NODES TO NOTE
By: Bavani Pillai
Tags: Urdu, Language, Passion Project, Volunteer Management, Community Engagement

SPOTLIGHT ISSUE, 22 DECEMBER 2019

Zarminae Ansari — Joy of Urdu

Founder/Architect of Joy of Urdu, Zarminae. Joy of Urdu is a bilingual organization that aims to facilitate and enable the revitalisation of the Urdu language. It is a Pakistan based non profit organization that has 13 chapters across the world and counting!

What’s in a language?

Language has always been intrinsic to the expression of culture. It has the power to band people together with their identity and social groupings. To Zarminae Ansari, the founder of Joy of Urdu, the reason for setting up Joy of Urdu was simple and very personal. In the various roles that she has played — a student, a journalist, cultural tourism consultant and architect, and expatriate spouse — she constantly finds herself in the midst of different nationalities and cultures that are “foreign”. Canada, Boston, London, Houston, Abu Dhabi, Moscow, Paris and now Dubai, her footprints in the cities that she has lived in are as scattered as the chapters of Joy of Urdu. Urdu was the bridge that brought her back to her childhood and became more significant when she saw that her son was growing up without as many opportunities to engage with the language. Language doesn’t contain just words. It contains stories of your childhood, of your ancestors and of poetry, music, arts, and culture that are passed down over generations. The lack of material and platforms available not just for children, but also for any adults wanting to engage with the language propelled her to take on this seemingly mammoth task. If it wasn’t there, she was going to create it!

An article that was published in The News, March 19th, 2017.

This is bigger than me

“I really have always thought of it as a project that is bigger than myself. This is not my baby at all. I am only responsible for it. I feel accountable to the project, not the other way around…”

Zarminae lives and breathes Joy of Urdu. When the idea came to her and she started to ideate and document her vision for the project, there were very few people that she confided in about this. Her excitement for the project was rather muted by her ongoing professional and personal commitments, coupled with the fear of being able to devote herself completely to seeing it through. One of her biggest supporters was a friend and human rights activist, Sabeen Mahmud. She had told Zarminae to get the project off the ground and assured her of her support right before she was tragically assassinated in Pakistan. Her untimely death crystallised Zarminae’s resolution to single-mindedly pursue Joy of Urdu, as working on her bucket list project also meant honouring her dear friend’s support and memory.

(To read more about Sabeen Mahmud and her legacy: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-life-and-death-of-sabeen-mahmud)

While her previous professional experiences in different fields may seem varied on the surface, she reflects on how every task and project she had led and was entrusted with (regardless of the discipline) — like starting her own consultancy, teaching and creating curriculum for architecture courses at Karachi University — were all just preparing her for the multiple hats she now wears as founder of Joy of Urdu.

“Because I have had exposure to all these things I can do what I love to do now.”

It’s all about the relationships you form

Being a node for more chapters than one can count with both hands, while coordinating across different time zones through mainly online platforms can be a real challenge. And yet, Joy of Urdu seems to have organically expanded and boasts spirited volunteers who take ownership of the project and be willing to see it through different phases.

When asked about how she views volunteer management (especially retention of good volunteers!), she remarked that the relationships between people matter more to her than the perceived loyalty to the project.

“People will move on and they will be apologetic about it, sometimes I help them move on and it sometimes hurts me or hurts Joy or Urdu…but that’s ok. They also know I am sincere to them. And we develop that relationship where they can always come back when they are ready to volunteer. At the end of the day, it’s about the integrity and sincerity about why you’re doing what you’re doing. You are investing in people.”

At the end of it all, she is realistic about her expectations from volunteers. People commit to causes for various reasons and stick with it for as long as it remains beneficial for them. The benefits might be tangible and include wanting connections to gain opportunities that the networks in Joy of Urdu might offer or it might be intangible and include gaining a sense of belonging to a growing network of like-minded people. Whatever the motivations might be, Zarminae goes back to her ethos; that the project is larger than its people.

“Sometimes, people might say volunteers are coming in to suit their own agendas, and my response it — let them do it. Why can’t both our purposes be fulfilled through this platform? It doesn’t have to be one or the other…I believe that Joy of Urdu is it’s own entity, it is using me and using them.”

The Pursuit of Expression event at The Fridge, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai (Summer 2019). Joy of Urdu’s bilingual poetry performance in dialog with Eastern classical music, & flautist Haider Rahman.

This photograph was captured at the event which was my introduction to Joy of Urdu’s existence in Dubai. I sat amongst the audience (and looking around there was a sizeable group of people who did not understand the language, like me) and was thoroughly engaged with the performance of poetry in both Urdu and English. I remember walking away thinking I wish I knew the language to better appreciate the nuances that translation could never deliver. Such is the beauty of language, and its ability to transcend borders, nationalities and even cognitive comprehension. You feel its essence in your heart.

My chat with Zarminae allowed me to gain a better understanding of her essence that is translated into running of Joy of Urdu. There is conviction, generosity of spirit, and a genuine passion for the project that encompasses the work through her and her group of volunteers across the world.

“Luckily, I am a bit mad that way: I am very single-minded when I am driven. If you have a roadmap and you know that something is achievable and you have confidence in its achievability and your ability to do it, then you know it is going to happen.”

Nodes to Note is a platform that houses the stories of people who have gone beyond themselves to create and inspire communities. Follow for monthly issues of interviews with people who understand the power of collective and are living their passion and purpose!