International Mother Language Day 2018

20 August is Nepali Bhasa Diwas. Nepali dept marks the occasion in a grand way - identifying with language, literature, culture, and above all with identity as Nepali; and Nepali as human. 

Today is International Mother Language Day. It was first celebrated in 1999 in the United Nations. From 2009 onwards, it is celebrated across the world. In the Bangla speaking world, today is specially known as Ekuse. 

We are situated in such a complex situation where there are constant, innumerous threats on “humanisation” in the form of class, caste, culture, religion, gender, and language. 

Similarly, there are strong resistance to replete such forces, and to assert our “humans” whether is Dalit movement, feminism in its various avatars, or language movement. 

In the context of language, 21 February is celebrated as International Mother Language Day. Why this day is important is know why this day came in being. 

66 years ago in Dhaka, Bangladesh, then it was a part of Pakistan and known as East Pakistan, it was a theocratic state in loose sense. The Govt. of Pakistan in its newly born nation proposed that Bangla should be written in Person-Arabic script rather than the Bangla script.  

Students, professor including the VC of Dhaka University stood in protest in honour of Bangla language and script. Later, protest spread outside the university. The Govt. East Pakistan arrested students, and five students were killed for their protest in front of the Legislative Assembly. 

This protest was the “voice of the marginalised” and in India’s context, all of us in more than a billion, we are “ minority” in one sense or other. 

In Indian Constitution acknowledges this very fact and provides provisions for the safeguard of our mother tongues:

Art 29 to conserve language

Art 30 running and maintaining educational institutes

Art 350 primary education in MT

Art 345 and 120 promotes multilingual governance - official language. 

In brief, Indian constitution provides space for multilinguality. It is recognises “humans” through its speakers. 

Human language is intimately connected with individual, society, culture and environment, and thrives on domains of its use. Hence, language plays an important role in understanding human. This is idea propagated long ago by Noam Chomsky. 

For a linguist, each language reflects an example of human linguistic ability. This linguistic ability has nothing to do with nationalities, caste, class, etc. Every language tell us what it means to be human. 

There is a global crisis- world’s linguistic diversity is depleting fast. India has a major share in it. For us, from this region - Darjeeling, Doars and Sikkim - there are more than 35 languages that are endangered. Other than Nepali, Hindi and Bangla, all other languages of this region is endangered. 

Under the direction of UN, the Govt of Indian established CEL in various universities to document, describe and safeguard these endangered languages. Proudly, Sikkim University has a CEL, and has mandate to work on the more than 34 endangered language son this region. Currently, the CEL is working on Magar, Gurung, Bhujel, Sherpa and Rokdung/Bantawa. 

Apart from that many department of Sikkim university are working on various aspects of languages and communities - sociology, anthropology, etc. Even Nepali department works on various languages and communities. So far, we began with Kulung, Bhujel, Thulung, Magar, Tamang among others. 

We look forward to students and various departments to work on various languages and communities strengthening the objective to make these languages and communities sustainable, and to accept them as human rather than sub-human species. 

Sikkim has 11 official languages, of which other than Nepali all 10 official languages are endangered. Hence guaranteeing the official status is not enough to safeguard one’s language and one’s heritage. In such condition, I think, there fold path to language sustenance is possible:

1. Every scholar needs to responsible for his/her communities language situation. The scholar should highlight the situation. 
2. As guaranteed in the Constitution, we need to be aware of the provisions and to strive that such provisions are implemented. 
3. We need to ascertain ecology of language to make any policy practices. Rather than “flock mentality” - what supports one language may not support another. Each language requires its own ecological system. 

Finally, we also need to accept that fact that we are in the multilingual world. Knowing many languages will not makes us ill. Knowing many languages in best way to make every language survive. 

There is no harm if a Newar learn Tamang, and a Tamang learns Bhujel. 

A narrow conception of identifying language specifically with a community has proven dangerous as it has led to the depleting linguistic diversity and repertoire. 

The Nepali society was not specific to any language. In a village of the Bantawas, every other members whether Bahun, Chettri, Kami Damai or Gurung, Newar, everybody speaks their own language in addition to Bantawa as lingua franca. Such thriving example can still be found in Soreng where even the tradesmen like tailors, barbers and cobblers, who’s are the speakers of Bihari languages do speak Tamang. 

I wish this scheme of multilinguality prevails, languages are not moribund but safe and sustainable, and all of us can live and survive as humans. 

