Hamida Banu Chopra is passionate about Urdu language and literature and has been teaching it for over 30 years. She has been a lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley and taught at various places around the San Francisco Bay Area, including the India Community Center in Milpitas. Most recently, she has been a visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Gandhinagar in Gujrat, India.
Over the years, she has taught a broad variety of people from all walks of life. Her students have ranged from artists to engineers, teenagers to parents to grandparents, from native Hindi/Urdu speakers to ones not familiar with the sounds of the Indian sub-continent. Her courses include Urdu Language classes as well as Urdu Poetry and Literature, both for beginners and advanced students. She has been reciting poetry since she was a child. Her mother taught her how to recite in her school days, and Urdu poetry has been an integral part of Hamida’s life ever since. She has been invited to recite in many events, both large and small, in the United States and India.
For the past two decades, Hamida Banu Chopra has held poetry recitals in the San Francisco Bay Area, known as Gulistan-e-Nazm and Yaad-e-Raftgan, where audiences have come to enjoy, learn and be exposed to selected Urdu poems and learn about the life and works of the great poets. The Chiragh-e-Urdu website is her brainchild where people can learn Urdu, listen to poetry, enjoy MeHfils, read articles, etc. She feels strongly that the beautiful Urdu language, its writings, and its culture should be preserved, spread, and promoted throughout the world.
Abstracts of the Lectures
The Origin and Evolution of Urdu Language
This lecture will survey the origin, history, and evolution of the Urdu language, with a focus on its relation to other Indian languages. It will also provide a brief review of the influence of Urdu on society and our lives, introducing us to a diverse and colorful culture.
Ghazal, Nazm and Rubāī: The Beautiful Development of Urdu Literature
This lecture will take a focused look at the development of poetry and prose in Urdu literature, providing a brief overview of different genres like ghazal, nazm, and rubaiyat. The talk will also highlight some contributions of the Urdu poets and writers to society, along with some poetry recitations.