Though India has been creating new provinces on the basis of language, Dr Heinz Werner Wessler, a German scholar of Urdu, believes that it should not be used to draw up boundaries between people.
On Saturday, Dr Wessler, a visiting professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, dug into his life experiences and shared his thoughts about Eastern languages at Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Pakistan’s office. The professor, who is called ‘Mr South Asia’ by his peers and students because of his knowledge about the region, is on a short visit to Pakistan. “It would not be wise to make a new province on the basis of a language,” said Dr Wessler, adding that different linguistic groups can help add diversity to monocultural societies.
He added that dialogues between different linguistic groups could help stem conflicts. If it tries, Pakistan could serve as a model for countries facing problems because of spats between different linguistic groups, said Dr Wessler. He asserted that societies were changing because people are eager to learn new languages such as Sanskrit, Urdu and Hindi. “They derive motivation from their interest in knowing more about the world which is different from their own.”
He said more people were enrolling in linguistic departments in different universities and many of them even visit other countries to enhance their communication skills once they have sufficient command over the language.
He then shared his experience about Germany and other parts of the world where people - especially young ones - sing Bollywood songs in Urdu or Hindi without even understanding the meaning. “Had you asked me 15 years ago if Bollywood movies could gain popularity in European countries, I’d have denied it straight away,” said Dr Wessler. But things have changed. He said that Bollywood movies are now shown in cinemas in Europe on the weekends and people can also watch them on TV every Thursday night.
For Dr Wessler, learning a new language is no easy matter as this is tantamount to becoming a bridge between two societies. “One must be conscious enough why it is important to learn a particular language,” he said, adding that he himself transformed while he was writing a thesis on Dalits of India. “My way of thinking was changed during the time I had spent with the intellectuals and commoners of the community.” Earlier, the honourary secretary of the Anjuman, Azfar Rizvi, and renowned researcher and critic Dr Rauf Parekh spoke on the occasion.
Same language, different script?
Dr Wessler said that both Urdu and Hindi are essentially the same languages but have two scripts to remain distinct from one another. Likewise, Croatian and Serbian languages, which are almost similar to each other, have different scripts because of long-lasting differences between the Serbs and Croats.
“Before Partition, Urdu had this status of lingua franca among Hindu, Muslim and Sikh intellectuals and writers of the subcontinent,” said Dr Wessler. He cited examples of several writers, including Munshi Prem Chand and Rajinder Singh Bedi, to drive this point home. Similarly, Muslims too have made great literary contributions in Hindi.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2012.
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I think the whole point of creating new provinces is making governance easier with an emphasis on decentralisation. This will in turn create jobs directly for the local community instead of having people from different parts of the country to come and work. If you look at the United States it has 50(51) states which are further divided into counties which makes it easier not only from a goverance point of view but also reduces corruption, increases operational efficiency and creates local jobs for local people.The Islamic Republic of Iran has 70 million people and 30 states whears we have 180 million with 4 states. I respect Dr.Wesselers thought but because he's a language specialist he will give more priority to language as opposed to policy making and economics.
Prima facie the argument is correct - division predicated on linguistic identity is likely to intensify feelings of regionalism, especially when the centre is weak, as in Pakistan; the flip side is that language is an important component of identity, and is suppressed at a nation's peril. In India, the need to divide the Presidencies and adjoining princely states into multiple territories was acknowledged early on, and linguistic identity seemed the only acceptable argument, based on learnings in the first nine years post Independence; the Hindi heartland has clearly not been divided on this basis, but is a continuation of administrative units that existed even during British rule. The center was much stronger in those times (1953 - 56) and it is a sign of growing confidence that today power sharing with the states is on a more even keel.
wish u a safe stay... dreaming is good but not in here... keep eyes open...
Well we all know those could be and should be stuff. If we go by history then it won't be.
wow!!!!!! so bollywood is famous all over the world..........pakistan is no exception...........
@Dr Wessler
Please don't remind us of 'good old days'. We are now used the 'good new days'.