Among the legends

Fieldwork, essentially as an ancillary academic discipline, not only connects the academic queries, with the ground situations and events, but also locates the researcher with the topic, people and their culture. Importantly, post-field report is a significant input on the discourse, and returns layers of meanings and significances on the discourse itself. 

     A field trip to the historic capital of the erstwhile Khatsawphra Native State in the present day Nongkhlaw, Mairang in the West Khasi Hill district, Meghalaya was just not an academic checklist to accomplish, but a carefully chartered pursuit in association with the clansperson of the said village — Bah Don, who is also our colleague, friend and our guide to historical, cultural, customary and culinary matters of importance. His narratives were the ‘third eye’ with which I could see the past in the present as an augmented reality. 
     After an hour of a pleasant drive from Shillong in the newly constructed highway, there was a break for breakfast. After having it with Monalisa, when I asked my bill for atta (meaning chapatti) and tea, I was shocked as well as surprised that it was too less for what I ate. Somewhere, I felt that it is unfair to pay so less for the labour and love ki kong have put behind the freshly prepared food. I told my dilemma to Bah Don and others — they said, “the Khasis are like this!” I boarded the bus thinking of the culture, political economy, location, and also of the many other bills that I had paid elsewhere. 

  As I was on my way to know more about another Khasi —Tirot Sing (1802-1835) — the one who led the first uprisings against the British in the north east India —now known as the “Khasi rebellion of 1829-1833” associated with the “Nongkhlaw massacre,” there were legends, historical notes and sites as well as  anecdotes attached to his revolutionary act that we were trying to relate in the fieldwork. After we reached the Nongkhlaw, the sardar (village headman) joined us, and directed us to the historical sites. Of the caves, Krem Siej Tyra is a hide out that Tirot Sing and his troops used. Like Tirot Sing and his troops many years ago, we all descended into the cave. Inside the hundred metre long cave, I found that the monolith still stands awaiting Tirot Sing. Many dared to sit in his stone-throne, and clicked the selfies and the photos. I took few photos of the solitary structure as my mark of respect to the legendary hero. Krem Pyrda, named after the first resident lady, is another hide out about a hundred and fifty meters long. After a quick visit to these hideouts, we found Pepbah, a cremation site for the Syiem and his family on the way to Maw Shong Bishar, a judgment seat of Tirot Sing. Now, the locality is developed into a tourist attraction, but I doubt whether such initiative is really worth or would have been approved by Tirot Sing himself.
     The next site was the Phan Nonglait Falls, on the banks of river Umsaw, associated with the legend of Tirot Sing and Phan Nonglait. Here again, Bah Don narrates (his version) of the legend associated with Phan Nonglait. The story goes like this — Phan Nonglait, a young beautiful Khasi damsel drew the attraction of the Britishers. As an act of revolution, she enticed the white men, and offered them drinks. Since the British soldiers were drowned both by her beauty and the drinks, and anticipated to have pleasure with her, she disarmed them, and threw their weapons in the rock hole in the river. Later, she signalled the Tirot Sing’s men, and the weapons were seized by the them, and the Britishers were killed. The legend acknowledges Phan Nonglait as the beauty who enticed the Britishers, but she is also acknowledged as the female freedom fighter among the Khasis in the historical records. Interestingly, the Britishers could not ‘think above the drawer string’ and fell into the honey trap. It was not different for me too. I too was enticed with the story. Following Bah Don’s narration, I not only imagined brave Phan Nonglait (who must be great great great grand mother) as a beautiful woman but also about her feminity and beyond. I began to muse Phan Nonglait as a nymph or even puri (of the Khasi folktales) of the river Umsaw, and the romance continued till someone called me to join for the lunch.  

Apart from the sites, the culinary treat that we had at the Phan Nonglait Falls was beyond imagination as a part of the fieldwork. Again Bah Don arranged the local Khasi cuisine Jadoh Khaw, local red rice prepared with blood and offal of the local chicken cooked in the traditional ways by the clansperson. It was accompanied by many side dishes notably Thieye’s 'Naga pork’ and Sana’s ‘Garo chicken.’ It was a culinary fieldwork too fortified with Bah Don’s commentaries. The food not only told many stories about the Khasis’ foodways, but also of love, sharing, and the unique culinary culture that the food signifies. In other words, the lunch that we had on the banks of the river Umsaw was not just a meal, it was a link to the community and vice-versa. Still the taste lingers on my mouth, so the praise. 
  Our next destination was Lum Kyllang, three giant granite rocks - a man, his wife and his child — a pareidolic like me can associate it even at the 5400 feet. It is also associated with a Khasi folktale that Bah Don narrated to us. Kyllang is believed to be the deity of storms and hurricane -- an unconquerable spirit. After paying the fee to the local headman, we reached the summit to be astonished with the heavenly view of the earth below. To be at top of the Lum Kyllang was not just a feat to achieve the uphill climb, but also a way to connect with the characters and their feats in the folktale. In a way, it connects you with the tale, and stirs our imagination seeking truth and rationale of the event that is now a folktale. After a moment of euphoria, as we descend the Lum Kyllang, we were also descending from the world of the folktale to our everyday world. 

