindi is spoken in a few parts of the region. In Gauthai and Dibrugarh people speak Assamese, Shillong and Jowai..people speak local dialect called Khasi. Silchar ..people speak Bengali which is more closer to the dialect spoken in northern Bangladesh.
Sanskrit is a language that is many thousands of years old and and most Indian languages have drawn liberally from it. It has been like a source code used in software programs. Urdu also is an Indian language much admired because Poets and Writers could express themselves and communicate through it with panache, poise and grace. It would be a disgrace if narrow minded and petty humans degrade themselves by communalizing both culture and language. The human mind as we can see, can be very petty !
Khaled sir, the word (svast) 'swastha' is basically 'swa' + 'stha'. 'swa' means self. 'stha' means settled. The one who has settled at himself. Spiritually it means that a person whose mind doesn't wander anywhere outside in search of pleasure. That happens when he/she realizes her true nature (swa) which is the infinite divine present everywhere including inside her. So here the word 'swa' actually indicates the divine. In practice, this word is used for peaceful, happy, calm state. -pravin
Urdu is an Indian language as well.
Pakistan is at low point globally due to its anything but Indian policy. I predict anything Indian in Urdu language will lead to a disaster too. Only fools repeat history. Look at English language it adopts hundreds of new words every year. Everyone knows what is the language of the world is? One can not survive without English if one wants to work outside their own neighborhood. Next few generations of Pakistan will be confused culturally, linguistically, religiously and politically.
"the first is the local accretions that Islam suffered when the Muslims were ruling India;" After converting villages overnight you still claim that Islam suffered when the Muslim were ruling India. If you suffered as a ruler than there must be other reasons for it. Islam is suffering in Pakistan too. Ask any Shia or Ahmadi.
@For fellow pakistani birathers
Hindi is derived from Prakrit( a language used by Buddhists ) its not from sanskrit .
@Zeeshan
I am one hundred percent Afghan and I read, write, and speak Pashto and Dari/Farsi and if you care to engage outside of this forum I would welcome a healthy debate. I will let you choose the language because I can speak multiple languages and I will make it easy for you.
@Ram:
perhaps, it is mixture of sanskrit, prakrits, and heavily influenced by persian
We should be proud of our culture and should promote it. Pakistan and India were the same countries before the partition and we can not purge our ages old culture by following narrow minded notions of our establishment.
@Zalmai: Well, its nice to know that you visited so many places in India and hope you enjoyed your stay besides noting language pattern here. Let me be candid to state that most of the North Indians and people from other hindi speaking states use urdu vocabulary frequently but don't feel ashamed about it. However, Pakistanis on the contrary consider use of hindi words as a cultural invasion which is quite strange but not surprising keeping in view the hatred being taught against Hindus in education curriculam there. All old hindi songs contained urdu words which made them melodious but present songs lack melody and the reason is obvious. Regards.
I read some where that Hindi is nothing but a mixture of Sanskrit and Urdu. No wonder Urdu speakers using Hindi words. Very interesting article
@javed:
so all christians must speak hebrew ?
@Zalmai
i don't know what your point is about usage of few persian seeming words in Hindi? Languages do borrow from each other. Infact persian and sanskrit themselves have so much in common, words like mother, father, brother etc. have same roots in almost all aryan languages which includes latin, greek, persian and sanskrit. the mixing will continue, some words will be added some will be forgotten. Some words will be changed to suite the sentence formation and ease of use.
Or is VISVAS India's answer to HAft VII?
As many readers have pointed out, both Farasi and Sanskrit are sister languages.
Sanskrit poetry is very beautiful and sounds very nice, check youtube for videos on sanskrit hymns. you will cry at the beauty of the sounds, even if you dont understand anything.
i concede sanskrit words look odd with urdu words, but in their own place they are quite beautiful.
Not to mention, many places in Pakistan have names which are corruptions of earlier sanskrit names.
Infact, the very suffix -stan is a persian derivative of the sanskrit - sthan.
Pakistan is being stumped the rules it created for itself.
Pakistan is different from India they said, Urdu, an Indian language was adopted. Turned out its not such a good idea when Bengalis demanded another partition for their Indian language - Bengali.
Later on this led to the Indian invasion of cinema and TV. Had Pakistan adopted local languages, it wouldn't have faced such problems and negation of two nation theory, where the most popular stars are Indian and, to add salt to the wound, Muslim!
Indian invasion is trumped in an English language daily.
Pakistan in order to fight its ultra Islamic forces are using their local culture excuse, another word for Hinduised culture, remnants of Partition.
