Manu Khajuria
Mother tongue true to its namesake is akin to a Mother’s embrace, the love and warmth of which is both soothing and uplifting.It is both powerful and comforting.
It can evoke memories and emotions and bring alive sights and smells in a way other tongues cannot. It can connect and build bridges across generations and time. The mother tongue alone can tell stories and paint a landscape true to its people.
A language can never limit. It strengthens our bond with our history. The language of our forefathers can be the wind beneath our wings, letting us soar secure in our roots. This language has the power to give us a sense of pride and an identity which makes us stand tall and unique.Our culture, traditions and identity remain disabled without its most powerful medium of expression, it’s language.Yet languages are dying at an alarming rate. A language dies every fourteen days.
In spite of the efforts of concerned individuals and organisations and contrary to what some studies suggest that Dogri is thriving and there is nothing to worry, the fact that the younger generation do not readily speak it, does not bode well. There has been a difference in the usage of Dogri in both urban and rural scenarios but even that is changing fast. Amongst the rural population where Dogri is spoken by most, the younger lot is disassociating itself with the mother tongue. They mirror their urban cousins who consider Dogri inferior and less ‘ cooler ‘ than Hindi or English. This difference is also visible amongst educated and uneducated populations with the educated populace favouring Hindi or English more than Dogri. Some may argue that even those who do not speak Dogri, understand it. This though a comforting thought is just not enough.
The ball was set in motion some decades before. Both migration from the villages to the city and acquiring an education were seen as signs of upward mobility. For many the upward mobility also meant acquiring new language skills at the cost of Dogri. This also became necessary because it opened many avenues of employment. Households with Parents speaking Dogri with each other but Hindi with their children became a phenomenon on the rise in urban centres. What was restricted to the urban areas is now fast becoming a trend in the rural areas.
The desire to have an English Education is understandable in light of the facts that the best education according to the latest World University rankings is to be found in the Universities of UK and U.S. If you are not a linguistic speaker you have to pass a test. Even in the best Indian Universities the knowledge of English or Hindi is imperative. Rejecting people on the basis of linguistic ability is debatable but the important question here is that why should learning a new language be an exchange and not an additional skill. Why did a society stop talking to its children in their mother tongue. The desire to fit in and integrate in other societies where one would have to travel for education or work might also have promoted this practice. It is indeed an irony that these very societies for whom we might have sacrificed Dogri place premium on multi- lingualism.To borrow the words of Patricia Reynolds, a Teacher teaching English in Arab Countries for the last four decades and who is a believer in the beauty of diverse languages, a monochromatic world of monotony has lost to a polychromatic world of diversity. Being bi-lingual or tri-lingual is an asset today. The linkages between multi lingualism and increased brain power and even enhanced ability to fight dementia are scientifically proven and acknowledged world wide. This particular face of globalisation and MacDonaldisation is being rejected.
Before a child starts Nursery in England the Teachers do a home visit. They encourage all non native English speakers to continue talking in their mother tongues to their child. Not only is this important because the child easily picks up English in the school and the environment outside home, but also because home is one of the few places the Mother Tongue will be heard and picked up from. It is the Mother Tongue which is in a position of disadvantage and at the risk of being lost to the child. Is it a surprise then that the children whose parents spoke in Hindi to them instead of Dogri do not speak Dogri readily either because of limited verbal skills or lack of practice. There comes a point when it does not even come naturally to them.
What is even more perturbing is the unsaid and sometimes said shame associated with Dogri. There is a baseless snob value attached to English or Hindi versus Dogri. Speaking in Dogri is seen as ‘ graeen’ or rustic. Even in the villages ‘ graeen’ is a bad word and English or Hindi speakers are looked upto. In face of a strong sense of pride and belonging amongst linguistic groups like Marathi and Bengali for example, Dogri and similar less spoken languages and dialects have been let down not only by unfavourable external environment but also by less love and faith shown by its original speakers. It is only in 2003 we managed to get Dogri in the Eighth Schedule and recognised as a National Language but the ‘graeen’ label requires looking inwards and some honest introspection. If we cannot give the language the due respect how do we envision preserving the Dogra Culture and its traditions.
The scientific advantages of multilingualism and its world wide acceptance pales in comparison to the emotional connection and sense of belonging we feel with a people and culture thanks to a shared Mother Tongue. In a materialistic world which evaluates everything based on monetary returns Dogri has lost its sheen because it is viewed as a case of diminishing returns.
If a Mother has a utilatarian purpose and loses her place and position in her old age because she cannot cook, clean or care, then we probably never did deserve a Mother. We are not the deserving children of a language so sweet if we can only view her in a manner such. We cannot evaluate and document all that a Mother does for us. Sometimes sadly her importance dawns only after her demise.
When in a foreign and distant land the ears strain for a few lilting words of Dogri. When the tongue feels heavy and forced in want of expressing itself in its Mother Tongue. When one scours the Internet late into the night for the little there is terms of Dogri songs and plays and it is reinforced that the demand for a Dogri Language channel is not political but legitimate. When the other has not heard of your language or its literature and it’s brilliant authors. When procuring a book in Dogri language or on Dogra history is a Herculean task even in Jammu, clearly indicating a lack of demand. When such is the state of affairs we know we did this to ourselves. It is indeed a result of our own doing. There will be no respect for those who cannot respect their own roots. ‘ Dogra o keda, jeda Dogri ni bolda’
Nelson Mandela said if you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language that goes to his heart. We need to talk in the language that speaks to our heart if we are to stand together to reclaim our glorious history and get it due credit. Language is a code that reveals the culture of the people. If we lose the code, we lose the culture. What voice will people have if they have lost their words. If the Phoenix must rise above the ashes, it must do so on its own terms and in its own language.There is no ‘khand-Mithay’ to the Dogras if they are without the ‘khand mithee Dogri’.
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