Tamizh Theriyuma ?? Or Tamil Teri Maa ??
My Besties in school were Bengalis who were born and brought up outside Bengal. Even their parents never stayed in Bengal. Studying in a convent school we conversed mostly in English but what was unadulterated was the fact that when these girls used to chat it was only Bengali that was the medium of conversation. Few of them moved to USA and Canada and even today if they do call, its me who says Hi ! How are you ? but the reply that pat comes is " AAmi Bhalo AAchi..Tumi Kemon AAchis??"( I am good, How about you? ) The fact that they moved out of Bengal and maybe even out of India never rendered any insecurity to their identity. It was not because they could not comprehend the new languages but it was about the pride that came with speaking mother tongue that is eventually getting passed on their children as well, being away from hometown.
Another dear friend is a Malayali based in SanJose. I have never heard her call her parents anything other than Amme or Acchan and her children continue to do so. Even though she grew up miles away from God's own country. She gives entire credit to her acchan and amma. Everytime I speak to her, I come to realise that I have never come across a Malayali who would call their mom and dad anything other than amme and acchan. No mummy or daddy.
A quick survey in Tamil Nadu, particularly in Chennai would reveal the false pride of mummiiee and daddiiee. In an entire conversation in Tamil, appa or amma alone would be referred to as daddy or mummy. Particularly among those with aspirational value, who enroll their kids in an English medium school, their kids calling them mummy and daddy is a matter of pride.
Love for Malayalam/Bengali/Marathi/Kannada/Telugu is so universal that they will not trade that for anything. Even if Hindi or any language is imposed on them they won't feel threatened and cite imposition as a death knell for their mother tongue. These languages will thrive and the coming generations will flaunt it with pride. Their pride is beyond politics and a classical status for their language. (I took these language examples only to elucidate.)
I was in Jamshedpur once for an event for in December 2001 attending an inter school conducted by Computer Society of India.The programme had participants from almost all the states. There were also participants from Kolkata who were Kolkata bred but had roots in different parts of India. A fellow participant from Assam conversed in Assamese with her counterpart from Delhi. Likewise one could hear Bengali and Tulu in full flow. But my Tamil counterpart born away from Tamil Nadu just like me,(knows Tamil) just refused to converse with me in Tamil. That's when I realized that Tamil dies every time a Tamilian himself/herself feels ashamed (or whatever) to speak in Tamil.
My parents chose Hindi as second language in school for me because it was a more coherent for us compared to Bengali. I shined in Hindi in class X . While I can read Hindi very well and manage a Telugu/Malayalam movie without subtitles,I cannot speak Tamil as a rich script,but as a conversational requirement only. It is different story that I learnt it at home and dcan barely manage teaching my son for his school version, I still remain half baked.
The choice of Sanskrit as an easier alternative continues till date. It gives nil to less pressure on the kids and it's easier to score high grades therefore kids can concentrate on core subjects like Math and Science. Yes language is always gravy by the side in the food of knowledge. Just another insignificant mandatory subject as its marks are not added for cut offs in most colleges. With this being the case does it really matter if it is Hindi or Pashtuni?
Hindi imposition is entirely about politics and ego. Politically, it is the fear of the usurper. Imagine a public rally addressed in Hindi without a translator and the crowd understanding and cheering just like they did for all the Dravidian leaders. Oh God. That is unimaginable. Let's keep our people safe from a conqueror through language. (Btw, please don't believe in this usurper theory....the 2019 verdict in Tamil Nadu would've been the same even if people knew Hindi.)
It was never about preserving and promoting the language. I'm proud that Tamil attained classical language status but in ground how has it benefited us all. Do we get special respect when we speak in the classical tongue? Do admission into premier institutes add weightage to those who have scored well in the classical language?
At the ego level, how can Hindi be allowed to dominate when there are 22 others on the same footing?
Keeping aside political and ego issues, we need to look at the ground reality even if it is bitter. Delhi is our capital and it is very difficult to survive without Hindi. In spite of protests, over the years Hindi has slowly but steadily spread its charm. Those states that protested against Hindi imposition along with Tamil Nadu, in my opinion have relaxed their stand....at least unofficially. That chaste Malayalam speaking midukkan and midukki would've definitely learnt to read and write Hindi. Friends in Hyderabad can fluently speak in Hindi and Telugu. Co -Incidentally Tamil Nadu sees the highest enrollments for Hindi Prachar Sabha Exams.
I maybe wrong in my observations and sound silly with my arguments. But a discourse is essential than a mere red flag. We can use language to unite. We can probably take tips from a multilingual country like Belgium and see how they've overcome the lack of a national language.
The last time I checked, we are still a democracy. When a state government uses that as a shield to stop Hindi imposition, it also needs to truly exercise that to find out what the people in the state really feel about Hindi imposition. Can we not have a poll on what the people in the state really need..... The last I struggled for is Thanner today and it doesn't matter if I called it Paani or Neelu, reality is I need it more than anything else today. The state and the juggernaut rhetoric needs to revisit their priorities definitely.
Saddened truth sandhya. But I wonder if we would ever come out of the myth and start our conversations in our mother tongue. Even if we, our peers wouldn't opt to respond to us
ReplyDeleteSaddened truth sandhya. But I wonder if we would ever come out of the myth and start our conversations in our mother tongue. Even if we, our peers wouldn't opt to respond to us
ReplyDeleteWell said. The true purpose of a language is to start a conversation and discourse. If it creates discord amongst people, it would be best to be silent. The best way to survive is adapt and the sooner the better. By learning a new language, we need not necessarily forget our mother tongue. Only parents need to inculcate this in a child.
ReplyDeleteThe irony of the situation is that we have embraced a foreign language with love than our National language. Many European countries have English as the second language.In the Evolving society , we are not ready to speak neither in our national language nor the mother tongue causing death- knell of both the languages. We are scripting history. When the entire parent fraternity is freaking about stress caused due to the number of languages his/ her child is imposed to learn, it is also worthwhile to note that a child's brain is very much compatible to learn multiple languages. Given that children does not have to study any language after 10th std(As per CBSE) , creates a vaccum such that children do not develop a flair for any language and do not opt for higher studies in literature thereby defeating the purpose of studying language in the school(which is a boon ( one need not be stressed) and a bane ). This is dirty politics and our politicians aka educationalists have not a made an effort to provide materials for higher education is equivalent to the ones available in English. Future might not churn out Thiruvalluvar and துளசி Das, but will at least need Ilayaraja and Vaali to script lyrics.
DeleteI regret to write this post in English as my writing skills are poor in both my mother tongue and the national language.
Wow! I liked it very much! I have a few friends down south of Tamilnadu further down from Madurai who taught me my first letters in Tamil, they are all very proud of their mother-tongue,and I feel very proud I learnt Tamil from them. But most of them of course are teaching their kids Hindi, they feel it comes in handy when relocations become unavoidable. For many a words in Malayalam when I ask for translation in Tamil in Chennai we get an English word as reply, but down south they will have a perfect Tamil word even for simple things like the giant wheel, and we are amazed by the beauty of the language, because in Malayalam there is no translation like that. Sandhya really proud of you for choosing to stand up for you mother-tongue.
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