In Old Delhi's bustling heart, Indian bookseller Mohammed Mahfooz Alam sits forlorn in his mostly empty store, among the last remaining that still sell literature in a language beloved by poets for centuries. Urdu, spoken by millions, has a rich past that reflects how cultures melded to forge India's complex history. But its literary offerings are now struggling against the cultural domination of Hindi, as well as the false perception that its Perso-Arabic script makes it a foreign import.
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00:00There used to be hundreds of books published in a year, and they used to come only when they were being sold.
00:14Now that they are not being sold, they are not coming.
00:16In those days, it was called the Urdu market.
00:20All the shops were selling Urdu books.
00:30There was a loss because the Urdu language was forced upon the Muslims.
00:58It is not just the Muslims, everyone speaks Urdu.
01:02If you go to a village, you will find people speaking Urdu there too.
01:08Either they are using their native language, or they are speaking Urdu.
01:28Now there is a market for food.
01:30We have been sitting here since morning.
01:32We have hardly eaten anything.
01:34The boys from the schools and colleges who need books come here.
01:39Or they come for novels.
01:41They are still being read.
01:43The Urdu novels.
01:45People read fiction.
01:48Especially women.