A Thought For Marathi Divas

Aavadto maj aphaat saagar, athaang Paani Nile, Nilya Jambhalya Jalaat Keshar Mavaltila Mile. (The vast stretch of unfathomably deep ocean mesmerizes me with the dash of saffron that its purple –blue waters have at dusk), wrote late V.V.Shirwadkar, popularly known as ’Kusumagraj’, one of the finest poet-laureates that Maharashtra has ever produced. The lines have stayed with me since I read the poem in my Marathi text book. I was in seventh standard then.  Kusumagraj was deeply concerned about the state of neglect that Marathi lies in which was evident from his speech he made as the President of ‘Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan’. I can vividly recall how he reiterated that far from being hostile to English he felt all Indians were indebted to the language for opening the doors of new thoughts to them and while Marathi was his mother, English was his maternal aunt (maternal aunts have special place in Maharashtrian culture) but it was high time now that the aunt handed over the household keys to the mother amidst thundering applause.  It is thus a fitting tribute to this great laureate that 27^th February, the laureates birth anniversary, is celebrated as ‘Marathi Divas’.

            A few years back Maharashtra Navanirman Sena Chief Raj Thackeray bitterly criticized the Bachan’s for their alleged reluctance to learn Marathi. The media, properly speaking non- Marathi media came down heavily on Raj Thackeray for the criticism but the fact remains that Marathi is the state language of Maharashtra and there are clear constitutional provisions for safeguarding the cultural interests of the natives (that includes linguistic interests) even in preference to the other interests in that particular state. But the question is whether the position of Marathi as a state language can be strengthened by forcing the Bachan’s to learn Marathi or by thrusting it down the throats of the ‘outsiders’? Certainly not.

            Amruta Khanvilkar is a model turned actress who won the final round of marathi reality dance show ‘Ekapeksha Ek’ hosted and judged by none other than Sachin Pilgaonkar. From the very beginning of the show Amruta declared that she could not speak in Marathi and both the spectators and judges did not seem to have any qualms about it! If the Marathi speaking lot has no qualms about a Marathi girl vividly declaring her inability to converse in Marathi then they have no right whatsoever to pull up outsiders for their ignorance!

            Marathi is a highly evolved language yet todays marathi hosts can be seen opting for general English words like ‘friends’ in preference to more specific words which provide them with a wide range of options like ‘rasikaho’ (dear appreciators), rasik-prekshakaho’,( dear appreciating spectators) rasik-shroteho’,(dear appreciating audiences) rasik- mitraho’,( dear appreciative friends)‘ prekshakaho’( dear spectators), ‘shroteho’ (dear audiences)  mitraho’ (dear friends) while hosting Marathi programmes! The reality is Marathi as a language suffers not due to the reluctance of non Maharashtrian’s to speak in Marathi as much as due to the reluctance of Maharashtrian’s to speak in Marathi!

            Language is just a medium of communication and therefore the standard of the speaker is not determined by what language he speaks but by what he speaks in that language. And therefore the content or the messages that the language carries or is used to carry determines the status of the speaker. And it is the culture of the person which determines what messages he or she will relay. Therefore, it is far more important to conserve ones cultural identity than to conserve ones linguistic identity. Infact, people who have safeguarded their cultural identity are found to be far more progressive in comparison to those who have made compromises. The overwhelming successes of Dawoodi Bohra’s, Parsee’s and South Indians can be attributed to their ability to fiercely safeguard their cultural identities. The success of Peoples Republic of China is not due to their acceptance of English or their ability to ape the West but due to their ability safeguard their cultural identity!

