Why speak Urdu? For the Pakistani diaspora in Houston, Texas, life without this language is perfectly imaginable, so why do some people still want to hold on to it? In this episode, I try to create a portrait of what Urdu looks, feels and sounds like for the Pakistani diaspora in Houston, Texas.

Growing up in Pakistan, Urdu was always an inseparable part of my life: I would tease my friends at school in Urdu, I would talk to my family only in Urdu, I would watch movies at the cinema in Urdu, I would go to the tandoor and say "Uncle, do mandray naan!" [Uncle, two soft Naans!] in Urdu.

In Texas, where Urdu isn't needed to do any of those things, what is the Pakistani community's relationship with the language? I sat down with Shahid Iqbal, Maliha Qureshi and Rameez Qureshi to learn more. You can read more about the interviewees on the podcast website here.

Muhammad Ammar is a multidisciplinary artist from Pakistan, who is currently studying Politics and Theatre at Bennington College, Vermont. The fieldwork for this podcast was conducted in December 2021 and January 2022 as part of a Social Justice Education Internship for the Nobis Project. The sound was designed in Dr. Senem Pirler's Advanced Projects in Sound Practices course in Spring 2022. This project was generously funded by the Newman and Cox Public Action Fellowship.