The Multi- lingual Seminar organized by Maha- Keraleeyam as part of its programme of felicitation of O.N.V. held a mirror upto all the ironies in our lives as Indians. The theme of the seminar was : ‘ Drying Regional Languages And The Challenges Confronting The Indian Cultural Identity.’ Papers were presented by eminent people from five regional language organizations - The Karnataka Sangha , Mumbai , The Marathi Abhyas Kendra , The Bombay Tamil Sangam, The Andhra Mahasabha, Mumbai and Maha Keraleeyam.
In multilingual Mumbai, the papers had to be in the one & only link language, English. An irony that we will be living with for all time to come. All the speakers, except one, bowed to ‘this inevitable compromise’ as O.N.V. himself did in his concluding speech. Only the Tamil Sangam President, Prof. Jayakanteepan read his paper in Tamil. Arumaiyana Tamil for those who could follow it. But worse than Greek & Latin to the rest ! President of the Andhra Mahasabha , A. Mallikarjun Reddy,on the other hand , showed that a solution is possible if Indians have the will, by speaking in all 5 languages plus English.
English has always been with us ever since the famous Macaulay’s Minutes. But despite the dominance of English in the 19 and early 20 th centuries English language & literature actually nourished writing in regional languages. This was a point made by the Malayalam poet and spokesperson Sri. K.S .Menon . O.N.V. himself amplified it.
The IT revolution and globalization have changed the equations drastically. English language has become, as Prof.Deepak Pawar,of the Marathi Abhyas
Kendra put it , the default tool of cultural globalization. Besides being the vehicle of the culture of a people, language has an economic and political aspect. Now these aspects alone seem to matter for the aam janta and the sarkar. Both Prof. Pawar & Dr. Prakash Parab of MAK stressed the need to offer economic incentives to people, Marathi-speaking or not, who take the trouble to learn Marathi. Mr. Rammohan Khanapurkar spoke of technological solutions which can make the IT revolution more inclusive. He blamed the State Govt. for not aggrsseively implementing Unicode which is the standard encoding for Indian Languages Computing. Dr. Gurunath D. Joshi , President of the Karnataka Sangha, Mumbai also opined that the Karnataka govt. should persuade the soft ware companies to develop all the technical infrastructure.
Next to English, Hindi is seen as another carnivore in the Indian language jungle. Bollywood has made Hindi so delectable. And the various Central Govt. iniatives in popularizing it have really worked well. Thus a big area of our mindspace or tongue space is cornered by either or both these languages in the metros and even the interiors.
How does O.N.V. view the language/ culture scene ? He expressed deep respect and gratitude to the English language which had thrown open the windows to the intellectual ideological treasure houses of the West, including Marxism. Quoting Arnold Toynbee, he said the most effective weapon that the British wielded was an unseen weapon . It was the English language. But the subdued people acquired that missile and used it against the Empire. The poet’s advice was to treat English as an honoured guest. Entertain it as you would a guest, in the drawing room and dining room. But don’t take it to the bedroom !
The fears of the death of our languages and the emergence of a boring , uniform culture are not unjustified. But I find certain counter forces emerging which can see to the flourishing of local cultures and languages. These Samajams, Sangams and Kendras are themselves a hopeful sign. I
spoke about the oral tradition through which I acquired the beautiful poetic fragments of my mother tongue as well as of Sanskrit. Oral tradition of the tech kind is being established by the cassette industry now. One of the three youngsters who recited O.N.V.’s poems had learned ‘ Amma Vilikkunnu’ from the cassette.
The regional channels with their music reality shows and poetry recitation contests are attracting the youth towards their linguistic traditions. The cinema is another force which can keep the linguistic communities connected. Some parents are , with a will, passing on their love of the mother tongue to the children. Ancient rites and rituals like the ‘ Athirathram ’ in Panjal, the popularity of Poorams , Vedies , Melas and the fesivals seem to promise the survival of some cultural diversity .
Published in City Journal on Monday 11th April, 2011
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