We don't take language courses to acquire it. We don't worry about it's linguistic aspects before we utter a word. The speech which touches the innards of your heart, the sound which is familiar to every cell of your body, the groan which leaps involuntarily from your mouth at times of pain, it is your native language, the mother tongue.. It is as comfortable as our cosy home . It is as fragrant as bunch of flowers. It is as sweet as nectar. It is as lucid as fresh water stream. It is undeniable fact that people who speak the same language group together wherever they are. Language bonds the people in invisible ways.
Researches prove that two or three languages learnt simultaneously in formative years can be acquired with the same ease and eloquence. But many may not have that opportunity. Like those many, I never had the opportunity to learn any other language other than my mother tongue in my childhood. Telugu being my mother tongue I started learning it in the first place and English and Hindi were introduced much later in curriculum. Being situated in heartland of of Andhra Pradesh with no close borders with any state except Bay of Bengal on one frontier, our Telugu has no external afflictions of what so ever.
Though my first love was always English I have acquired reasonable proficiency over my mother tongue as I was taught every subject in curriculum in the medium of Telugu up to High school level. So is the case with many boys and girls of my generation. Door Darshan National networks and Hindi cricket commentary with " Ballebaz and Chakka" appeared much later , and English news channels were not even conceived . Therefore our Telugu was chaste and lucid. My extra interest in Telugu literature made me accomplished. And I am very proud that I had the opportunity to go through many Telugu works produced by master craftsmen and geniuses.
Telugu fictions, non fictions, biographies, poetry , literary criticism, novels, stories, few epics, every kind of genre was considered worth reading by me. I think I am fortunate to have done all this long before Telugu started decaying. Telugu weeklies used to adorn every house and their serials, stories were meticulously followed by every literate house hold. In a world where knowledge sources were very limited and inaccessible, it is the Telugu weekly which provided me some insights into the world literature. Many articles, proverbs, quotes were cut and preserved in my binder. The writers were at their best and editors were virtuous. They hosted photography , cartoons, poems, jokes, and drawings by various talented artists.I am sure many of the artists of yesteryear got their break only by contributing to weeklies and news papers. The sketches drawn for stories or serials were classic. The great artists who had no art exhibitions of their own in those days, drew their best pictures to express them selves through the fictional characters of the literature.
It was small world. The people and their work spread through magazines and radios. Radios broad casted invaluable programmes and music. Writers, radio artists were considered as celebrities.Many art forms flourished with the help of these tools. People became popular through media and magazines. They worked up as my windows to the outside world. Every piece of information was preserved and memorized. I saw the world through the eyes provided by them.
The language used in all the art forms was impeccable. They tried to rise the common man to the highest literary standards. I knew some people in the working class memorizing and reciting the toughest poems. Proletariat went to the art. As there were fewer impending commercial interests, healthy competition existed between publishers. Let alone writers, even editors ,artists had literary backgrounds and every one was like a sea of knowledge. I am privileged to have interacted with many illustrious personalities. They were the sources of many literary movements. They were motivators and trend setters. Telugu novel had reached it's pinnacle of fame. Telugu story won international award (Palagummy Padmaraju "Galvana") Movies took the inspiration from the novels. Language standards have been set and deviations were frowned and condemned.By all means that is the golden period for Telugu literature in modern era.
The language which evolved from the Dravidian origin, seemingly had origins as early as 1000 B.C. and after great deal of evolution took it's recognizable written literary form in 1100 A.D as translation of "Mahabharata" by Nannaya Bhattu. From then onwards there was no looking back till recent times . With a distinctive vowel punch at the end which renders weight and beauty to the sentence it is lauded as Italian of the East, and praised by Subhramanya Bharati as Sandara Telugu. It's flow is very intensive and very prolific. It absorbed many words from Sanskrit and for those who have good knowledge of Telugu can easily understand Sanskrit. If Indus valley civilization were attributed to the Dravidian's, it has one of very ancient linguistic origins of the world. Like other Dravidian languages it has a distinct quality . It doesn't seem similar to any other language of the world except to it's Dravidian counterparts, an independent language system as a whole. It's cogency qualifies it to be one of the widely spoken languages of South India until it is threatened in recent years. From the most unuspicious quarters, and for the reasons beyond one's comprehension, the language which attained a classical stature over hundreds of years fell into course of degradation.
The gradual sinking standards of the education in government school led to the mushroom growth of mediocre English Medium schools . The defective language formulae and and laxity in implementation by the government could be attributed to the existing pathetic condition of the language.. In the cultural front it is being distorted and murdered by numerous T.V. anchors who can barely read or write Telugu. While the norms of good diction and acting are dying their natural death, larger than life film heroes are contributing their might in homicide.
It is pathetic that many of the youngsters do not understand few regular Telugu words unless they are being translated into English. It does not make them more proficient in English too. Speaking Telugu is a disqualification for many aspiring heroins. Unless a song sung by a stammering outlandish singer is squeezed into the movie it does become a runaway hit. At least t it is believed to be so. Telugu magazines which ruled roost have vanished from the market and remaining ones assumed mega commercial ambitions. The language used in movies is tortured and twisted by the linguists who never fail to look at the language with caste or regional deductions. A single dubbing artist with fake vocal histrionics for multiple roles bore us to death. People have completely lost the sense of standard Telugu. Every child reciting "Humpy Dumpy sat on a wall" ends up with inability to identify an animal with a local name, and giggles only when it is called either "elephant" or "Horse". Parents have no inclination to recite few verses to the child nor teach a word of Telugu at home. There is no wonder the language is certainly facing decadence and we are clueless . I don't see this trend in case of other languages like Hindi or Tamil where people though being eloquent speakers in English, never falter in speaking in their mother tongue.
English education for every child is essential prerequisite in present day global village. But no one condescends for speaking in mother tongue. Reasonable proficiency can be achieved if the efforts are put in by both government and people.Many school registers show "English" as mother tongue to some children, a situation arising out of cross cultural marriages. I fail to understand why any one parent cannot pass on his or her mother tongue to the child.
Every year multitudes of minor languages are disappearing from the charts due to the cultural invasions and neglect. Cultural heritage is the founding stone on which edifices are built for the posterity. It is not uncommon that many don't see the necessity to preserve cultures in the present day "Melting Pot" environs. It is likely that a race without past has no future. If robust languages like Sanskrit and Latin could die, the same predicament is not impossible for Telugu if treated with continued neglect.
On this special day of November first when controversies are raging about the very wording and thematic vision of the poets who praised their "Mother Telugu" and term "Andhra" appeared no less than an abuse, what prompted me to write this pathetic redress is the fear of loosing one of the world's finest language segments.
Mother Telugu! Do you still hold your garland?
No comments:
Post a Comment