Fading literature: Delhi’s famed Urdu Bazaar on last legs

NEW DELHI: In the bustling heart of Old Delhi, Indian bookseller Mohammed Mahfooz Alam sits forlorn in his quiet store, among the last few selling literature in a language beloved by poets for centuries.

Urdu, spoken by many millions today, has a rich past that reflects how cultures melded to forge India´s complex history. But its literature has been subsumed by the cultural domination of Hindi, struggling against false perceptions that its elegant Perso-Arabic script makes it a foreign import and a language of Muslims in the Hindu-majority nation. “There was a time when, in a year, we would see 100 books being published,” said 52-year-old Alam, lamenting the loss of the language and its readership.

The narrow streets of Urdu Bazaar, in the shadow of the 400-year-old Jama Masjid mosque, were once the core of the city´s Urdu literary community, a centre of printing, publishing and writing.

Today, streets once crowded with Urdu bookstores abuzz with scholars debating literature are now thick with the aroma of sizzling kebabs from the restaurants that have replaced them. Only half a dozen bookstores are left. “Now, there are no takers,” Alam said, waving at the streets outside. “It is now a food market.”

Urdu, one of the 22 languages enshrined under India´s constitution, is the mother tongue of at least 50 million people in the world´s most populous country. Millions more speak it, as well as in neighbouring Pakistan. But while Urdu is largely understood by speakers of India´s most popular language Hindi, their scripts are entirely different.

Alam says he can see Urdu literature dying “day by day”. The Maktaba Jamia bookshop he manages opened a century ago. Alam took over its running this year driven by his love for the language.

“I have been sitting since morning, and barely four people have come,” he said gloomily. “And even those were college or school-going children who want their study books.” Urdu, sharing Hindi´s roots and mingled with words from Persian and Arabic, emerged as a hybrid speech between those who came to India through trade and conquest -- and the people they settled down amongst.