language of the Pakistanis and many of the Indians who migrated to that country. In fact, Urdu (along with Hindi, which is a closely related language written in different characters) is a language spoken by most people in the Indian sub-continent, and their descendants in all parts of the world so that it is now the second important language in Great Britain. In terms of the number of people speaking it, Urdu and its Hindustani/Hindi analogues rank third after Chinese and English." As to the question "What's Gujarati9", the professors succinctly replied: "A very important Indian language which was, after all, the mother tongue of Gandhi, whose name should be familiar to a Harvard undergraduate." • The position of Urdu in India is full of contradictions, particularly when it comes to the question of official recognition and patronage. An item in Kitab-Numa (New Delhi, Nov 1986), informs us that the Fakhruddin All Ahmad Memorial Commission set up by the Government of Uttar Pradesh to honor the late President of India (who signed the declaration of Emergency for Mrs. Indira Gandhi), spent Rs.343,686 in August 86 to subsidise the publication of 73 Urdu books. The Commission, which was probably set up soon after Mrs. Gandhi's return to power in January 1980 , had by the end of 1986 spent Rs.2,840,311 to subsidise a total of 756 books. One can only hope there were at least 56 good books in that list. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas died of a heart attack on June 1, 1987. He was 74 He belonged to the family of Khwaja Altaf Husain Hall and began his literary career as a writer of "Progressive" short stories in Urdu but soon took to writing in English as well. He joined the Indian film industry in 1940 as a script writer and wrote a number of very popular films, including several major hits of Raj Kapoor's. In 1942 he produced and directed his own first film Dharti Ke Lal and went on to make many other low-budget, socially conscious films which brought him some critical fame but little money. His "Last Page" column for the English weekly Blitz was perhaps the longest running in Indian journalism. Dr. Syed Abdullah, the doyen of Urdu scholars of Pakistan, died in August 1986. For many years he had been the Principal of Oriental College, Lahore, and, after the death of Maulvi Abdul Haq, the chief Annual of Urdu Studies, #6 151