 Urdu hai jes ka naam, Hami jaanthe hai dag, Sare jaha me dhoom. Hundreds of dialects, numerous cultures, and several religions. India is, and always has been, a multi-dimensional pluralistic identity. And this pluralism thrives on common ground. Urdu is that common ground. It's not just a language, but a syncretic culture nurtured over centuries. Urdu is a grand language, and lives in the hearts of Indians, a language in which poetry came before prose. The story of Urdu in modern times is the story of modern India. Born in the early 16th century in and around Delhi, Urdu is a modern Indian language that today thrives globally. The cultural melting pot that is India gives its ever-new flavours. It grows with the refinement of adab and tahizid, or sophisticated culture, carries forward the qadeel, or tradition, and constantly experiments with the jadeed, or new. After partition, Urdu became a co-traveller in independent India's journey of progress. Praising Urdu in his last letter, Mahatma Gandhi wrote, and I quote, Those who will learn it will lose nothing but gain. Urdu flared as the language of the people of Hindustan in the latter part of the 20th century. It expressed gamayjana, personal angst, and gamaydhora, the problems of the times, with equal finesse. The 80s saw resurrection of the ghazal as a sign of sophisticated culture. It revived an interest in Urdu, even while its script was largely disappearing from the mainstream. But then Urdu was not bound by its script any longer. Widespread computerization in the 90s enabled Urdu to join the infotech superhighway. There was a new feeling of responsibility towards this beautiful language. It expanded as a medium to express every modern thought, for learning all disciplines, from the sciences to the arts. Retaining its traditional lyricism, Urdu takes on new forms, adds new words and even adopts new scripts, as it remains the language spoken across the Indian heartland. Urdu belongs to and is the pride of a pluralistic, multi-dimensional nation. Its interstate character makes it an all-India language. Urdu is a language that manifests itself in every aspect of our daily life, contributes to it and enriches it. Though born in army camps, it is fulfilling an extraordinary destiny today, as a language of peace, as a language of love.