Dood Where`s My Language

I have been wondering about this for quite some time now and I sometimes feel saddened by the current state of affairs. English has penetrated our lives to such an extent that it has just washed away (or atleast its in the process of washing away) the significance of all other languages (the so-callednative ones). Now, its good that people are so comfortable with English because that is an essential element of globalization, but then is it good to loose something which was once a part of youridentity? Ofcourse if that something is in anyway contrary to the human rationale, then its better to loose it and march ahead, but I can`t see any perspective which gives that idea about Hindi or otherlocal languages of our country. Then why have people started giving a cold shoulder to these languages. Its as if any form of literary or artistic work has almost stopped happening in any other language other than English.

I hope that I am wrong and that I am a mis-informed individual, but then that doesn`t seem to be the case as I am not a total dumbo who doesn`t have a clue as to what`s going around. When I can hear of so many English best-sellers and hardly any thing in any other language, its natural for me to have this idea. If we take the current generation, we can hardly find people who are aware of great literary work in their languages, but then when you ask them about English, they just won`t stop and you will have a huge pile of books which they think is/was great.

Now,definitely its not as if our brains are too small to appreciate things done in various languages/forms. Its just that people have started associating a factor of "coolness" with English and other languages have lost their charm for them. They have just remained as colloquial languages now and that too is dying down fast. Now I might get a lot of brickbats for being all too sentimental about the state and then writing everything in English, but then I am a very lazy guy and its difficult to write a piece in Devanagari with the current set of keyboards. I don`t see keyboards with Devanagari characters in India, whereas almost all the keyboards in some of the Asian countries like korea have their respective language symbols on them. That signals a lack of demand and so its bothering. I myself am guilty of being ignorant about the masterpieces in Hindi and so I am trying to get my hands on some of the good work that has been done in Hindi/Urdu and feel a little happy :) I should say sorry to all the people who stumble or are forced to stumble :) upon this piece, for again writing something serious. But I hope that it gives you something to think about. I haven`t had anything or rather didn`t allow myself to think about anything for a loong time :D

Baawra Mann

I just heard this amazing song "Bawra Mann Dekhne chala hai ek Sapna" from the movie "hazaron Khwahisein Aisi" after a long time and it just left me spellbound. The lyrics of this song is so potent and wonderful that I had to write this column and mind you thats a very big achievement considering how lazy I am :) The impact of the song is beyond words and the listening experience is just magical. Its hard to find songs these days which try to express any emotion or have a concept other than love for one's beloved. So its very refreshing to see songs like this. This one tries to capture the wishfulness of mind. Ofcourse the movie(which I felt was a great work of art) provided a perfect backdrop for this kind of song and once you see the movie, you can relate even better to this song. The song has been written and brilliantly sung by Swanand Kirkire (man what a debut!!). The music is very simple yet poignant and it weaves that air of dreaminess where your mind can wander freely. But still the best part of the song has to be its lyrics. The poetry is so good and the way it captures one's thoughts is simply amazing. I can go on and on about the song. I simply cant get enough of it. Some of the lines which appealed the most to me were :

Baawre se nain chahe bawre jharokon se bawre nazaaron ko takna
Bawre se is jahan mai bawra ek saath ho...Is sayani bheed mai bas haathon mai tera haath ho
Bawre se pair chahe bawre taranon ke bawre se bol pe thirakna
Bawra sa ho andhera bawri khamoshiyan..thartharati lauh madham bawri madhoshiyan..
bawra ek ghungta chahe haule haule bin bataya bawre se mukhde se sarakna..
bawra mann dekhne chala hai ek sapna

While I am at it, the title track of the movie "Hazaron Khwahisein Aisi" is also great, though I personally like the rendition of this great poem by Jagjit Singh for the TV Series "Mirza Galib". Now, this is one of those poems which stand as testimony to the greatness of the man called Ghalib. Its an absolute masterpiece.

Shuruat- The Beginning

Hey folks, this is Abhishek. Finally I have decided to share what Mai aur meri Tanhai Aksar baatein karte hain. Waise it would have been nice if Tanhayee was my Girlfriend, but for now its just my loneliness (Tanhai is the Hindi word for loneliness). I just realized that if I keep on translating every Hindi word I use, then I might as well become an official translator for some politician and earn mega bucks :) There is bound to be a heavy usage of Hindi in my blogs as I feel much more natural in Hindi and I think this space is all about being myself and throwing around whatever crap comes to my mind. So, with that thought lets embark upon this journey.