            Sant Dnyaneshwar is considered to be the father of Marathi literature. However, the proofs of existence and usage of Marathi date back to the era of Swami Chakradhar, a Saint from Gujarat and founder of Mahanubhav Sect, who hailed Marathi as ‘ Deva- Vaani’ or ‘ The Sacred Language’ and ‘ Maharashtra’ as ‘ Mahant Rashtra’ or ‘ The Nation of the Greats’ ( Mahant means Great). But frankly speaking can we call todays Maharashtra as ‘The Nation of the Greats’ as Swami Chakradhar did? Maharashtra has indeed been the birth place of many a great men and women. However, the exhaustive list of the great personalities that Maharashtra has gifted not only to the country, world but to humanity abruptly ends with the name of Dr Prakash Amte. Why has there not been a single great personality, barring Sachin Tendulkar, born in Maharashtra whose achievements could match those of his predecessors? The answer is ‘unprecedented erosion of cultural values’! The overwhelming popularity of Nationalist Congress Party Chief Sharad Pawar can be attributed to his profound knowledge about the cultural fabric of Maharashtra and the same can be said about the proficiency of late Smita Patil as a successful news reader, a photographer, a writer besides being one of the finest actress to grace the Indian Cinema. Smita Patil’s sister Manya too is an acclaimed painter and the entire credit for their successes in their respective fields goes to the cultural environment of Shivajirao Patil’s household. The successes of Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni, Sandeep Kulkarni, Atul Kulkarni and Milind Gunaji also goes to their cultural backgrounds, properly speaking Marathi literary backgrounds. The overwhelming musical successes of Mangeshkar’s is also attributed to their cultural identities whereas more than successes it is the on and  off field disciplines of Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar that are a direct outcome of their being groomed in a culturally rich environment ! It is the ability of late Prabodhankar Thackeray to safeguard the cultural environment in his family that produced a powerful orator cum cartoonist cum politician like late Bal Thackeray who took it further to produce a worthy Photographer like Uddhav Thackeray.

            Sadly while today’s parents aspire to give their child the very best, more than often they forget to give him the much needed cultural identity. Let’s not forget that language will just decide how you communicate while culture will decide what you communicate! So while we give wings of modernism to our forthcoming generations so that they may scale new unscaled heights, hopefully we remember to give them a lasting reserve of the inexhaustible fuel of our cultural values as well!

Sincere wishes for Marathi Divas!

                                             

                                               -Bhushan Kumarsen Sarmalkar (JAI), Mumbai 27th February 2015. 

.....You Said It Sir!

When R. K. Laxman passed away politicians tweeted to mourn the loss, laid wreaths and even promised a memorial, all this, I am sure, fearing that he may someday change his mind and return and worse take up pen and paper and take a dig at them! There isn’t much information about how he traveled – by rocket? By train? or by bus? I am sure he should have traveled by train or bus – after all he belonged to the common man! Couldn’t  have traveled by rocket though since he is quite sure he has left behind a breed of motivated cartoonists (I know atleast one – Manjul (DNA) who does a prolific job) who wouldn’t think twice before they take on their icon for taking rocket – after all gasoline is so expensive and Laxman had pulled up the Finance Ministers who raised petrol and diesel prices. And yeah some one told me on social media that they are jubilant up there in heaven to welcome their new guest but am not quite sure about how much happy they really are up there to welcome some one who is a keen observer and habitual in taking a dig at things and deciphering them to be presented as they are and not as they seem. I should not be least surprised then if a deluxe suite is being readied to accommodate him all spruced up with silk and satin but sans paper and pen! And with that kind of a place to live in I shouldn’t be the least surprised if the heavens fail to hold him back for a long!

             Laxman served the nation goading its machinery to the right paths whenever it consciously or subconsciously wandered into the forbidden alleys and secured the interests of the people properly speaking ‘the common man’. The issues he poked at were predominantly price hikes , properly speaking petrol price hikes, malnutrition, pathetic health facilities in short he always stressed the pathos of the common man. Unlike popular perception he was more into social satire than political one but when it came to one he didn’t mince his words, sorry, strokes and took on his close associate Bal Thackeray or Maratha Strongman Sharad Pawar or for that matter Mrs Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi when the two were at the helm of their power! Rabindranath Tagore had once remarked that a nation is known by the creative works that it produces not by the facilities it provides. In a liberal nation founded on equality and justice such works are important to maintain, nourish and take it to the next level. We have seen it in case of United States of America and The United Kingdoms and so every artist is an asset of a liberal set up and artists fiercely devoted to their causes like Laxman are true jewels in their crowns.

            I would prefer to live as an ordinary citizen in free India remarked Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Not that he was trying to be diplomatic or to sound modest but probably because he wanted the younger generation to take up the task of taking the nation to the helms of successes with fierce patriotism and pure sincerity. R. K. Laxman was one of those few who did precisely that!

                                             -  Bhushan Sarmalkar(JAI), Mumbai, 29^th January 2015.

I beg to differ, Sir!

