What better way to trace the roots of a language in a city but by taking a stroll. The four-day ‘Bhendi Bazar Urdu Festival’, which begins from January 10 will do just that. It will educate people about the evolution of Urdu language and culture by taking citizens for an open for all ‘Urdu heritage March’ to be held on January 6.“The walk will include stores like Maktaba-e-Jamia, publisher of books of Jamia University and one of the first book stores in the area that have supplied Urdu books for generations, the erstwhile Wazir hotel and Cafe Khushali where Urdu giants like Manto and Jaan Nisar Akhtar formed couplets by sipping black tea and kahava,” said Zubair Azmi, director of Urdu Markaz. His organisation works for the promotion of the language. The festival will be held at Imambada ground near Dongri. Eminent personalities like Lata Mangeshkar, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Nimmi, Waheeda Rehman and Javed Siddiqui are likely to be present for the festival. The event will particularly focus on children and youth. “Our idea is to take children to the roots of the language and give them a glimpse of it,” said Farid Khan, co-cordinator of the festival. It’s not just about children from Urdu medium schools, the organisers hope to involve kids from convent schools and colleges.While the festival will begin with a walk, the line up of programs will include pictorial exhibition of the movement, which started from Aligarh, to educate Muslims, nurturing of leftist progressive writers’ movement, and the Hindustani classical music and the gharana that gave Lata Mangeshkar.Qawalis, gazals, musharias, sufi musical program will be given by Maharasthrians, Gujaratis, and Parsis who have learnt Urdu. “Through 60 songs, we will also trace the 100 years of Bollywood,” said Puja Gaitonde, who will be performing at a musical event that will trace the contribution of Urdu to cinema. The festival is not confined to people, who do not have Urdu as their mother tongue. The special logo which aims to represent the “force and life on the street of Bhendi Bazaar” is a testimony to the festival’s multiethnic nature. It has been designed by calligrapher Prakash Pathre.“We will also have a panel discussion on the Urdu and mainstream media. There are a lot of misunderstanding and confusion between the two media. It will bring people from both sides on the same platform, said Azmi. The walk starts at 11 am from Urdu Markaz, Imambadaa Municipal School, Behndi Bazaar. To take part in the walk, contact Zubair Azmi – 9322695208; Farid Khan – 9320054711.

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