iMuse-2

An excellent Tabla concert. The audience in raptures of applause and the artist overjoyed at the praise for his performance. His emotions flow out in the form of words which apparently to his surprise and disappointment is met with loud boos. His mistake apparently was not his choice of words but the language he sought to express them in.

The Union of India when it was formed about 60 years back was born with an expiry date. Most external observers were of the opinion that a country with more than 20 different languages and seemingly a million cultures would never stand the test of time. It was Utopian-the idea of integrating so many different people into a single nation. Nevertheless India is today a nation to be reckoned with-having overcome every single threat aimed at its unity and sovereignty. But if there ever was one single reason that could be pointed out for the unexpected success of our nation, it has to be the idea of division of states by linguistic boundaries.

Language is easily the best unifying force among people reasons easily found- Language being the medium for the establishment and growth of civilization and again for cultural and scientific advancement. People who grow up reading the same literature, hearing the same songs and stories will obviously grow up with similar aspirations and outlook on life. This can probably explain why most Chinese, Bengalis and half of Kerala are followers of the Communist ideology. It is also a good explanation for the presence of regional associations in our college. Love 'em or hate 'em they are going to be a part of our college landscape for as long as we have people with Malayalam, Bengali or Punjabi as their mother-tongue. No amount of the "all of us are Indians, we should all be speaking Hindi and shun Asso-s" rhetoric is going to stop people joining Associations either. What can be done is to increase the tolerance level of people to other new cultures. A healthy respect for the language, tradition and culture of others is the need of the hour and these are possible only when you understand and respect the greatness of your own roots.

English and Hindi -for me atleast- are languages of convenience, the ones I use to communicate with people of a different mother-tongue. I take pity to the people who choose these over their mother-tongue in the delusion of imagined coolness. Know yourself before you get on to the merry-go-round of the latest iteration of what's up( wats up, wassup, ssup, wattup).I am quite happy when called a mallu, even if it was in contempt, they chose to identify me with what I speak than how I look or my social standing. They, probably in their ignorance identified me with a language , a literary tradition and intellectual worth probably much greater than his/her own. I cant figure out why some Gujaratis become uncomfortable and insecure with the tag of a gujju. The prejudices of the ignorant are not enough to drown out the richness of your culture.

The tabla concert was part of Mindbend. The maestro's over joyous heart poured out in Gujarati,the language dearest to him only to be met with loud boos and shouts of "Hindi,Hindi no gujju" from a rogue crowd of wannabe punks and first years impatient to try out their newfound freedom and advertise their hum-zyada-harami-hain status to the college. The graceful thing to do would have been to ask for an explanation from him after he had finished off in Gujarati. The artist recovering from the shock went on to speak in Hindi thereafter and the punks clapped in glee at their imagined victory. I hung my head in shame.