Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Introducing Urdu word of the week - Post 1


It's a new theme I'm introducing to this blog which I'm really excited about! I'm aware that many Pakistanis out there have little grasp of the Urdu language even though it's the national language for Pakistan. Many speak Punjabi, Mirpuri, Sindhi...etc and many are living abroad with little interaction with Urdu speakers. (Non-Pakistanis can learn too!) So, I'm going to be adding a new Urdu word to the blog every week (hopefully) with the English meaning for readers to increase their vocabulary. You never know, you might be off spouting Urdu to your Mum, now won't she be pleased!

بے تمیذ
adj.
silly, unmannerly

وہ بے تمیذ ہے
He/she is silly
transliteration:
woh be-tameez hai


(Yes, I know it's a weird word to be starting with but it was all done in total randomness!) Please feel free to provide any feedback for this theme. You can even introduce your own Urdu words or even make up sentences with the above word and blog about them on your own blog. Remember to post your links.


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Remembering our shaheed .. 6


I'm posting more announcements of our shaheed (martyred) who are fighting for our country, our people and our freedom. See my previous posts here, here
, here, here and here.

Friday January 8th 2010

'One soldier lost his life while two suspected terrorists were apprehended during the ongoing military operation in South Waziristan in the last twenty four hours.' (Dawn)


Note: I can only provide you with names if I find them in the news articles I browse. If you think something needs correcting, please do leave me a message. I try my best.


We should all pray for these men and their families and recognise their courage and sacrifice for their country.

Are you related to a soldier? Do you have memories of a loved one dying? Do you have a message for the soldiers fighting? Leave me a comment.

When cousins marry..



Within the South Asian community cousin marriages are a norm and as such figures show that 55% of British Pakistanis are married to their first cousins. It's a tradition that is being upheld even in the UK as most parents decide their children will find better partners in their own country. The bond between two families becomes even greater once a marriage takes place that binds them both.

However, there has been much debate about the repurcussions of marrying cousins. Genetics play a role in determining a person's chances of suffering from certain conditions so if two people who carry a recessive gene reproduce, their children have one in four chance of having the disorder and one in two chance of being a carrier themselves. In the Pakistani community, cases like these are rare but still higher than expected. The Born in Bradford study is hoping to provide statistical data by keeping track of 10,000 children born in Bradford to identify rare genetic conditions and further investigate consanguineous marriages. Experts advocate better genetic screening for those involved.


Here are some questions to ponder on..


How many people do you know who are married to their cousins? Let's start with the family. Are your parents cousins? Are your grandparents cousins? Were your great grandparents cousins?
Is the norm changing? Are we marrying from outside the family? Will we get our children married to someone from outside the family?
What are your views?

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

This is our war


I was considering sharing this song on My Pakistani Ancestry for some time but never got round to it. Now, after reading a blog post by Bushra Hassan on The Citizen's Trust, it made me think about the war in Pakistan and the effects of that on ordinary lives. Go read her post "This is my war" and listen to the following song:



Artists: Haroon, Ali Haider, Ali Zafar, Shafqat, Strings, Shuja Haider and Hadiqa Kiyani

For those who need a translation of the lyrics:

Ye Hum Nahin
This is not us

Humare naam se pheli hui jhooti kahani hai
This story that is being spread in our names is a lie

Ye mohrein maut ki maathe pe ghairon ki nishani hai
These stamps of death on our forehead are the signs of others

Humain jis naam se tum jaante ho.. woh hum nahin
The name by which you know us - we are not that

Humain jis aankh se tum dehkte ho.. woh hum nahin
The eyes with which you look at us - we are not that

Ye hum nahin, ye hum nahin, ye hum nahin, ye hum nahin
This is not us - this is not us...

Jese shaam aate hi koyi rasta bhula bethe
As with the coming of night one loses one's way

Andheron se darhein itna ke hum ghar hi jala bethe
We are scared of the dark so much that we are burning our own home

Ye kya chaaron taraf urti hui rigani hai
What is this rising all around us...

Humare naam se pheli hui jhooti kahani hai
The stories that are being spread in our names are lies

Ye hum nahin, ye hum nahin, ye hum nahin, ye hum nahin
This is not us - this is not us...

Ghira bethe hain raste main sabak hum saath rehne ka
We have lost on the way the lesson of living together

Humain ek doosre se isiliye bhi lag raha hai darh
We are now even scared of each other

Woh koyi aur hain jin ke tere haath main chehre hain
They are others whose faces are on your hands

Tumhara dukh samandar hai, humare zakham gehre hain
Your sadness is a deep sea - our wounds are deep

Humare naam se pheli hui jhooti kahani hai
The stories that are being spread in our names are lies

Ye hum nahin, ye hum nahin, ye hum nahin, ye hum nahin
This is not us - this is not us...

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This is the message we would like to protray to the world. That the bombings, the bloodshed, the killings are not what we are about. It's not what we condone or endorse.

Ye hum nahi
This is not us..