The Beauty of Urdu

Lessons were in conversation rather than a lecture. Text was enhanced by context. Alam introduced my grandfather to the nuances of Urdu. "As the prophet said, wit is to speech as salt is to food."...."You cannot understand or speak Urdu without wit. Not laughter, wit. A belly laugh is too coarse for our language. Wit is the smile of an equal. Even repartees must never be unkind, for rancor is foreign to the spirit of Urdu. You may pierce your opponent's defenses, but you cannot wound him; it is a duel with blunted rapiers.".... When my grandfather heard he was going to get lessons in guttural, palatal, dental and labial enunciations, he decided he had had enough.

Excerpt from M.J.Akbar's Blood Brothers.