Society speaks to Sanjiv Saraf the founder of Rehta on his efforts to revive the Urdu language
So effortlessly did Mirza Ghalib eternalise the elegance in it, as did Gulzar claim to be intoxicated by its utterances. It is here that the grace of a princess met with the intrigue of a courtesan, and paupers felt like princes when they heard the sound of it. Spoken unknowingly, lingering in our subconscious like a long lost love, Urdu is a language by which even the most mundane expressions become poignant. Smitten by the allure of this language, Sanjiv Saraf founded Rekhta, an online platform that archives the greatest works in Urdu by writers old and new.
Interestingly, Sanjiv is the Founder, Chairman and the principal shareholder of Polyplex Corporation Limited, which is among the world’s largest producers of PET films. But his first love, he claims, is Urdu, and he’s completely immersed in its revival through Rekhta since the last five years. “I attend quarterly meetings, get updates for Polyplex and I am on the Board, but in terms of my mind space, I’m totally devoted to Rekhta,” he says.
So, how did Rekhta take birth? “When I went online to look for stuff, it was very fragmented, incomplete, inaccurate, unreadable and inaccessible, especially for people who read in Devnagari and Roman. For them, there was a huge gap, as there was virtually close to nothing of any quality available online. So, I felt it would be nice to bridge that gap,” explains the man who truly believes in the beauty of the language and feels that it will be a shame if Urdu remained limited only to the traditionally Urdu reading population. And, just like it is impossible to conceal your first love, Sanjiv couldn’t contain the charm Urdu exuded just to himself. He felt a strong need to go out there and disseminate it, and the internet was of course the perfect platform.
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