Would you believe that from now on, you don’t need your father’s tablet, your mother’s mobile phone, or your brother’s laptop to listen to your favourite nursery rhymes? Yes, these nursery rhymes are now available in the market, in the form of Gluco Kahani — Urdu Nazmein, which you can always keep with yourself.

Just a year back, there were hardly any songs in the national language for kids, who were memorising English nursery rhymes from YouTube. Everything changed when one of the leading biscuit brands collaborated with a music genius, and nine Urdu songs for kids came into being.

Penned by renowned singer and musician Bilal Maqsood, all these nursery rhymes became a rage at the time of their release and were even performed in some schools by children.

With millions of views and hits on YouTube, the people behind the songs were ‘forced’ to bring out these nursery rhymes in book shape. The credit for the success of these songs goes to Bilal Maqsood, who belongs to a generation that grew up listening to music composer Sohail Rana’s hits Daak Babu, Chacha Ne Guriya Bheji, Helicopter, etc. The former Strings member came up with an idea, which not only made the bond with Urdu stronger, but also brought kids closer to something their parents enjoyed when they were young.

In the shape of a book, with colourful pictures of animals, this book is appealing to all since Bilal Maqsood mesmerises kids just like the Pied Piper of Hamelin did in the fairy tale. With his ‘magic of music’, he influences kids with his creative and meaningful words and hits the bull’s eye when he addresses them through animals. The easy-to-understand words in these rhymes not only help build the vocabulary for you and your friends, but also teach you about friendship, counting numbers, being the first in helping others, and dancing to words like Ta Ta Thayya.

In an age, where you and your friends watch animated series like Princess Holly and Jake the Neverland Pirate, a book where characters are Geeli Geeli Machli, Pinjray Main Chirya, Ek Khurgosh, and Bholay Bhalu Bhayya would bring you close to your culture and national language. And this will also make the bedtime story sessions more enjoyable.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 18th, 2023