Recently a bizarre incidence was reported – A teenager was arrested for killing and eating his neighbour’s pet Labrador in Suburban Mumbai! Worse still it wasn’t the first dog he had eaten nor was it that he had eaten only dogs, cats had been on his menu as well and worse the dog meat was actually meant to be consumed raw but thanks to his unimpressed taste buds that the meat eventually landed in a cauldron! And if that was not all he wasn’t the only one who relished eating dogs and cats but actually shared his taste for dog and cat meat with others all driven by one common passion – to do something different ! While the discovery made the pet owner sick, it enraged many who branded then juveniles as ‘Cannibals in the making’ and ‘a potential threat to human lives’!

Of late there have been several disturbing trends amongst the youth, properly speaking adolescents that are triggered by one passion – to be different! There have been instances of juveniles taking to eating bread with iodex for spread, sniffing whiteners, keeping   venomous snakes as pets and God knows what all  and all this for one thing – to be different! The incidences are shocking but actually they should be alarming. Are the juveniles today going through a severe identity crisis that they are desperately trying to chalk out one for themselves in such a bizarre way? Are they a victim of negligence and abuse at home? In any case we have to understand that these are results or consequences and are indicative of the bitter truth that something terribly wrong in our methods of discharging our duties towards our children! And therefore, punishing the youth isn’t the solution. Isolating them and treating them as criminals would be worse and may have disastrous results. People in Vietnam relish dog meat and people who go on safari try out scores of unusual meats from snakes and crocodiles to  elephants, tiger and civets but haven’t yet graduated to cannibalism, so why are we inferring so here in Mumbai and pushing the young minds to believe they are abnormal and potential criminals worse cannibals? The issue is undoubtedly bizarre and alarming but needs to be tackled with great deal of sensitivity. What’s more important is to retrieve and rehabilitate and reform a misguided person or to punish him and push him to a point of no return? The real issues that we need to address is that one - our youth are a misguided lot going through a low self-esteem and a severe identity crisis and suffering badly at the hands of parental negligence. Two, there’s a strong natural will /energy to do things and that needs to be channelized. Three, we have to stop ostracizing those whose energies have gushed into wrong corridors and revive, retrieve and reform them. Four, we need great teachers and great counselor’s and for that we need one to respect the teaching profession stop treating them as house maids, pay them well for they too have families to feed. Five we need to draw lines between need and greed and stop running about like mad dogs and be sure to spend some quality time each day with family. Who knows one of these juveniles who has taken to dog eating may just have had the potential to be an inventor it’s just that his dad failed to take a note for he had no time ! The essence of both the things is same – a burning desire to do something that’s different except for the fact that in the former case it is misguided and destructive and in later case it is guided and constructive! All we need to do is divert the energies!!

- Bhushan Sarmalkar (JAI), Mumbai, 22 January 2015.

‘REDISCOVERING THE SPIRIT OF TEACHERS DAY’

    It has indeed been a great honour for Indians to have some outstanding personalities as the Presidents of the Indian Republic. Among all the Presidents of India till date, some remarkably outstanding names stand taller, notably Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalaam, Dr. K. R. Narayanan, Dr. R. Venkatraman, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and Dr.Radhakrishnan. Of these,Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalaam, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan’s popularity as outstanding academicians is far greater than as the Heads of State. Dr.Kalaam pursued his passion of encouraging and inspiring youth by addressing them and always finding time to talk to them even during his tenure as the President of India! He went as far as making them review their orthodox notions about ‘ dream’ and redefined it for them as ‘one which gives you sleepless nights and not as the one which appears when you are fast asleep at night’ thereby waking up an entire generation to an altogether  new thought  that spilled out incredible and amazing Indians in hundreds! Dr.Radhakrishnan, the first Vice President and the second President of India, a Philosopher, through his works bridged the gaps between the east and the west for which he was knighted and it was little wonder then that when he was elected to the highest Office, his friends and students requested his permission to celebrate 5^th September, his birthday, as teacher’s day.