On our way back to Shillong, we all had tea followed by a photo session — signifying a cherished time spent together and also creating a memory to cherish later, respectively. But what I relish the most is the moment that I spent in close connection with the people and their culture. A fieldwork that connects with Tirot Sing, Phan Nangloit or even Jadhoh Khaw or with the Lum Kyllang — where the legends and folktales entwined with our lives creating an augmented reality.

A Portrayal of Jesus Christ as a foodie

Belated happy birthday aka Merry Xmas!

Post Da Vinci Code, I began to explore more of your temporal/material aspects in various dimensions basically in the artistic expressions from the tracts to Eco to Da Vinci to documentaries and many more. After reading Jean Soller (1997); I, lately, realised that one more aspect of yours that was truly neglected throughout is about food.

In the beginning, all life belongs to the God. Humans were created “in the image” of God, and defined food. God has his nourishment of “living beings” through sacrifices - human or animals, and humans have plants (not among the “living things”) but not “the Forbidden fruit” - knowledge of procreation. Adam and Eve, hence, were deprived of the pleasures of flesh. In other words, a fundamental difference between the two is expressed by the difference in their “foods” and procreation which nourishes each other well.

This worldview supports that the Paradise was, undoubtedly, vegetarian (Gen. 1:29). There were no meat dishes in the Paradise. But humans revolted twice for meat (Exod. 16:3; Num 11:4, 19-20). It was after the Flood — a new creation took place in terms of food - meat as a concession (Gen 9:3) but not blood because the latter was considered as life and belongs to the God (Gen. 9:4; Lev. 17:11). Unfortunately, there was no blood pudding.

To the dietary norms of “cleanness,” which is used to characterise permissible food basically to pattern with the Creator’s intension, Moses (Lev. 20:24-25) added a category of “hoofed foot, cloven foot, and chew the cud” to the dietary regime. Hence, the many sociocultural systems had pig, but they were deprived of pork. Still many remains “pork free.”

Secondly, “blemish” was considered an evil (Lev. 22:21). Later “blemish” generates ideas about “perfect, abled” vs. an evil. Consequently, menstrual blood and semen became “unclean.” Also fermented food. In some cases, it is extended to wine and/or exotic food items too.

Thirdly, “incest” - basically “no intermarriage, no cross dressing, no homosexuality and also no hybridity,” and “bestiality” were tools to maintain the order of the world. With respect to cooking, it is a culinary incest —  “no milk and meat together in the same pot” (Exod. 23: 19, 34) -- similar to “in the same bed.” Basically, there were no fusion, exotic and experimental foods - no creation.

Since it was a difficult situation to live with so many dietary restrictions with regard to food, there were ruptures in the dietary prescriptions symbolising ruptures in the belief by questioning ‘what is food?’

Mark (7:19) declared all food “clean.” Peter ate “unclean” food with a non-Jew, and baptised Cornelius, who was the first non-Jew convert. With the abolition of the distinction between “clean” and “unclean” foods, there was the abolition of the distinction between Jews and non-Jews. “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a human, but what comes out of the mouth” (Matt. 15:11) led a wider range of food items to be accepted as edible food. In the Mass, blood is consumed by the priest in the form of wine. Again, signifying priest as a hybrid of human and God, and connecting the two; therefore, overriding “blemish” and “incest.” Through these acts, you made us same, at least, in the dietary terms if not equal. And by denouncing the dietary prescriptions, you made a new creation where food has become a signifier of sharing, synthesising, and above all of love.

At the last meal, thus you said to your disciples to eat bread and drink wine as symbols of your body and blood “in remembrance of me” (Cor. 11:24-25). Da Vinci knew this aspect (and desire) of yours to be remembered as a foodie, thus he painted The Last Supper.

Now I am firmly sure that you were also a foodie like Buddha (and like many of us).Jesus Christ as a foodie

Nepali (Devanagari) in Tex

1. What is Tex?

TeX is a powerful automated typesetting system designed to allow anybody to produce high standard documents using minimal effort, and to provide a system that would give exactly the same results on all computers, at any point in time. It produces formatted output in a PDF file as well as in other formats. 

