Currently Learning

When R was creating the new look for the blog, I asked him to incorporate a space where I could stack whatever I was doing/learning/watching at a given point of time. That gave birth to the ‘Currently Savouring’ section on the Who’s this girl, page. At the time, I wanted to motivate myself to learn something as I was brushing up my French on Duolingo. The idea was to say, Currently Learning – French.

However, I stopped using Duolingo actively, and Currently Learning is not yet up on the section. Instead, there is a mention of the books I’m reading and the show I am watching. But, I have started learning how to read Urdu and even write it. It all started with a book titled Dozakhnama by Rabisankar Bal. A colleague mentioned that it is a great book to read if you’re a Ghalib/Manto fan. I ordered it on Clapshare and here I was waiting to be blown away by yesterday literature. The snag came when I saw that all the shers in the book were written in the Urdu script and had English transliteration. There wasn’t a single one in the Roman script, but in Urdu, if you know what I mean. Honestly, it just took the fun away from reading the book.

So, instead of asking dad to pitch in to read a sher every time I came to it, I decided to learn the language myself. It helps that I can read Arabic. Although the script for Arabic and Urdu is the same, there are no additional sound syllables in Urdu (like the matras in Devanagiri) if that’s what they’re called. That is what has always made Urdu difficult for me to read. But dad has come to the rescue. I now have books in which I can practice writing Urdu letters and a 1st std and 2nd std Urdu text book. The writing had been going great so far. And I have also started reading a couple of things here and there. All in all, it’s quite exciting. I think this is going to be such a massive and beneficial investment, after all.

And come to think of it, the books only cost 167 rupees.