    But surprisingly, the person to whom I am dedicating this teachers day to, is neither an academician nor an Indian! He is a Prince turned sportsman whose passion for sport won him Gold at Olympics! The person we are talking about is Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum, belonging to the ruling family of Dubai and a Gold Medalist at 2004 Athens Olympics in Men's  Double Trap Shooting event! In 2004 Sheikh Ahmed not only won UAE’s first Olympic Gold but also it’s only Gold Medal at Olympics! In one of the competitions, so overwhelming was his performance that a young man all of twenty walked upto him requesting his help to realize his dream to win an Olympic Gold. Convinced of the young man’s resolve to realize his dream Sheikh invited him to Dubai where his sporting skills and abilities would be tested before making any commitments. When the young man flew to Dubai, his skills and abilities were found to be perfect. In due course of time not only would the Sheikh discover that the young man was not only a mere farm help but also someone who had lost funding to his passion and now a waiter but also respond to this shocking discovery with nobility - firstly by waving off his coaching expenses and secondly by  doing away with the formalities in return for one condition – the man would do anything and everything he would be asked to unquestioningly and with full faith and devotion failing which he would lose the Sheikhs guidance! Such was the commitment of the young man to his game that he readily accepted without giving it a second thought! And the result – the young man, Peter Robert Russel Wilson, a farm help from Dorset, U.K, whom Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum took under his wings in 2009, realized his dream of winning Olympic Gold at 2012 London Olympics in the same Men’s Double Trap event scoring 188 out of 200 points, just one point below Sheikhs 2004 Olympic score of 189/200! An emotionally charged Peter Wilson remarked that his relation with Sheikh would forever remain as it was on the day they first met! But the greater credit goes to Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum who went through a range of emotions for the young man as his erred in his finals before he finally struck gold and yet benevolently gave the entire credit for the success to Peter Wilson’s dedication, discipline and perseverance!!

    It inarguably takes more than just a good human being to see some one else’s dream through his eyes and devote himself to see him achieve it and it assumes all the more significance when except for the passion there isn’t anything in common to be shared whether it is  religion,race, nationality, language, culture or rank!!

    Imagine an Arab Shooter Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum sharing his Gold winning shooting secret with a British Peter Wilson, inspiring a Sachin Tedulkar or Sunil Gavaskar to share their cricketing secrets with youth from terror stricken Kashmir or Afghanistan or a Saina Nehwal or a Mary Kom sharing their skills with women from male dominated societies like that of Haryana or Iran and present sport as a medium of liberalization  Or a Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt sharing their grappling skills with the sturdy Gadwali youth from difficult terrains of Garhwal or Kumaon regions or with the wrestlers from Varanasi and Kolhapur to provide the much needed professional touch! But then why should the spirit be confined to sports alone? Imagine this spirit being inculcated in every possible aspect of social life helping people to discover themselves, their hidden talents and the world to wake up to an entirely new breed of artists, academicians, and leaders who would live by the same spirit of handing over the baton to the most worthy successor without any bias or prejudices before they have called it a day!

     Is there a better contender to whom this Teachers day could be dedicated other than Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum? I guess not!As the missile man of India and former President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalaam puts it ‘Any child’s best role models after his parents are his teachers’ - I see no better way to celebrate this teacher’s day than to dedicate it to the spirit of Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum!

Happy teacher’s day!

                               - Bhushan Kumarsen Sarmalkar (JAI)

Mumbai, 05.09.2014.

Excellent !!!

    It has indeed been a great honour for Indians to have some outstanding personalities as the Presidents of the Indian Republic. Among all the Presidents of India till date, some remarkably outstanding names stand taller, notably Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalaam, Dr. K. R. Narayanan, Dr. R. Venkatraman, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and Dr.Radhakrishnan. Of these,Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalaam, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan’s popularity as outstanding academicians is far greater than as the Heads of State. Dr.Kalaam pursued his passion of encouraging and inspiring youth by addressing them and always finding time to talk to them even during his tenure as the President of India! He went as far as making them review their orthodox notions about ‘ dream’ and redefined it for them as ‘one which gives you sleepless nights and not as the one which appears when you are fast asleep at night’ thereby waking up an entire generation to an altogether  new thought  that spilled out incredible and amazing Indians in hundreds! Dr.Radhakrishnan, the first Vice President and the second President of India, a Philosopher, through his works bridged the gaps between the east and the west for which he was knighted and it was little wonder then that when he was elected to the highest Office, his friends and students requested his permission to celebrate 5^th September, his birthday, as teacher’s day.

