Hyderabad, June 29 -- Is Urdu all about poetry, ghazals, mushairas, Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz? To many people, the answer appears to be an emphatic yes. Urdu is often associated with lyrical verses, romantic couplets and soulful songs. The language comes alive in mushairas where audiences sway to every line and reward poets with thunderous applause. "Jahan Urdu, wahan shayeri," goes the popular saying.

But is poetry the only identity of Urdu? Can the language also become a vehicle for science, medicine, technology and modern knowledge? Dr Abid Moiz, physician, nutritionist, writer and scholar, believes it can. Through his prolific writings, he has consistently demonstrated that Urdu possesses the ability to communicate not merely emotions b...