“Mom, can you please buy me that G.I Joe toy?? Mom, please! Says a five-year-old boy to this mother. “No, beta. Not right now. I’ll buy it for you some other time,” says the mother to her son in the toy store of a mall and the conversation continues.
You walk into any store, mall or toyshop; this is the conversation that will normally greet you. Even when you walk down roads or streets, you will get to hear similar conversations. This conversation sounds perfectly normal, except for the fact that the parent is conversing with their child in English and not in their mother tongue.
Indian parents, nowadays, prefer to teach their children English rather than their mother tongue. In fact, the parents also prefer to speak to their children in English in their homes rather than in their mother tongues.
Soma Dutta, a housewife and the mother of a 6-year-old girl said, “I started talking to my daughter in English when she was one-year-old and now we only talk with her in English all the time. We decided to do this mainly because nowadays English is essential for studies as well as for jobs. If a person doesn’t know English properly then they won’t be able to get a good job and will fall behind others.” She added, “Besides if my child doesn’t know how to speak English properly, what will people think about us.”
In this respect, Soma Dutta is not the only one. There are many parents, like Soma who fear that if their children can’t speak English properly then they would not be considered as educated people. They also fear that if they don’t talk to their son or daughter in English in public then they wouldn’t be considered as ‘hep’ people too.
On the subject of the child learning their respective mother tongue, Soma Dutta said, “Milly [her daughter] can always learn bengali later. For now, she needs to know English so that she will not fall behind other children.”
This trend, however, is having adverse effects on some of the languages of India. There are many languages in India, like Konkani, Sanketi etc. that do not have a script of their own and are solely dependant on the speakers to carry it forward. Hence, when the children do not learn these script less languages, who will carry these languages forward to the next generation? These languages just might die out. It is not only the script-less languages, but also other Indian languages that are in danger of dying out. For instance, women invented the ancient Chinese language Nushu, so that they could have their own private linguistic space in a male-dominated chauvinistic China. Now, this particular language is on the verge of dying out as a 95-year-old may be the last alive in this world to know Nushu.
Ms. Neureen Aziz, English Proffessor of Jyoti Nivas College, Bangalore, said, “Parents emphasize more on the English language because they fear that if children do not know English then people would think that they illiterate. This particular way of thinking will definitely have adverse effects on mother tongues. Many of the languages just might die out. Another reason why this trend is growing is because of the growing number of nuclear families. Children do not have their grandparents around or any of their relatives from whom they can learn their mother tongue. Earlier, even if the parents would speak to their children in English, they would pick up their mother tongue from their grandparents and relatives.”
She also added, “What the parents don’t understand is that children in their infancy are like sponges. They can absorb anything even languages like a sponge. You don’t have to sit and teach languages to the children, they can easily learn the language by spending time with the person and listening to that person speak. It is for this reason that when a child spends a lot of time with neighbours who speak a different language, he or she easily picks it up.”
Ms. Neureen added that parents should just not teach their child English. They should teach them their respective mother tongue too. She also suggested that the Indian education system should start making it compulsory for students to learn and read writings in Indian literature, especially in the graduation level. She added that this would help to increase the awareness among the youth and also will help to preserve the language.
Anushree Ulpe, a 15-year-old student of Cambridge Public Bangalore, who has grown up speaking English at home said, “Its not that I don’t know my mother tongue. I just don’t have enough practice. I used to speak Konkani when my grand parents were around, but when they moved out, I lost touch with it.” on the subject of Konkani dying out, she said, “I am sure it will not die out. I know the language; I am not just fluent with it. When it is necessary I can speak in Konkani.”Anushree also said, “English is definitely more important to me. As it is I don’t speak to many of my relatives so I don’t need to know Konkani that much.”
To have or not to have a boyfriend!!!!!!
The other day I was sitting with my group of close friends in the college auditorium waiting for our prof to arrive, my friends were talking about their boyfriends and the ups and downs that they often face. I was quite throughout the conversation, but there was time when i couldn't hear what one of my friends had said so i had asked her to repeat. however, the reply that i had got from her was that you don't have a boyfriend and your also not engaged, what will you do listening to this. Yes, that's the reply that i got from my friend.
At that point of time, i was dumbstruck. I didnt know what to think or say. I jst reacted by saying that it wasn't funny. I might be overreacting a tad little bit but then all I know that it had hurt when she had said that and it just got me into thinking whether it was really necessary for anyone to have a boyfriend so that they could participate in one small and silly conversation.
I have also observed that when you have a boyfriend, your friends tend to treat you differently. people become more friendly with you, they share more with you. and to the ones who doesnt have a bf, they get treated like...ey!!! you dont have one! too bad!! your not one of us!!! its like this secret club in which only the ones who have a BF can enter and enjoy. the ones who don't have one...well, too bad. you just have to get one. I wonder sometimes isnt this supposed to be our personal choice.