    But surprisingly, the person to whom I am dedicating this teachers day to, is neither an academician nor an Indian! He is a Prince turned sportsman whose passion for sport won him Gold at Olympics! The person we are talking about is Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum, belonging to the ruling family of Dubai and a Gold Medalist at 2004 Athens Olympics in Men's  Double Trap Shooting event! In 2004 Sheikh Ahmed not only won UAE’s first Olympic Gold but also it’s only Gold Medal at Olympics! In one of the competitions, so overwhelming was his performance that a young man all of twenty walked upto him requesting his help to realize his dream to win an Olympic Gold. Convinced of the young man’s resolve to realize his dream Sheikh invited him to Dubai where his sporting skills and abilities would be tested before making any commitments. When the young man flew to Dubai, his skills and abilities were found to be perfect. In due course of time not only would the Sheikh discover that the young man was not only a mere farm help but also someone who had lost funding to his passion and now a waiter but also respond to this shocking discovery with nobility - firstly by waving off his coaching expenses and secondly by  doing away with the formalities in return for one condition – the man would do anything and everything he would be asked to unquestioningly and with full faith and devotion failing which he would lose the Sheikhs guidance! Such was the commitment of the young man to his game that he readily accepted without giving it a second thought! And the result – the young man, Peter Robert Russel Wilson, a farm help from Dorset, U.K, whom Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum took under his wings in 2009, realized his dream of winning Olympic Gold at 2012 London Olympics in the same Men’s Double Trap event scoring 188 out of 200 points, just one point below Sheikhs 2004 Olympic score of 189/200! An emotionally charged Peter Wilson remarked that his relation with Sheikh would forever remain as it was on the day they first met! But the greater credit goes to Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum who went through a range of emotions for the young man as his erred in his finals before he finally struck gold and yet benevolently gave the entire credit for the success to Peter Wilson’s dedication, discipline and perseverance!!

    It inarguably takes more than just a good human being to see some one else’s dream through his eyes and devote himself to see him achieve it and it assumes all the more significance when except for the passion there isn’t anything in common to be shared whether it is  religion,race, nationality, language, culture or rank!!

    Imagine an Arab Shooter Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum sharing his Gold winning shooting secret with a British Peter Wilson, inspiring a Sachin Tedulkar or Sunil Gavaskar to share their cricketing secrets with youth from terror stricken Kashmir or Afghanistan or a Saina Nehwal or a Mary Kom sharing their skills with women from male dominated societies like that of Haryana or Iran and present sport as a medium of liberalization  Or a Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt sharing their grappling skills with the sturdy Gadwali youth from difficult terrains of Garhwal or Kumaon regions or with the wrestlers from Varanasi and Kolhapur to provide the much needed professional touch! But then why should the spirit be confined to sports alone? Imagine this spirit being inculcated in every possible aspect of social life helping people to discover themselves, their hidden talents and the world to wake up to an entirely new breed of artists, academicians, and leaders who would live by the same spirit of handing over the baton to the most worthy successor without any bias or prejudices before they have called it a day!

     Is there a better contender to whom this Teachers day could be dedicated other than Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum? I guess not!As the missile man of India and former President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalaam puts it ‘Any child’s best role models after his parents are his teachers’ - I see no better way to celebrate this teacher’s day than to dedicate it to the spirit of Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum!

Happy teacher’s day!

                               - Bhushan Kumarsen Sarmalkar (JAI)

Mumbai, 05.09.2014.

Go – bindaas ?

“Does this boy look 12?” asks a prominent daily displaying photo of a collapsing Govinda who definitely is not 12! I say its a wrong caption. A correct one should be “Does this boy have concerned parents?” Its a sad thing that the Supreme Court of India had to intervene in a matter that was domain of adults or more aptly speaking parents to ensure the safety of minors. What possibly could be the purpose of having a Dahi Handi at such an enormous height? One – adventure, two –culture. Let’s consider the first option – adventure. Every adventure sport has a definite purpose or correctly speaking every traditional adventure sport has a definite and a well defined purpose. It is so atleast in India. In Maharashtra for example traditionally played sports be it Kusti, be it mallakhamb or be it dand patta all were aimed to keep the youth ever ready for warfare. And therefore it is not surprising there are legends of warriors or adventure sportsmen continuing to be associated with the sport either directly or indirectly till his very end despite an injury or an accident. Not only this, it would not be surprising to find his siblings or offsprings embracing the same without protest from family members – even women! Does Dahi Handi evoke that kind of feelings? Can an injured be expected to participate in future events with same zest or the parents of those deceased Govindas his siblings to carry forward what has been increasingly touted as cultural baton? The answer is obvious. This not because of the dangers involved but because the entire exercise lacks the purpose and much needed conviction. Culturally speaking Dahi Handi was a pure fun where friends in a locality got together on Janmashtami collected money shopped for earthern pot, rope, cucumbers, fruits, garlands etc., tied it at a decent height in a muddy ground cleared of all stones and other dangerous things likely to cause injury in the event of a fall. It would take a 3-4 tier pyramid to break the Handi that would be broken by noon. Today the event seems to have got all the glitz and glamour but at the cost of its essence of simplicity and togetherness which used to be the soul of the event. Today’s Dahi Handi seems to be driven more by glitterati and money. We dragged Dahi Handi from muddy grounds to busy road junctions and overloaded it with cash prizes and smothered the true spirit of Dahi Handi.

