‘Urdu’ may be seen as the language of a certain set of ppl from UP, but ‘Hindustani’ (Hindi/Urdu) is understood all over the northern part of the subcontinent. There’s a reason Punjabis are so proficient at it: Punjabi and Urdu are very similar. Sindhi is also not too far off.

My (Indian) Gujrati salon lady was asking me the other day if I understood Gujrati. She was surprised when I said no: ‘But it’s so similar to Hindi’. It probably is. To her. I feel the same way about Punjabi. The languages of the region change dialect every 100 mile or so.

So it’s laughable when Urdu is presented as some sort of ‘foreign’ language imposed upon Pakistan. Once Persian was knocked out as the courtly language this language of everyday connection came to replace it all over northern India. It should, of course, have not been declared

the only national language. Regional languages should have been given money and patronage too, but yahaan Urdu dead hoti jaati hae despite so much patronage. We are unable to give it a fresh edge, we produce no young, noteworthy & consistent fiction in it.

If it weren’t for Bollywood, Pakistani kids educated in private English medium schools would be forced to seek good art entirely from western sources. Even if you don’t have my aversion to Pk drama you will at least not deny that it isn’t exactly a beacon of artistic innovation

That it’s subject matter is narrow and barely interested in telling youthful stories and language.

Kher anyway, I hate Twitter threads & end this like I end most: I have been planning a video about this for so long

youthful stories in a youthful language*