The Urdu Academy Delhi conducts a one-year certificate course in Urdu for non-Urdu speaking people free of cost every year, writes Andy Singh on the Aman ki Asha Facebook group. “I also learnt Urdu same way in 2005-06 and it's conducted by excellent teachers. Anyone desirous of joining this year can contact at address in pic.”
“If I can learn Urdu, anyone can. Moreover methodology matters. The aim here is to make you able to read and write in a year by some of the best scholars. You won’t feel for once that you are attending a class,” he added. When some Pakistani members of the Facebook Group responded that they would like to learn Hindi, others informed them of options, like lessons at various mandirs (temples) as well as learning centres like Punjab University.
“The Hindi department of Punjab University offers basic language courses and language diploma,” said blogger Shiraz Hassan, who studied there and runs a Hindi-Urdu website.
Speculations are afoot that the Indian and Pakistani Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Nawaz Sharif may meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on September 24 this year, particularly given the movement on the diplomatic front.
Sharif’s special envoy Shahryar Khan recently visited Delhi to pay his respects and a team of Indian officials visited Lahore to talk to Pakistan's energy ministry about the possibility of reviving the sale of 500 Mw of electricity from Punjab to Pakistani Punjab. Both initiatives were well received.
“Consider the breathtaking nature of the Pakistani suggestion,” writes Indian journalist Jyoti Malhotra. “To connect the Punjab electricity grid to a town in Pakistan's Punjab will be to reverse nearly seven decades of animosity that has divided the two peoples. For the first time since 1947, the two grids will be joined together, if only very partially.”
“It is also the perfect win-win solution for both countries, as Pakistan has already said it will buy the 500 Mw of power that is on offer from India.”
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