2. A short history of Urdu literature in English. Professors David Matthews and Christopher Shackle of the School of Oriental & African Studies are working on this project. 3. Urdu teaching material. Negotiations are afoot for the preparation and publication of Standard Urdu Teaching Material for those children whose mother tongue is not Urdu or who cannot read or write Urdu. This project has now received support from the Govt. of Pakistan. Mr. Ralph Russell, who has retired from the University of London, has been busy in related work for some time. 2. The columnist "Ariel" writing in Dawn (Overseas) (Oct. 14, 1982), brings to light a new role that "mushairas" can play in Urdu society. "Mushaira in London is more than a Mushaira--it is a socially useful gathering. The Mushaira enthusiasts come to know about one another*s families. It is at least helping many a Pakistani and Indian girl marry right boys. I came to know quite a few of them. When asked where the boy and girl met, the usual reply was: at the factory or a Mushaira." The rest of the column gives a detailed picture of the Urdu literary scene in London. 3. "Details of a phased five-year plan to complete the publication of the Urdu dictionary were unveiled here at the annual meeting of the Governors of the Urdu Dictionary Board. The UD's Board ofGovernors met under the chairmanship of the Federal Education Minister, Mr. Mohammad Ali Khan Hoti. "The 12-volume Urdu dictionary will be the most massive dictionary in any language of the world once its publication is completed, according to the Board. The first four volumes of the dictionary have already been published, while the fifth is at present being bound prior to its release in the market. The remaining seven volumes of the dictionary were ready to go to the printers, the draft manuscripts having been completed and revised. Each volume contains more than 1,000 pages. One unusual feature of the dictionary is that beside giving the relevant facts about the etymology of each entry (root of the word, etc.), in the majority of the cases the way of using the individual word is shown by quoting a verse couplet. The UDB spokesman said that no other dictionary--including the Oxford Dictionary—could match the Urdu dictionary for comprehensiveness and length once the project had been fully published by the close of the 1987 calendar year." From Dawn (Overseas), Oct. 28, 1982. 122