My mother tongue, Mother & much more..

 

“Indian English is a Prakrit, not a creole, says linguist Peggy Mohan’, was the quote in the Sunday magazine of The Hindu which triggered my thoughts on mother tongue and the importance given in our community / society to mothers, sisters.

A Caveat: I moved to North India for my graduate studies, before I turned 18. I had to learn another language. It took a while to become fluent in that language, that too the college variety.  There was discrimination which hurt. It aroused the feelings of my passion for mother tongue Tamil, which I had ignored all along. I was groomed in English Medium and had Sanskrit as my second language.

The discrimination hurt, caused deep regret and I still carry it. This manifests itself in many forms including a bias for my mother tongue. I believe that any attempt to specialise in a language other than mother tongue should not be done in isolation.

The quote also resonated with other ideas running in my mind. There were thoughts which you pick up over reading thoughtful essays or books. Let me explore them

1.      I. The two books of the trilogy by “Guns, Gems & Steel” and “The third Chimpanzee” by Jared Diamond were transformative for me. The author through his powerful analysis and examples convinces that the human species has essentially emerged through transformation by influential factors predominantly local, played over the millennia. It has been the survival of the fittest accentuated by the evolutionary process under influence of multiple socio, cultural and environmental factors.

While this has resulted in significant changes in appearance, habits, behaviour, beliefs, amongst communities, to distinguish by religion or language or the artificial national borders when you look at the larger populace is futile. The future of our species lies in thinking we as one. Any other approach will be ‘cannibalising’ the other community in some form, directly or indirectly, as it happened with Neanderthals.

At the same time to find uniformity or conformance of uniformity through imposition of a single man or grups’ diktats, be it language or religion or dietary habits, means infringing on freedom of the individual and community as we know today - ‘the right to life’.

1.    II The next idea is the studies of anthropology and the exploration of evidences as discovered through artefacts, fossils, language and much more. Two distinct traits present amongst the Indian population are traced back to eons ago, to the initial community who moved to this land of opportunity. One has come from Eurasia and the other local / South Asia. Be it the difference in the domesticated animals or the staple foods we like and consume, or the various aspects of our development, languages we speak etc, there are multiple supporting evidences for this trait through centuries.

But the recent Indian history, spanning say from the 17^th century to first part of the 20^th century, these communities had steered their progeny through substantial shift in beliefs and practices. Be it the ‘morals’ of Victorian era enforced through the colonisers authority or the duplicity of the democratic rights practiced by them or the multitude of missionaries who criss-crossed our landscape advocating their ‘superior’ practices especially amongst deprived class, there was a tumultuous impact on the core beliefs of our ethos.

That this has brought its benefits to many and pushed to further disadvantage many is an issue.

But the traces of origin, the beliefs and the habits some of which the community have hung on to is through their language, cuisine and religious beliefs for sure. That is challenged in the current context at the home. Alas my generation have crossed key milestones in our life span without paying due attention to it. Such an action is crass for our own and our progeny’s good.

III. The third idea is Matrilineal concept. This is one concept which has been captured in a completely different context by this quote ‘Indian English is a Prakrit, not a creole’. The author argues, that mothers were a liability at sea and in war zones. Therefore sea farers and warriors / raiders through lands. had to necessarily travel on their own to new lands. These men took wives and concubines at the conquered areas. Their sires who grew with both parents were influenced by both the languages of parents. Then were the official languages of the court / rulers which they had to learn as they grew up.  Diction and the grammar evolved through such multiple influences as per the author. This is a startling perspective.

  IV.        The thread which I liked most and which brings in much emotions is the neglect of mothers by the intelligentsia. Given that till recently mother was the main care giver and their character, education and well-being was tantamount to the success of the off springs are to me clear indicators that the matrilineal system as practiced in some parts of India was superior and has helped preserve some of our practices.

Some communities who practiced the matrilineal concept and gave a superior status to their mothers and sisters, can again be faulted for ignoring their fathers and their families. Given that the female live expectancy was higher, though by a marginal 4 to 5 years, it was 20% over the male life expectancy!

But in the current century, when equality is being hailed as the new solution, and democracy / freedom as the ultimate solution to grasp utopian times, there are still multiple ideas waiting to be explored. To me giving pre-eminence to mothers and fathers equally for upbringing the children and the values which we inculcate in them for according the importance to their mother tongue(s), cultural beliefs, practices of their ancestors is the way forward.

Maybe I am not getting everything right. Am I?