The ‘Jewel’ that we had….

An intriguing perspective towards use of words like FUCK! SHIT! CRAP etc. and where we have come because of it…

An intriguing perspective towards use of words like FUCK! SHIT! CRAP etc. and where we have come because of it…

I happen to be a great admirer of the Urdu Language especially the richness that the ancient Urdu versions contain. Before I start, I insist the readers who have accidentally stumbled upon this piece written by another somebody who keeps on penning once in a while, to continue reading even if they don’t understand the initial part because the final message is something which I want maximum number of people to know about and trust me you will ponder over it in the end.

I as a kid happened to watch Mughal-e-Azam which is a 1960 Indian movie with my dad who still is a great fan of the movie. Mughal-e-Azam stands for the ‘The Emperor of the Mughals’. If you have seen the genuine movie (I am forced to use this term because in today’s date, the producers often change the presentation and history itself if need be to maintain the TRP. A very good example of this that comes to my mind and which most of my friends will disagree with is that Jodha Akbar another Indian movie was very bad when it came to genuinely representing the way kings and queens lived in the Mughal era. You will understand this only if you have read some of the ancient literature or at least seen Mughal-e-Azam). Coming back to watching the movie with my father, I had to watch the movie on three occasions to be able to understand the words used in it, each time dad watching, pausing and explaining things with the same glitter in his eyes and enthusiasm in his voice. They say true only about parents and their emotions. However, I watched the movie thrice because I was awestruck by the words featuring now and then and the meaning they contained, totally in contrast with what you may guess, Oh! the beautiful Language that Urdu is. As a result, I often try to catch episodes and videos that contain Urdu because for me this language has words which have the magical effect of reviving me when I am a bit lost!

Breaking from the story altogether, recently, I was on a walk with a friend of mine who happens to be my senior as well. In the entire college campus, there are only two or three people whom I find using those beautiful gems from Urdu passionately and more importantly correctly. Most people otherwise just pretend to know a lot. This senior of mine happens to be one of the few such souls and I had watched him anchor for a cultural event a little before that day and I had loved it. However, when I turned heads around wondering while the anchoring was going on as to why the hell where people not clapping, the looks on their face gave away all their shallowness and not bothered mentality.

In the course of conversation that beautiful evening on the twisted roads of IIT Guwahati campus who somehow have the power of letting you unwind and open up (You automatically end up being the real you), amidst that moment of lightness, I asked him the question as to how he ended up having such a rich vocabulary in Urdu and that I would love to have even a small part of it. His reply totally threw me into an altogether different thought. Whereas given the gentleman he is, he humbly denied having a good vocabulary and admitted that there were so many people whom he looked up to, He stressed onto a fact that today’s generation had totally lost the jewel we had a century back which I will soon discuss in detail. He definitely read a lot of literature which is an automatic habit of someone who is very good with words. This reply had clearly indicated to me that he was unhappy with his own capability when it came to literature and I swear while walking along the road, i somehow felt the trees also responding as per my line of thinking.

His point being, we(referring to our current generation) have become so dumb speaking words which somehow have crept into our daily lives and are strengthening their grip over our vocabulary just like a spider trying to hold onto a prey big enough but silent by nature, as a result of which the unfortunate prey slowly meets death at the hand of something which when demonstrated to Darwin would make him doubt his theory of ‘Survival of the Fittest’.

For instance allow me to make you realize it yourself. The word I choose to elaborate is FUCK! not because I am a nymphomaniac or I love being indescent but because I believe the current generation uses this word with a certain pride and as a bare minimum requirement to be able to stand with their heds held high in between their ‘modern friends’. I will not go into the details of this word and it’s history. Every kid today almost understands this word more than what even oxford or webster can afford to explain. However, I referred to the history of this word on wikipedia and whether you care to read it or not, I will put in some false etymology that can be found there. They make me think that this word should not necessarily be looked down upon but I dare not to stress more on this fact as the ‘false’ attached with etymology can get me in trouble. Anyhow it is an interesting read and directly copied, definitely more interesting than whatever I have written so far.

Fuck is believed to be an Acronym or a Backronym just in case you are one those who are too sentimental.