I remember the time I joined my journo coll, and I remember the day all the students started pouring in. there was this particular group of girls who went around all the new kids- Do you have a boyfriend? in fact, that was the first question that they would pop to the students. I mean...I don't get the whole deal. Is it really necessary to have a boyfriend. i mean there is no big deal to it. either you have one or you dont. its not that your dating the King of England that everyone should know that you have a BF. What so special about having one. Everyone has one, and everyone will have one at one point of time. What is this whole madness about having one all about. Even I did, I don't have one now...but that's my personal choice. There are many things in life to worry about than worring about having a bf or not. its just too vain!! People are dying in the world due to hunger and starvation, think about that for a change. small children are not going to school and working their pants off so that they can help their poor family out, think about this too.
What matters the most that your friends should like you for who you are not whom your dating. you should be able to participate in any conversation that you want to. and BFs should not be a way of increasing your social standing amongst your friends. i dont negate that Bf's are an important part of our lives. but, that doesnt mean that i'll let them rule my life.
At that point of time, i was dumbstruck. I didnt know what to think or say. I jst reacted by saying that it wasn't funny. I might be overreacting a tad little bit but then all I know that it had hurt when she had said that and it just got me into thinking whether it was really necessary for anyone to have a boyfriend so that they could participate in one small and silly conversation.
I have also observed that when you have a boyfriend, your friends tend to treat you differently. people become more friendly with you, they share more with you. and to the ones who doesnt have a bf, they get treated like...ey!!! you dont have one! too bad!! your not one of us!!! its like this secret club in which only the ones who have a BF can enter and enjoy. the ones who don't have one...well, too bad. you just have to get one. I wonder sometimes isnt this supposed to be our personal choice.
I remember the time I joined my journo coll, and I remember the day all the students started pouring in. there was this particular group of girls who went around all the new kids- Do you have a boyfriend? in fact, that was the first question that they would pop to the students. I mean...I don't get the whole deal. Is it really necessary to have a boyfriend. i mean there is no big deal to it. either you have one or you dont. its not that your dating the King of England that everyone should know that you have a BF. What so special about having one. Everyone has one, and everyone will have one at one point of time. What is this whole madness about having one all about. Even I did, I don't have one now...but that's my personal choice. There are many things in life to worry about than worring about having a bf or not. its just too vain!! People are dying in the world due to hunger and starvation, think about that for a change. small children are not going to school and working their pants off so that they can help their poor family out, think about this too.
What matters the most that your friends should like you for who you are not whom your dating. you should be able to participate in any conversation that you want to. and BFs should not be a way of increasing your social standing amongst your friends. i dont negate that Bf's are an important part of our lives. but, that doesnt mean that i'll let them rule my life.
What do u do when the person you trusted the most in your life, betrays you?
what do u do when the person you love deeply, leaves you?
what do u do when the people you think are your friends, dont care about you?
what do you do when your heart is torn out of you?
what do you do to relieve yourself of the life crunching pain that you feel?
what do you do when all you can feel is loneliness, pain and sadness?
what do you do??.....................
what do u do when the person you love deeply, leaves you?
what do u do when the people you think are your friends, dont care about you?
what do you do when your heart is torn out of you?
what do you do to relieve yourself of the life crunching pain that you feel?
what do you do when all you can feel is loneliness, pain and sadness?
what do you do??.....................
Loneliness!!!
Albert Einstein once remarked, "It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely."
Loneliness is one strange emotion that everyone feels quite often in life. it is the fear of loneliness that affect all human beings and it is because of this particular fear that human beings are in an eternal quest for companionships. it is for this simple reason that we all are so keen on making friends where ever we go and also so keen to treasure these relations that we make. The sense of having friends, relatives and loved ones gives you a sense of security that you have people to talk to, you have people to rely on and people to love.
However, there are often quite a number of times when you might just be surrounded with tons of people and yet feel so damn lonely! It's not that you are not surrounded by friends, you might just have your closest friends with you but you just can't help feeling lonely. it's such a strange case but you just can's help feeling like that. i sometimes do identify with what Albert Einstein is trying to convey through his remark and often wonder what does a person do at that time??? how does he come out of this peculiar case of loneliness? Is it because he can't identify with that person or that situation? Or is it universal and everyone goes through it?
My best friend told me that it might be because you don't want to be surrounded by a particular group of people. Then if you dont want to be surrounded by your friends and family who do you want to be surrounded with???
Hmmmmm........too many questions and no ansewers at all.
Loneliness is one strange emotion that everyone feels quite often in life. it is the fear of loneliness that affect all human beings and it is because of this particular fear that human beings are in an eternal quest for companionships. it is for this simple reason that we all are so keen on making friends where ever we go and also so keen to treasure these relations that we make. The sense of having friends, relatives and loved ones gives you a sense of security that you have people to talk to, you have people to rely on and people to love.
