I
Sir,
This has reference to the article ‘ Ignore Dogri at your peril’ published in Daily Excelsior.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and passion about Dogri language and I know this emotional outburst is just because of your rural background.<
Dogri lives in the villages and continues to thrive. It is urban centers and areas closer which are to be blamed and I find you have not spared them. Other culprits are people like me who had to leave home and too many Dogras had to do it and take the families along which get used to Hindi and English which infiltrate in our larger family at home. What is remedy for its reviving in urban areas and how to teach it to outsider employees in Jammu I think is a challenge to be taken head on. How to do, may you will soon share your views in next article.
Above all a big compliment for the concern of our mother tongue.
Col JP Singh
Jammu
II
Sir,
What a great write-up. Language and Culture (more than religion) has a vast impact on our lives and keep us glued together. This may be so true for Dogras. Dogri is the ancient thread that holds all dogras (Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Gujjar & Bakarwals) together as a group with a distinct identity to land and culture (Duggar Desh). It is an additional identity and an important layer in maintaining national integration.
I am proud of Dogri as my mother-togue next to my pride for my biological mother. We should be assertive and not give in to competition to Punjabi as the dominant street language in Jammu city. That comes from self-pride (in contrast to arrogance) in one’s identity and sense of belonging. One strategy is to continue speaking in Dogri while other participants prefer Punjabi or Hindustani. The same strategy can be applied to our young children. During conversations with young children (both parents should answer only in their mother tongue. This will force children to apply their brains to learn their mother tongue without much effort. Mother tongue is the base on which one can learn other languages.
Learning any language is an asset (not a burden) and in particular, it expands the development of the young brain. Highest developed parts of the brain deal with Language and Mathematics. A multi-linguistic person has higher intelligence. During the first decade of life and especially age 0-4, a child’s brain can effortlessly and simultaneously learn multiple languages (listening and speech). The formal learning of a language follows in school.
Dr Ravinder Sharma
Jersey USA
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