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Jaswant`s latest taxing assignment: Urdu: The Indian Express
New Delhi, Oct 23: The neatly filled form, with the writing in bold black block letters, doesn`t stand out among the 10,000 applications received by the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu. Until you see the applicant`s name: Jaswant Singh, son of Sardar Singh. Born on 03.01.38.
New Delhi, Oct 23: The neatly filled form, with the writing in bold black block letters, doesn’t stand out among the 10,000 applications received by the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu. Until you see the applicant’s name: Jaswant Singh, son of Sardar Singh. Born on 03.01.38.
And the photograph dispels all doubts. The Union Finance Minister has enrolled in a one-year Urdu language course proving that, even at 65, you’re never too old learn something new.
Since this is a correspondence course, Singh won’t have to attend classes. But he’ll have to complete the assignments — oral and written — to qualify for the diploma at the end of the year.
The Delhi-based Council had run advertisements in the newspapers in April this year — like every other year — without really expecting such a high-profile applicant. ‘‘The form has been neatly filled up by hand with all the required information provided by him (Singh)’’, says Council Director M. Hamidullah Bhat. ‘‘The best part is that he applied for the course like every other student — as a common citizen. It was while scanning the forms that we discovered his application.’’
Singh has also duly paid, by demand draft, the requisite Rs 300 charged by the Council for the course, which apparently is a part of HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi’s efforts to popularise Urdu and bring it into the mainstream.
What has overwhelmed the Council apart from Singh’s application, and that of Esha Deol, Hema Malini’s daughter is the sheer volume of applications for the course, which proposes to teach the language through English or Hindi medium and gradually familiarise the students with the Urdu script. Interestingly, 60 p c of the applicants are not from the minority community. Many of these, like Deol, are actors/actresses looking to get their Urdu diction right.
And the photograph dispels all doubts. The Union Finance Minister has enrolled in a one-year Urdu language course proving that, even at 65, you’re never too old learn something new.
Since this is a correspondence course, Singh won’t have to attend classes. But he’ll have to complete the assignments — oral and written — to qualify for the diploma at the end of the year.
The Delhi-based Council had run advertisements in the newspapers in April this year — like every other year — without really expecting such a high-profile applicant. ‘‘The form has been neatly filled up by hand with all the required information provided by him (Singh)’’, says Council Director M. Hamidullah Bhat. ‘‘The best part is that he applied for the course like every other student — as a common citizen. It was while scanning the forms that we discovered his application.’’
Singh has also duly paid, by demand draft, the requisite Rs 300 charged by the Council for the course, which apparently is a part of HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi’s efforts to popularise Urdu and bring it into the mainstream.
What has overwhelmed the Council apart from Singh’s application, and that of Esha Deol, Hema Malini’s daughter is the sheer volume of applications for the course, which proposes to teach the language through English or Hindi medium and gradually familiarise the students with the Urdu script. Interestingly, 60 p c of the applicants are not from the minority community. Many of these, like Deol, are actors/actresses looking to get their Urdu diction right.