However, there are often quite a number of times when you might just be surrounded with tons of people and yet feel so damn lonely! It's not that you are not surrounded by friends, you might just have your closest friends with you but you just can't help feeling lonely. it's such a strange case but you just can's help feeling like that. i sometimes do identify with what Albert Einstein is trying to convey through his remark and often wonder what does a person do at that time??? how does he come out of this peculiar case of loneliness? Is it because he can't identify with that person or that situation? Or is it universal and everyone goes through it?
My best friend told me that it might be because you don't want to be surrounded by a particular group of people. Then if you dont want to be surrounded by your friends and family who do you want to be surrounded with???
Hmmmmm........too many questions and no ansewers at all.
Epiphany
i hve picked up the blogging pen again and all i can say is dear diary.....
i hve fianlly returned to my blog...to my forgotten blog.....it seems to become my companion for times when i am sad and depressed and this again seems to a time like that.
i have shifted to bangalore and although im missing home terribly, i seem to have fallen in love with this place, it has alomst become my home away from home. one day sitting up on the terrace i was wondering why and i realised that i love it cos it has helped me immensely to move away from my past. it has taught me to become strong......
i have changed a lot from my experience...i dont know whether it is for the better or for the worse but i know that i have changed.
i have learnt not to trust people completely. i have learnt to take things as they come and laugh at difficult situations. it strange how things dont bother me any more. i m not concerned with anything nw. i have become detached from the world and its people. i laugh, i stay perky, jolly and funny with my friends but then at the same time im detached from all of them. if things dont turn out for me, im not bothered i jsut take them as they come. that's jsut all for me.
.all i know that i needed to change. i know i didnt matter at all...n i realised after an Epiphany moment that i meant nothing at all....nothing at all....i was too stupid and dumb to see it and because of that i let myself be used and in the process i had humiliated myself enough to develop a hate for my own self, and had become all the things that i absolutely detested! i hate myself for all that and i think i will never ever forgive myself for it. never ever!!
i often wondered that a person could never hurt anyone else so badly, especially when that person himself has gone through so much. but i guess im wrong.
now i have simply moved away, deliberately......without saying anything....no words...no goodbyes...nothing at all.
its for the better!!
i hve fianlly returned to my blog...to my forgotten blog.....it seems to become my companion for times when i am sad and depressed and this again seems to a time like that.
i have shifted to bangalore and although im missing home terribly, i seem to have fallen in love with this place, it has alomst become my home away from home. one day sitting up on the terrace i was wondering why and i realised that i love it cos it has helped me immensely to move away from my past. it has taught me to become strong......
i have changed a lot from my experience...i dont know whether it is for the better or for the worse but i know that i have changed.
i have learnt not to trust people completely. i have learnt to take things as they come and laugh at difficult situations. it strange how things dont bother me any more. i m not concerned with anything nw. i have become detached from the world and its people. i laugh, i stay perky, jolly and funny with my friends but then at the same time im detached from all of them. if things dont turn out for me, im not bothered i jsut take them as they come. that's jsut all for me.
.all i know that i needed to change. i know i didnt matter at all...n i realised after an Epiphany moment that i meant nothing at all....nothing at all....i was too stupid and dumb to see it and because of that i let myself be used and in the process i had humiliated myself enough to develop a hate for my own self, and had become all the things that i absolutely detested! i hate myself for all that and i think i will never ever forgive myself for it. never ever!!
i often wondered that a person could never hurt anyone else so badly, especially when that person himself has gone through so much. but i guess im wrong.
now i have simply moved away, deliberately......without saying anything....no words...no goodbyes...nothing at all.
its for the better!!
Scattered Pieces.
Pieces here,
Pieces there,
Pieces of the heart everywhere,
Sad pieces, Miserable pieces,
Scattered, Scattered everywhere.
Lost to Me,
Lost to my world,
Lost forever and ever.
Broken by Love,
Broken by Life,
Broken by Everyone,
Whom one could ever dearly Love.
Lost to Me,
Lost to my world,
Lost forever and ever.
Pieces sawed apart,
Pieces torn apart,
And pieces ripped apart.
Sad pieces, Miserable pieces,
Scattered, scattered everywhere.
No one to find,
No one to gather,
No one to collect,
And no one to bring together.
Sad Pieces, Miserable pieces,
Scattered pieces,
Lost forever and ever.
Pieces there,
Pieces of the heart everywhere,
Sad pieces, Miserable pieces,
Scattered, Scattered everywhere.
Lost to Me,
Lost to my world,
Lost forever and ever.
Broken by Love,
Broken by Life,
Broken by Everyone,
Whom one could ever dearly Love.
Lost to Me,
Lost to my world,
Lost forever and ever.
Pieces sawed apart,
Pieces torn apart,
And pieces ripped apart.
Sad pieces, Miserable pieces,
Scattered, scattered everywhere.
No one to find,
No one to gather,
No one to collect,
And no one to bring together.
Sad Pieces, Miserable pieces,
Scattered pieces,
Lost forever and ever.
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