Dec 11, 2024
Dec 11, 2024
Dear Mr. Ashby, This morning I thought I should provide with some samples. Please bear with me at least once. Shall be grateful to know your reactions. |
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Dear Dipankar, I am sorry to know that you have removed all your postings from boloji. I shall miss you very much. I came across you elsewhere and immediately formed a liking for you, you write so sweetly. Please reconsider your decision. As I told you earlier - I don't care if anybody reads my posts or not I write for my own pleasure. Can't you also do that? Presently I am so busy - getting ready to go to my daughter, a veritable tyrant and then I have to finish the proof of my book and write an introduction of that book before I leave for Cairo. I don't find enough time to comment on your posts though I read each of your posts. Recently I was also bitten by a cat and the medication is going on - this morning I had my second injection. The power to communicate is one of the greatest gifts of God. To master that power is however not given to all - you have to work hard for that mastery. |
Dear Kumud-babu: I find myself more educated after reading this post. I wasn't aware of this Englishman and his commendable effort. Since our own culture has depended more on smriti and shruti than on written documents, it is no wonder that it took an Englishman to compile a book on Bengali grammar. It does not matter that it contained errors. What is important is that it opened up avenues for fresh thinking. It drew the attention of capable people, people who could produce more perfectly what this wonderful Englishman had attempted. I am personally attracted to the study languages. You cannot understand a people unless you know the language they speak. And it does not matter whether it is spoken by a minority group. During my days in Japan, I fell totally in love with the language, the spoken as well as the written form. The more I learnt it, the more interesting it looked. I don't think I would understand that country the way I do if hadn't made this effort. I will never regret the time I spent on Japanese, even though I am fully aware that it is not a ligua franca. The same way, I enjoy the study of English. Not because it is practical to know English, but because English is a beautiful language. When I began writing here, my sole purpose was to practise this beauty. Later on I realized that I could not establish anything close to a wave length with anyone at all. Much to my unhappiness, I have found out that the pursuit of beauty for the sake of beauty is not exactly what the world likes anymore. Justifiably so probably. It makes me feel lonely, but not lonely enough to join the bandwagon. I deleted everything I ever posted here. Best wishes. Dipankar |
Dear rdashby, Thanks for reading this blog and offering comments. English has emerged as the world language and for international communication it has become the lingua franca no doubt but that does not mean that other national and regional languages should languish and die. Moreover use of English by people who are not its native speakers is changing the English language itself in such a way that shortly it will become unintelligible. It is not possible to deal with this subject in such short space. I would request you to read my comments on Mr. Puri's blog - Mind your language. The purpose of my present blog is to explore one aspect of Tagore's genius. You are welcome to my other blogs on Tagore. I have also posted a large number of his poems and songs in my translation in boloji. Many poems are posted by many people in boloji. You will be able to see even in translation he is far superior and many consider that learning a language in which great writers like Tagore or Tolstoy wrote their immortal creations are not a wastage of time. |
Im afraid the call for a people to be proud of its own language comes over as anachronistic, parochial, and even smacks of rebellion against a standard. It is the same, really, for the French and the Welsh, and many more, all in a world view of the predominance of English as the universal medium of communication. This explains why Indians, in your words, 'even after sixty years of independence, look down upon their countrymen who do not know English.' Russia Today (RT) is broadcasted in English, and any reversion to the use of Russian appears by default. The world scene speaks for itself: English is viewed not so much as the language of the English people, who, as Prof Higgins in 'My Fair Lady' declaims, know least well to speak it, as the language of the world. I am not saying studying and mastering a national language, in this case, a state language, Bengali, is a complete waste of time, but that in the context of the modern world its use is confined to its borders, evidently deficient of the power of universal communication such as inspires people to master English. |