Dahi Handi commemorates the childhood exploits of Lord Krishna who as a child broke into houses with friends and stole butter from pots hung from ceiling by forming human pyramids that would be needless to say two or three tiers tall. So where does the cultural aspect of forming an 8 tier human pyramid come from? The butter stealing acts of Lord Krishna have two explanations – 1. He being aware of his being divine incarnation did not want his maturity to rob his foster mother Yashoda of the pleasures of raising a child. 2. It symbolized Lord Krishna breaking into the minds of people and robbing them of their hearts.

In the present case are the Govindas giving their parents pleasures of raising children or nightmares? In the view of the two fatal accidents wherein two minors lost their lives while practising for Dahi Handi, the Honourable Supreme Court India clearly demarcated the age limit for ones participation in such risky sport leaving the height and the number of tiers untouched. It could have easily been obeyed and should have been obeyed. There wasn’t any need to be rebellious and flaunt the orders of the SC. Even if some politicians did it there wasn’t any need for the Govinda troupes to be part and parcel of this rebellion. They should have respected the court orders and boycotted such rebellious politicians since it is this very Supreme Court who have time and again intervened and come to the rescue of the common man like in Priyanka Matto and Jessica Lal case. Lord Krishna when punished for his mischief by his foster mother Yashoda repected his confinement and seldom rebelled. Have our modern day Govindas instilled these values of Lord Krishna? After all isn’t it that it’s we who have to decide whether we are ‘Govindas’ or ‘Go- Bindaas’?

- Bhushan Sarmalkar (JAI) 19.08.2014

CULTURAL QUIRKS

“Don’t you think that you are holding back some one when you stress on his or her retaining the cultural identity by upholding his linguistic identity?” asks a family friend over a dinner conversation. I say “No” and nothing more. “Don’t you agree that English education is the need of our times and a gateway to a whole new world of opportunities that we would deny if we stress on education in a vernacular medium school?”  “Yes” I say, “But then who’s denying that? All that’s been stressed is retaining our cultural identity while we embark on the journey to keep ourselves abreast of the modern sentiments”.

I wonder how does retaining ones cultural identity and importantly speaking ones mother tongue  interfere with mission modernisation - properly speaking you ability to communicate(converse to be precise) in English? And how does one buy the theory that fluency in English, especially spoken, is a gateway to success? English came to be spoken in parts of world other than the United Kingdom during the colonial era. The purest or phonetically correct form of English is the Queens English spoken in United Kingdom. In terms of numbers it follows two major slangs – the American Slang and the Australian Slang. So the question is if the merit of a person is to be decided or preference is to be decided why would a British, an American or an Australian show interest in their linguistic colonial cousins?  In the East Indian community which gets it name for its members having been employed with the then East India Company, it is not surprising to find people who can fluently converse in English but lack the ability to  read and write! For generations these community  members have been employed with the East India Company as stewards, attendants, guards and porters and have picked up the language due to professional requirements but the question is  ‘ Has their ability to converse fluently in English induced what one may term as progress?’ - I guess we all know what the answer is! On the other hand we may consider the example of South Indians who aggressively guarded their cultural identity, retained their linguistic identity despite being largely employed with the British during the colonial era. We find them more successful or progressive.  Internationally, China has made great progress despite its inability and hesitancy to communicate in English. It won’t be fanatic to say here that China’s success can be primarily attributed to its retaining its cultural identity. And it won’t be an exaggeration to say that it’s this orthodoxy that helped china survive the recession not only survive but even to bail out some other nations as well!

Language will just decide how you communicate but culture will decide what you communicate! How true – had it not been so The British Parliament would have never invited Anna Hazare a non matriculate dhoti clad simpleton Gandhian who lacks the ability to speak in English to address the British Parliament! 

                                                                                                                       - Bhushan Sarmalkar (JAI)