Most of my life I was made fun of for my terayko-merayko Gujrati-accented Urdu in khi and lahore. I realized much later how most of Khi speaks their specific kind of Urdu not the shurfa urdu. "Gain" and "qaaf" are literally traumatic for me because of the jokes made (1/3)
I made a platform Umangpoetry which archives contemporary poetic thought in Urdu and other languages and I could still be told off as "aap ki Urdu bauhat rough hai". I finally retorted to a male poet, "nahin alag hai".Urdu has many accents each one more special than the next.
Urdu has been used as a nationalistic force for hegemony. It has been used to shame and insult diversity in Pakistan and the many worlds of urdu that exist within it, including in a particular classed-Urdu that dominated tv. I miss my old Urdu. I lost it along the way.
Stop fixing peoples Urdu and wondering how awful and funny or stupid it is. Stop laughing at it. Admire it. Fix your knowledge of different urdus and different languages instead. Those who fix other peoples voices are dominating and hurtful.
You can follow @nosheenali.
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