TeX is a free software, and is available for all the operating systems. It is well documented as well as supported (visit http://tug.org and https://ctan.org). 

TeX is a popular means of typesetting complex formulae, symbols, etc. It is popular in academia, especially in mathematics, computer science, linguistics, engineering, physics, chemistry, etc. 

TeX is considered fairly difficult to learn on its own, and deals more with appearance than structure. In order to make it user friendly, there are several distributions (often known as macro packages or programs or engines) like LaTex, XeTeX, XeLaTeX, etc.

(Compiled from various sources)

Those interested to type Nepali (in Devanagari), English and IPA in TeX may follow:

1. Template

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}

\usepackage{fontspec}

\usepackage{geometry} 

\setmainfont{Kalimati}

\newfontface{\english}{Times New Roman}

\newfontface{\ipa}{Charis SIL}

\title{बाबाको कथा}

\author{समर सिन्हा}

\date{}

\begin{document}

\maketitle

\section{परिचय}

{\english This is in English. See below for Nepali and IPA.} \\

\noindent मेरो नाम समर हो| \\ मेरो घर रङ्गबुल हो। \\\\

{\ipa θɪsɪzsəmaɪpeɪ}

\end{document}

2. Always save the file as UTF-8.

3. XeLaTeX is one of the TeX programs that natively supports Unicode and the input file is assumed to be in UTF-8. Program/engine to use is XeLateX (not others).  

1.
Ceaseless rain
Tea and book
Pleasure.

2.
There are
no msgs
no chats
no calls
Not even
wind or cloud
to pass
across the ridge
There is
silence
conversing within us.

Gandhi on Valentine's Day 2015

Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust. Addressing Gandhi. 1995. New Delhi: SAHMAT. Pg. 190. Hb. 21 x 27.5 cms. ISBN 81-86219-22-6. Price: Rs. 450 (pb), Rs. 900 (hb)

Reviewed by Samar Sinha

Addressing Gandhi: 125 Years Of Mahatma Gandhi is a bilingual book in English and Hindi comprising of seven articles on Gandhiji with over 100 sketches and photographs of Gandhiji. The form of the books deceives as a mere coffee table book, but the contents elevate its stature both in matter and spirit of a man who is remembered even after 125 years and continues to have relevance in the world to come. A book is, infact, to mark Gandhiji's 125 birth anniversary by SAHMAT. Since Gandhi's life and thought has had an enormous impact on the way we think today, Addressing Gandhi brings to the light how this man is revered and remembered in various pursuits. The book deserves review as the reader deserves to understand his significance in the newer contexts. Moreover, the volume under review brings different perspectives on Gandhiji.

The first article titled 'Gandhiji' is by Irfan Habib, a well known historian. It is a biographical sketch of Gandhiji drawing on events that shaped Gandhiji throughout his life. Based on Gandhiji's autobiography, Habib portrays an evolution of a baniya boy from Porbandar to a barrister from England; his realisation as a 'coolie-barrister' at Petermaritzburg, and his subsequent transformations. In the following narrative, Habib mainly draws Gandhiji’s political endeavours with brief reference to his political and social thoughts. Of particular interest that Habib sketches about Gandhiji is his post-independence days. He highlights Gandhiji's effort to douse the communal violence, appeal and persuasion to pay Pakistan the promised sum, and to develop cordial relationship with the colonial cousin. Habib associates Gandhiji's assassin Nathuram Godse with RSS and Hindu Mahasabha, and leaves his reader to think when he concludes '...he was not alone in the plot.' (pg. 24).

In the second essay by Ravinder Kumar on 'Gandhi and India's Transition to Bourgeois Modernity,' the author discusses issues that are essential in understanding past and present India. Drawing parallel with the Sakyamuni, the author tries to understand modernity in India in the context of '...Gandhi represents our entry into bourgeois modernity as a comprehensive social, political and cultural process' (pg.29). Kumar highlights that Gandhiji's satyagraha drew diverse streams of thoughts and communities into a unified national movement. Although literature do not favour Gandhiji in ushering modernity within the country, Kumar advocates that Gandhiji's concerns were rooted in the Indian conditions rather than of the European experience. Equally, his concerns were for 'appropriate technology,' 'sustainable development,' conservation of folk and popular culture and aesthetic traditions, and of pluralistic society. Moreover, Gandhiji stresses on moderation and self-constraint for effective functioning of the institutions.

