<p> It was wrong to term non-Hindi languages as regional and Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali and others were also national languages, noted poet and lyricist Gulzar today said.<br /><br />"It is wrong to term non-Hindi languages as regional. They are major languages of the country. Tamil is a classical language, and also a major language. And so are Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali and others," he told PTI.<br /><br />He was speaking on the sidelines of Bengaluru Poetry Festival 2017, organised by 'Atta Galatta', a bookstore here.<br /><br />The Padma Bhushan awardee also pitched for introduction of literary works including those of Kalidasa in the syllabus of Indian colleges along with English literary works.<br /><br />"If in colleges, works like "Paradise Lost" can be taught, why cannot Kalidasa, Yudhistir and Draupadi be taught? These works are closer to our culture, which everybody across India can understand," said.<br />Gulzar, however, said he was not against Shakespeare's works being taught in colleges, though.<br /><br />"One must read Shakespeare. I have read it and enjoyed it. We should read it," he added.<br />In the same breath, Gulzar said works of modern writers like Saadat Hasan Manto should also be taught in colleges.<br /><br />Gulzar said India had achieved political independence, but not cultural independence.<br />"We have got political independence, no doubt, but not cultural independence. We are not free from the colonial mindset," he said.<br /><br />Gulzar rued that poets too at times made the mistake of living in fragments by overlooking some of the incidents happening around them.<br /><br />"I was saddened when Neil Armstrong died, for nobody in India wrote about him. To me, he was the symbol of humanity. I did write a poem. It is sad that we make a mistake of living in fragments, because we find it easy," he said.<br /><br />He also said poetry was genuinely a statement of poets and they stood by it.<br />"I also wrote on Dr Kalburgi, who was shot dead in Dharwad, though we belonged to different geographical locations and wrote in different languages. I reacted to the incident and made my statement through poetry. Basically, poetry is nothing but a statement of a poet," he said</p>
<p> It was wrong to term non-Hindi languages as regional and Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali and others were also national languages, noted poet and lyricist Gulzar today said.<br /><br />"It is wrong to term non-Hindi languages as regional. They are major languages of the country. Tamil is a classical language, and also a major language. And so are Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali and others," he told PTI.<br /><br />He was speaking on the sidelines of Bengaluru Poetry Festival 2017, organised by 'Atta Galatta', a bookstore here.<br /><br />The Padma Bhushan awardee also pitched for introduction of literary works including those of Kalidasa in the syllabus of Indian colleges along with English literary works.<br /><br />"If in colleges, works like "Paradise Lost" can be taught, why cannot Kalidasa, Yudhistir and Draupadi be taught? These works are closer to our culture, which everybody across India can understand," said.<br />Gulzar, however, said he was not against Shakespeare's works being taught in colleges, though.<br /><br />"One must read Shakespeare. I have read it and enjoyed it. We should read it," he added.<br />In the same breath, Gulzar said works of modern writers like Saadat Hasan Manto should also be taught in colleges.<br /><br />Gulzar said India had achieved political independence, but not cultural independence.<br />"We have got political independence, no doubt, but not cultural independence. We are not free from the colonial mindset," he said.<br /><br />Gulzar rued that poets too at times made the mistake of living in fragments by overlooking some of the incidents happening around them.<br /><br />"I was saddened when Neil Armstrong died, for nobody in India wrote about him. To me, he was the symbol of humanity. I did write a poem. It is sad that we make a mistake of living in fragments, because we find it easy," he said.<br /><br />He also said poetry was genuinely a statement of poets and they stood by it.<br />"I also wrote on Dr Kalburgi, who was shot dead in Dharwad, though we belonged to different geographical locations and wrote in different languages. I reacted to the incident and made my statement through poetry. Basically, poetry is nothing but a statement of a poet," he said</p>