By Sonie Kharduit
In the sapient words of Nelson Mandela, “If you talk to a man in the language he understands, it goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, it goes to his heart.” This statement speaks enough of the vitality of the mother tongue in evoking the emotional bondage with our roots, and the dissemination of thoughts and ideas with greater success. Language is important in our efforts to safeguard culture and ethnicity. Hence even our Constitution has acknowledged the importance of the mother tongue and provides explicit provisions for its protection and promotion.
In the backdrop of recent reports prepared by UNESCO, 42 languages in India are said to be endangered and heading towards extinction. Surprisingly one dialect from our state also appeared in the list (Ruga- spoken in the Bugai river valley, south central part of Garo Hills, which share similarities with Koch and Rabha dialects). The depressing truth of this report is that extinction of language means the extinction of community, termination of the distinct cultural identity, its heritage value and the overall disappearance of civilization.
While critically evaluating this report and the various associated implications, I stumbled upon three important questions which relate to languages; the survival of our collective culture (Khasi, Jaintia and Garo), the dilemma between westernisation and modernism and finally the issue of national language.
Survival of our cultural identity
A well understood fact is that the language you speak becomes your identity; it’s the beacon of our distinct location and cultural distinctiveness. We must acknowledge that the survival of the tribal identity of our people is in a state of flux and the reason is because we are not using our mother tongue as we should. Although Khasi, Jaintia and Garo language did not appear in the UNESCO list, but we are not far behind the endangered mark if we continue with the same mindset. Even the official language of the state is dependent on an alien language despite the Constitutional provisions allowing the states to choose their own languages for transactional purposes. Other states have responsibly adopted their mother tongue as the official language. For example Telugu for Andhra Pradesh, Gujarati for Gujarat, Assam- Assamese, Kerala- Malayalam, Tamil Nadu- Tamil, West Bengal- Bengali etc.
Our youngsters on the contrary feel embarrassed to embrace the mother tongue while staying outside the state for studies or work purposes. Our parents have made English the official family language, schools management issue strict guidelines not to speak Khasi/Garo/Jaintia in the school premises thereby demeaning the value of the mother tongue. This has greatly curtailed and blurred our existence. The colonial rule has imposed English language on Indian people mainly for the selfish purpose of administrative efficiency and allowed them to exploit the cheap English speaking human resource. No doubt the positive impact of English education cannot be denied. By virtue of being a global language we ought to learn it, but it would have been better had we just learnt it rather then consuming it in toto to the detriment of our indigenous culture.
Modernism and Westernization: The Dilemma
Adoption of the English language is no assurance of modernism, and there is a clear gap between modernism and westernization. Modernism corresponds more towards contemporaneousness. Simply put, we can be modern without being westernised. Westernization simply means the assimilation of western culture which itself is not free from flaws. This misconception prevails in our society in general. People feel that the adoption of English adds value to our social status thereby, generating a sense of superiority and exhibition of modernism. Had the idea been restricted only to academics, English would have definitely justified its utility, but that’s not the case. We prefer English medium schools not for sole academic value but more because of the status and prestige of parents.
Modernism is a positive connotation, it is transcendental in nature and allows us to move beyond our narrow thoughts and adopt new attitudes which are more practical and logically relevant to our current existence. We can be modern without being rootless. The Japanese became modern without losing their cultural identity, likewise the Chinese, the Americans, and the French etc. All this is possible because these people value their mother tongue and apply it to every aspect of their activities. Whereas if our approach is towards westernization and we assume that adopting English is the answer for that, then we face an identity crisis. The western culture is not the best culture and English is not the miracle language to make us modern; the earlier we understand this fact the better. The negative implications of westernization are not restricted only to language but also affects our dress, ethics, food habits and other rogue lifestyles. The penetration of Christianity in our region also adds another dimension in the whole dilution process; undeniably it comes with a western taste and hence plays a very pivotal role in disorienting our culture and tradition.
National language- Hindi vs Hinduism fuddle
Travelling to France we find French, Germany- German, USA- American, China- Chinese but our country suffers an identity crisis. Indians are rare to find; instead we find a Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Tamil, and Malayali etc. Why so? Why do we struggle to find a unified identity? Extreme and narrow cultural nationalism has ruined the whole idea of pluralistic nationalism. Other countries can be termed as a Nation because they have a strong nationalism spirit and a single national language helps them to remained bounded together, whereas in our case a fragmented nationalism persists because we hesitate to adopt one unified language which will bind us together without being enslaved and dependent on a foreign dialect . Even in current time’s people belonging to the four extremities of our country have difficulty in understanding each other had English not rescued us – the language which is not part of our motherland! The sad part is that we are not even trying to consolidate our mutual national interests and burying our differences to establish one homogenised identity by adopting and promoting one national language.
The 2001 census report shows that around 41% of Indian population speak Hindi, this figure can be extended further to 65-70% had we included those who know to communicate partially or semi-partially like the exemplary efforts of our Khasi ladies in Iewduh doing business with non tribal’s. Hindi could have been adopted as a national language considering the greatest share of people using it. It’s worth mentioning that Hindi songs are still the favourite genre in our playlists. From cabs to private cars to marriage parties, Bollywood numbers prevails in every happy occasion, surprisingly even the Mawlai region known for its’ Isih Dkhar’ attitude has no escape from Hindi song beats.
Now the question arises as to why Hindi could not become the national language accepted by all resident of this country? What prevented us from accepting it? Why did the Governor’s speech in Hindi in the Assembly become a burning issue? When we can accept English, an alien language with no questions asked, then why not Hindi which has been part of our civilization. The answer is simple; viewing Hindi from the religious prism of Hinduism fuelled with narrow regionalism and sectionalism has blinded us. The word Hindustan is misinterpreted to mean the land of the Hindus which is far from the truth as it is derived from the river Indus. The dirty politics played by many to garner vote banks has corrupted the minds of people, thereby not allowing our country to have a national language even after seven decades of independence. Hindi language has no connection with Hinduism; promoting Hindi doesn’t meant promoting Hinduism. India is a land of many classical languages and UNESCO has recognised that and all of them were never meant to propagate Hinduism. It’s the wrong interpretation of people when misled by some fanatic soul.
Way forward
Survival of one’s cultural identity demands embracing of the mother tongue, its preservation and promotion. We should not shy away from using it, no matter where we go, reside or settle. The three dominant identities – the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo in our state should strongly actively pursue the use of the mother tongue. People will recognise us because of the language we use especially in the present circumstances when our attires serve little in showcasing our roots. Parents need to clearly understand the gulf between westernization and modernisation and also not let their kids be modernised at the cost of disconnect with our roots.
With respect to the national language and its importance, the earlier we separate religion from nationalism the better it is. Patriotism and religion should not be mixed. We can be patriots even without being religious, just as we can be good humans being without being religious. The famous Khasi phrase, ‘Tip briew tip Blei” revolves around this principle. We need to embrace both humans and god, whereas the way the world goes now, we embrace God but not mankind and there lies the problem. Hindi is just a language and it has the potential to bind this country as one if only we give up our prejudices and stop being hypocrites.