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Once Upon A Time when I was ashamed of myself


It happened a few months ago when I was attending a training session for the job I had newly got. There were 3 Americans, 1 English, 1 Austrian and of course 1 Indian (me) attending the session. The task was to write down the names of all the things that we could find in the room we were sitting in, in our mother tongue. Sounded easy enough at first, but led to extreme embarrassment when I could name just 17 and everyone else in the room came up with 70 in a minute’s time.
I always took pride in the fact that my English was good. But what a slap in the face it was, when for the life in me, I couldn’t figure out what we called a table in Tamil! While recuperating from the serious damage caused by this incident I began thinking…
Most people associate culture and history with India. It is incredible that we have so many different religions, traditions and values. And not to forget the multitude of languages. I have often heard that what scientists in the west discovered years later was already mentioned in the Vedas. “Our Vedas”. Then why is it that we don’t appreciate it?
Indians have this remarkable quality of blending in to any background and that is why we have so many people that do us proud in every part of the world. But while we try to fit in are we forgetting our roots? It is undoubted that you have to change with time but I don’t think it needs to be at the cost of your individuality.
Easier said than done right? Imagine I start calling a telephone “tolaipesi” (in Tamil). For one I would be inside a dictionary half the time (looking for the right word) and secondly I would be the laughing stock and maybe counted as deranged. All I am saying is that while we learn German, Spanish, English, or French we take equal interest in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam or choose from the many Indian options available to us.
Think of a world where everyone speaks just one language, everyone exclusively wears jeans and drinks only cola. A little less colourful than I’d like it! Maybe I am going a little overboard but is it enough to just preserve monuments. By disregarding the role played by language are we inadvertently letting our culture perish?



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Comments

sumeet said…
Well written Radhika..Have thought along the same lines without answers to the questions you have come up with in your blog.. Hope your new job is going very well..
May 25, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Renuka Arun said…
Good thought Radhika
Did you start working?Congratz about it
May 25, 2011 at 9:01 PM
Pramodh said…
Short dissent; one need not be that proficient in a language, even if it happens to be one's mother tongue, unless he is a professional linguistic user viz. teacher, journalist etc. If u know how to flex the tongue in any fashion with your mother tongue with our burning it, it will surely suffice. But the outburst clearly shows your passion with your language. I do appreciate that. 'Thirukkural' is something I heard one speaker discussing in a workshop a few weeks back. Tamil is such an awesome language which is far wider spread and deep in its roots. It's certainly the best among your assets. Well written.
May 25, 2011 at 9:06 PM
Unknown said…
@Sumeet: Thanks man and the job is going good
@Renuka: Yes I have started to works. Thank you
@Promodh: Thank you for your thoughts chetta. Its good to get another point of you!
May 26, 2011 at 8:02 AM
jay said…
How true Radu.....Like you mentioned, we indian blend very well with other cultures we give our 100% to be one with where we are...so much so that we even forget our culture...or are ready to give up our culture...So much variety in culture, religion, language, clothing, cuisines....but how many of us are aware of the customs of our neighboring states...Do we even make an effort to educate ourselves?....Other nations are better off that way, they speak one language, follow one religion, wear the same kind of clothes....Guess that brings in more unity....Wish we could learn to appreciate and value the abundance in our country...at least we would stop misusing it....

Love your blog as always!!!
May 26, 2011 at 5:40 PM
anna said…
Nh...if you start using words like 'tolapesi' nobody is going to understand you anyway. The whole point of 'language' is to communicate and be understood.
May 26, 2011 at 6:28 PM
Unknown said…
@Anna: That's exactly my point babe.Many of us don't know what things are called in our own language. It is for communication and there is no harm in using any language your comfy in. But we tend to miss out on so many things that our languages have to offer if we ignore them.

@Athai: I know athai i wish it were that simple :)
May 27, 2011 at 12:02 AM
paru said…
Very nice Radhika. It is true. I too feel ashamed sometimes when I can't get the right tamil word. I also feel very guilty when my children do not speak tamil well. As if I have failed in my duty as a mother.
April 2, 2012 at 9:53 AM
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