Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Syed Nasir Khursheed speaking at the Izhaar Urdu Talk Masters event, which had Urdu language as its theme, said, “Urdu is a sweet language and its essence can be felt by those who speak it.”

He further said, Urdu is not just a language but it also represents civilization and culture as one of the poet described Urdu as “Woh Urdu Ka Musafir hai Yahi Pehchaan hai Uski, Jahan Se Bhi Guzarta hai Saleeqa Chodh Jaata hai”.

The Izhaar Urdu Talk Masters, an Urdu Toastmasters club in Jeddah from the Area 34 of Division H of District 79 of Saudi Arabia, held its 85th meeting recently. Abdul Sami, president of the club, welcomed all members.

The event began with members presenting their projects. Hanif, a new member in his second project, spoke on “success in migration”. He was evaluated by Mukarram.

Mirza Qudrat Nawaz Baig presented his third project and spoke about the importance of Palliative Care. He was evaluated by Mohammed Aslam Afghani.

Parvez Khan presented his fourth project and spoke about the benefits of comfort zone. He was evaluated by Mohammed Arshad.

In the table topics session, Afghani, the host of the session invited different members and guests to present their take. Syed Mukarram spoke on “Journey with Izhar Urdu Club”, Abdul Rahman spoke on “Importance and role of Urdu language in media”, Mir Mahmood Ali spoke on “Role of Urdu language in the Kingdom” and Shoebuddin spoke on “Ideas to promote Urdu language in Youth”.

The general evaluator for all the sessions was Sami. The grammarian and error counter (Aah counter) of the evening was Abdul Rahman M. Baig. The timekeeper and vote counter of the different sessions was Shoebuddin.

Ali, in his first appearance at the Urdu Toastmasters club, said, “It was nice to see a gathering of members of the Toastmasters which reflects love of the community toward Urdu.” He promised to bring in more members, adding, “Due to my busy schedule I was not able to attend previous sessions, but from now onwards will spare time to attend.”

Afghani, in his speech said, “Izhaar Urdu is the first Urdu toastmasters club in the world which was started with the efforts of our President Mohammed Abdul Sami. We are striving hard to promote Urdu language.”

The program concluded with the announcement of the winners by Shoebuddin. Best table topic speaker award was given to Hanif, while best speaker for spontaneous topics session was given to Shoebuddin and the best evaluator was given to Afghani. Sami proposed the vote of thanks.