Pakistani marriages are replete with Indian customs like Henna, Dance and Music. Islamic forces want none of this. Liberal Pakistan, who whole heartedly support 2 nation theory, want to preserve such Hindu-influenced customs.
Pakistan is a nation thoroughly confused.
Why shouldnt the PM of pakistan speak pure hindi? Why all the fuss? After all pakistan's best friends, the chinese are learning shudh hindi now very diligently-- http://ibnlive.in.com/news/hindi-set-to-make-debut-in-south-china/265557-61.html
"According to ecturers teaching Hindi in Chinese language academic institutions, the popularity of Hindi language is steadily climbing as more Chinese students were opting for the Indian language buoyed by the employment opportunities creating by flourishing India-China trade, which crossed USD 61 billion last year." http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/chinese-students-enliven-hindi-day-celebrations_731533.html
@Lala Gee:
Yes, we use English. But, its not us who fear Cultural Invasion, but you guys.
Hollywood movies are popular in India, but the biggest stars still remain people like Shahrukh and Rajnikanth. They do not want to go to Hollywood and do not fear Cultural Invasion. Nor do they speak English in their films.
A language gets richer by adopting the words from other language. There is no reason to be afraid of . In India a great number of people communicate in English and we also adopt good things from their culture to absorb based on the values which we love and attach importance in our life and society. flexibility is a good word for life and societal as well.
@gp65: Great post... true to the spirit...
If we instead focused on education, hard work and honesty, we wont be here listening to someone's own opinion as if it was fact!. opinion is like one's backside, everybody has got one! Lets address real life issues instead of writing for troll from across sou you can say that several hundred reads read you. Ple stop contributing your opinion as facts.
@Lala Gee: When your PM speaks in English, or when you wrote this comment, or when your masses use a mix of Hindi and English, what did you guys have in your sub-conscious? Would you like to shed some light? We basically agree that Britishers ruled India till 1947. But then, Nehru was smart enough to put forth 2 languages - English and Hindi as national languages to bring integration into a country which has more than 400 languages and god only knows how many faiths and religions. It worked! and wonderfully so.....
@javed: In your opinion all Muslim people from Indonesia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran, Africa, Europe should speak Arabic. How funny. Think again what are you talking. They do not even dress alike. Their customs values life style language is not the same.
Nothing wrong in using a Hindi word! Why are we so petty minded people?
@Mirza:
"Urdu is a language of India and it contains many words of Hindi and other languages. One more word of Hindi or English is not going to change this strong robust language that has been thriving for centuries."
Correctly said. However, the only problem with the use of Sanskrit words while speaking Urdu is their not so pleasant sound as @Blackjack rightly pointed out in his comment.
@javed: Turks are Muslims too, Malaysians are Muslims, too, Indonesians are Muslims, too, some Americans are Muslims, too, some French are Muslims, too, how many of them speak Arabic? Don't mix culture with religion, Arabs have their own culture but they are not the only Muslims. And this does not mean we should stop being us and try to be something we are not. Go to the Middle-East and you will find out how you are treated, maybe only then your wanting to be Arab dreams will be crushed.
@gp65: For your info, Punjab is fully sanskrit word actually. Pancha(five) plus apah (water). Old persian is a phonologically distorted derivate of sanskrit. The ancient persians had certain speech impediments which prevented them from pronouncing the original mother language sanskrit corectly, hence sindhu>hindu.
What is a lot more funny and intriguing is the fact the 'Urdu' which is Pakistan's National language was born in India. So, it seems that Pakistan has been invaded in and out god knows how many billions and zillions of times every time a word of 'Urdu' was spoken in Pakistan. By the way if guys here think that language has got anything to do with religion, then Pakistan should better adopt 'Arabic' as its national language - you know considering that it would sound more non Hindu than 'Urdu'....
@Arian:
"I don’t understand why Pakistanis don’t acknowledge their Indian heritage and always try to project themselves as something other than South Asian."
You being an Afghan and 'Arian' (most Pakistanis are also Aryan), should look little back in history and try to discover your real origin. Only the Dravidian people perhaps are the natives of South Asia and can legitimately claim for the heritage.
@Arian,
This is especially rich coming from an Indian who wears a mask to hide his Indian identity.