Take 1- Royal permission. During the Black Death in the Middle Ages, towns were trying to control populations and their interactions. Since uncontaminated resources were scarce, supposedly many towns required permission to have children. Hence, the legend goes, that couples that were having children were required to first obtain royal permission (usually from a local magistrate or lord) and then place a sign somewhere visible from the road in their home that said “Fornicating Under Consent of King,” which was later shortened to “FUCK.” This story is hard to document, but has persisted in oral and literary traditions for many years; however, it has been demonstrated to be an urban legend.

So, folks who hesitate using it can put this story in their self defense and be proud of themselves.

Take 2- Some of these urban legends are that the word fuck came from an Irish law. If a couple were caught committing adultery, they would be punished “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge In the Nude,” with “FUCKIN” written on the stocks above them to denote the crime.

Take 3- A similar variant as take 2 on this theory involves the recording by church clerks of the crime of “Forbidden Use of Carnal Knowledge.”

I better should stop deviating from my topic and leave you to explore on your own. Without a doubt, this word has got some power, and I believe you all will explore when you are all alone. Now in today’s life we use FUCK! to demonstrate the obvious meaning, to demonstrate excitement, to demonstrate anger, to demonstrate happiness, to use it as a code, to show burden or anticipation, to express fear, to do everything almost!!! So much so, that people would be comfortable using it as the last word if we were on a mission of erasing out words for ever. What we never realize is that what it leads us to. We stop using the words which were created specifically to demonstrate purposes which FUCK serves for us and we defend ourselves saying that “Life is simple! Don’t complicate it.” Here is a look at things the way they are heading http://reallifeglobal.com/how-use-word-fuck/

It is pretty clear that there were specific words so many of which our grand parents knew in all languages and we are all losing it. It is a jewel that we are just letting slip away and one of the last things which we should not at all let a spider like modernity to prey upon. At least Darwin would be proud of us!

Urdu was just an example and nobody gave me any threat or luring, not even that senior of mine though, I am pretty sure he would love to threaten me! Using Urdu words in our day-to-day conversations might look like a fad. But if you dig the meaning of these words, you will definitely fall in love with the language. Each word is laced with such poetry that it would put a smile on your face. Eloquent, yet ineffable. I would just cite some common examples from whatever little is coming spontaneously based on an article I read somewhere and memorized it sort of! ‘Noor — Radiance’ (Ever try using it on a girl and see how the magic occurs. Definitely, she must be able to understand it), ‘Ruhaniyat — Soulfulness’, ‘Taabiir — Interpretation’, ‘Lehja — Pronunciation’, ‘Nawaazish — Generosity’, ‘Mayassar — Available’, ‘Ba-Dastoor — Unaltered’, ‘Inaayat — Blessing’ (what a beauty!), ‘Justajoo — Longing’ (Most of you have heard it if you listen to hindi songs), ‘Muntazir — Awaiting’, ‘Khwabeeza — dreamy’, ‘Iztiraar — Restlessness’, ‘Aabshaar — Waterfall’, ‘Riwaayat — Tradition’, ‘Raqs — Dance’, ‘Waabastaa — Related to’, ‘Mukhtalif — Different’, ‘Sifar — Nothingness’ (Wait! That’s the name of an Indian band), ‘Musalsal — Constant’, ‘Vasl — Passion’, ‘Seher — Morning’, ‘Aafreen — Alluring’, ‘Qurbat — Closeness’, ‘Moutza — Miracle’, ‘Nazakat — Delicateness’, ‘Uns — Love’, ‘Aaftaab-Sun’ (Definitely it’s long but pleasing to the ears). I can go on and on but I must stop at some point. I apologize for the wrong spelling anywhere which went unnoticed because the pronunciation changes the entire meaning in Urdu.

This is the story of all the ancient languages. I must honestly admit that I myself end up believing that I use same words over and over again and always hide that guilt inside of losing out on words which I myself am to blame for!

I will leave you to think yourself for whatever I have tried to communicate. I shall end with a shayari which is one of the things, I love about this language.

Wo mohabbat-mohabbat likhte rahe
Hum mehnat-mehnat padhte rahe
Nukte ke her-pher se ‘khuda’ ‘juda’ ho gaya.

In urdu dots(.) or Nukta play a very important role and merely a change in posiiton changes the entire meaning. The above shayari (a form of Urdu poetry) means- He kept on writing love( mohabbat) and I kept on reading it as effort(mehnat). Because of one dot, God(khuda) turned to separation(juda).(The Urdu of khuda nd juda are exactly the same except for th placement of one nukta and see you have already started understanding it)