Narrative: When we first learned English we associated the word that as an opposite to this. “that apple”, “that toy”, “that man”, anything that was not “this.” It indicated something or someone that was somewhat away from where you were. Simple, till now. But the...
When I first enrolled as a student in Zabaan, the name suggested Urdu to me, all the way. I did not even think any other Indian languages were taught at Zabaan. I was astonished to find out much later that Urdu was only a small part of the offerings of this amazing school.
In this blog Rakesh Saraf talks about the challenges he faced while learning how to read and write Urdu. “Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning. And the Hebrews learn it backwards, which is absolutely frightening.” I remember these...
In this blog Rakesh Saraf talks about the benefits of continuing learning well into one’s silver years. I was 67 years old when I looked at my collection of old Urdu literature, with prints from the 1920s onwards, once again in despair. Was I going to the...
Mr Rakesh Saraf shares his experience of learning Urdu with Zabaan. My father was a scholar in Urdu amongst his other interests in life. When he passed away early in 2009, he left me many books. Amongst them was a veritable treasure trove of Urdu literature, including...