@Conspiracy Nut
As an Afghan I can only identify the animal feel/elephant, asad/lion and baqarah/goat the rest of the names are not familiar because we have our own names for these animals in both Pashto and Farsi
Your comment, "It would be better if pakistanis actually had adopted arabic and chinese. They wouldn’t be so resentful after 65 years but sadly they didn’t wipe their memory only their history books. "
Your comment is most accurate and I don't understand why Pakistanis don't acknowledge their Indian heritage and always try to project themselves as something other than South Asian. On the other hand, Indonesia is a Muslim nation that is proud of its Hindu heritage and makes no apologies for it.
@Lala Gee: "ignorance is bliss" suits u perfectly!
@Unbeliever
I visited Delhi, Bangalore, Goa, Kolkata, Darjeeling, Gauhati, Shillong, Jowai, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Ludhiana and Chandigarh to name a few cities from my itinerary and I did not just mingle with Muslims. Most people in the northeast whether they were Muslims, Christians or Hindus did not speak Urdu but their Hindi speech did contain some Urdu words, which are actually mostly Farsi words but they mispronounced them.
I heard the phrase Der aye doroost aye, koi khaas baat and words such as enqelab, gharib, sharam and besharam, beraham and many other Farsi words used by regular people in Hindi conversation.
The funniest idiom I heard was 70 chuhe kha kar billi Haj ko chali. The words doroost, khas, enqelab, gharib, sharam and raham are all Farsi with the exception of raham/mercy, which is an Arabic word and I was able to pick them out because I speak Farsi.
I think it shows a hint of cosmopolitanism and sophistication among Indians and that is something to be proud of. I also learned that Indians use words like akash for asman/sky, jal or pani for aab/water, samay for wakht/time and many other purely Hindi words, which has enriched me as a person.
@gp65: very well written. I agree with you. Pakistan will be on the path to progress once it realizes that diversity enriches and is something to cherish. I hope that day comes soon.
I don't know what Mr Asif Ezdi, a former ambassador and an ardent anti Indian, the writer of 'A Silent Invasion' will do with Faiz' poems written in the so called Hindi idiom:
dukh ki nadya mein humne, jab jeevan ki nao dali thi and barkha barse chat par, mein tere sapne dekhun
Or I wonder what for him is Amir Khusro- an 'alien Hindi' heritage or 'our own' Urdu heritage.
I am amazed by quality comments above by bloggers. Although there are as usual India-Pakistan bashing in some comments but most of comments are with depth of knowledge of language, history. Thank you ET and Khaled sahab for providing wonderful platform for exchange of comments.
Great piece Khaled Sahib. Thought provoking like always!!
The Pakistani ideology is based on wiping out their own past heritage and adopting Arabic heritage just because of hatred of India and what India stands for.
Khaled sb- I can say with full "vishvas" that you are one of the best op-ed writers in my country- you teach like a "guru".
With lots of respect and best regards.
@Zalmai: Yes, Hindi usage uses infusion of Urdu (Persian & Arabic words) due to obvious historic influences. But how does it matter? If something is popularly acceptable, then so be it, as long as that is not becoming a tool to divide people. Same with religion. Religion should not be used to divide people. Nor should it be taken so seriously as to undermine humanity itself or there should be a need to protect God. God should be able to protect itself.
Some Pakistanis insist in usage of Arabic Urdu. They are the cause of all problems in Pakistan. That was one of the major factors that broke away West Pakistan in addition to the wile and selfish ZAB and people of Pakistan foolishly supporting him and making him popular. In my view view, he caused more damage to Pakistan than even Zia U Haq.
I will always now use word vishvas because our anti-Indian lobby does not like it.
@gp65:
aab perhaps comes from the AVESTAN abn ( or apas, sanskrit: apas). SO, the world punjab is evidently entirely of non-arabic origin.
@Zalmai: can you be more precise which part of india you visited?
because out of the various words you listed only lekin and saazish are the most common word used. rest are all used in poetry. ISHQ is substituted commonly by pyaar.
it could be that the people you were interacting with were mostly muslims, who use urdu words in normal communication because of their background.
@javed:
then why are Japanese not speaking in Hindi or Nepalese since Buddha was born in and preached in India/Nepal?
Thank God that Indians love to adopt everything that is good. Some of our best songs (sung by Rafi, of course) are hard to understand by a whole bunch because of Urdu / Persian words, but we don't care - we just love them. We adopted English language and their culture, we adopted Arab's goodies, and we kept out own intact.
If Pakistanis are so hung up on Hindi words, how about the words in English? Why do they feel so proud when they speak better English?
As is well known, it is not India, but Indophobia that has brought Pakistan to this situation, and they still don't get it!