Suresh Sharma's essay on 'Swaraj and the Quest for Freedom: Rabindranath's Tagore's Critique of Gandhi's Non-Cooperation' focusses on the debate between the poet and the Mahatma on Swaraj and Swadeshi. Around the historical events, both the parties build their arguments and counter arguments in order to understand what one meant by Swaraj. Tagore and Gandhiji were fundamentally different on the aspect that the poet has reposed implicit faith in the sheer power of the word, whereas the mahatma viewed that the power of the word is modulated by a deep sense of imperfection inherent in human nature, and truth needs to be affirmed. Sharma notes that the dialogue between them were not limited to critique of each other but also a self-critique.

In the following interview in Hindi, Madhukar Upadhayay interviews Ramchandra Gandhi about the contemporary relevance of Gandhi and his thoughts. Equally, the interview presses about the role of Gandhi (had he been alive) in the contemporary scenario related to Ayodhyay.

One of the most important contributions to this volume is Nandalal Bose's essay titled 'Bapuji' which he dedicates as an offering to Gandhiji. Infact, the article is republished from the Visva_Bharati Quarterly (1984). It is a rare article on Gandhiji by the master who created an iconic lino-cut of Bapuji during his Dandi March, and a close associate of Bapuji. Bose draws an autobiographical account of Bapuji and how his thoughts influenced the artist and gave meaning to his life. He recalls his meeting with Bapuji at the Congress session at Lucknow in 1936. Gandhiji's instruction of building Faizpur (Gram Congress) using only rural material, employing country craftsmen and indigenous conception; and Gandhiji's request to make miniature bamboo chariot. One of the unknown facets of Gandhiji is well explored by Bose in this essay – it is his love of art and artistic heritage. Moreover, Bose also narrates that Gandhi loved music, and would have dedicated his life for music had he not had to fight the colonisers. In his sharp contrast to the machine made things, Gandhiji championed the artistic urge as it lacks to satisfy the aesthetic need. He dubs Bapuji as '...a patron of artists' (pg. 131).

KG Subramanyan's 'Remembering Mahatma Gandhi,' is an autobiographical exploration of Gandhi in his life course. In other words, he builds a mosaic of Gandhiji through what he is known as a freedom fighter, one who restored the sense of dignity to a large number of people, one who won the enemy without wiping them out. The authors also dwells on Gandhiji's philosophy of inter-dependence of human individual, society and environment. Subramanyan also regarded Gandhiji as a national leader with a truly global perspectives.

The final essay on 'Locating Gandhi in Indian Art History: Nandalal and Ramkinkar' by Tapati Guha-Thakurta focusses on art of these two masters. Ramkinkar Baij, a sculptor was disappointed with the Debiprasad sculpture of Gandhiji, and wishes to sculpt Gandhiji with full of life and movement in open space with volume, dimension and materials to experiment. On the other hand, Nandalal Bose's association with Gandhiji, as a part of Gandhiji's political programme, and his iconic monochrome lino-cut provides an interesting juncture where art, nationalism, artists and the subjects intermingle to create a narrative. Guha-Thakurta explores this narrative – Gandhiji in the Indian art history as a charismatic motif, and '...signifying certain ideological thrusts and motivations in nationalisms...redefining the very notions of 'art' and 'Indian-ness' (pg 141). Nandalal Bose's Bapuji (1930) is an iconic lino-cut is a new national public art. Through his association with Gandhiji, Bose came to the forefront as an artist that fits Gandhiji's political programme through public art. Nandalal Bose's 1938 images was a novel nationalist construction of the Indian panorama with stripped off classicism and enhanced folkish, playful motifs. In her comparative study of the two masters, she concludes that Baij is non-canoncial whereas Bose has become canonical.

Addressing Gandhi is enriched with index. The book, undoubtedly, is not only a novel way to mark Gandhiji's 125 anniversary but also a commemorative contribution to the Gandhi art (or how he is represented) that has continued to survive Gandhi as a subject for the artists till date. The volume also includes sketches, paintings, photographs and collages by contemporary artists like Bulbul Sharma, Jogen Chowdhury, Adimoolan, Walter D'Souza, Jatin Das, Shuvaprasanna to name a few. To make the matter shorter and direct, this volume is a desired publication, and provides as a platform to examine Gandhiji's conception of art, art as a political programme and its relation with his thoughts on various aspects and facets of his personality and pursuits. Finally, the book emphasises Gandhi as artist's subject – a least explored subject in the Gandhian studies.