An eye opener! "Matribhasha Divas"- The 21st February

I can post a thousand blogs in English comfortably  but writing a full sentence in my mother tongue would seem like walking bare foot on burning coal. A week ago, people did not forget to wish and send messages for the whole love week(The valentine's week), but hardly anyone knew that today i.e. the 21st February is the "International Mother Tongue day". UNESCO is celebrating this day with the theme "Towards sustainable Futures through Multilingual Education". The University Grants Commission issued directions to almost all the educational institutions to observe this day.

Yesterday, I got this notification on the phone that our University is organizing an essay writing competition on Matribhasha Divas and as usual, the notification went straight to my ignore list. After reaching college, we were told that there would be no classes and the competition would be held. So, everyone was chilling out either in college, or went back to hostels for that good morning nap, which is mostly drowned in class lectures. Of the whole batch of some fifty students, thirty of us were held back by our professor to participate in the event. Everyone was trying to figure out for that one valid excuse and run from the hall. But anyway, she made us to sit and told us to just write down an essay for fun. Everybody started writing casually, cracking jokes in between, asking for translations, finding the stuff on the net and chatting. Eventually during this fun session, I was taken aback with the fact that I was literally hunting for even the simplest of the words in Hindi. I was not able to frame a good single sentence in my own mother tongue. It was nothing but a paragraph, where I was not able to put any expression. I realized that after passing the tenth standard , I never really read Hindi books, newspapers, novels, poems. Even in school we studied it because it was a part of the syllabus and without scoring well our grades would go low. It wasn't only me who was trying hard but almost everyone was in the same situation.

There is a reason why it is called "The mother tongue". When the child learns to speak for the first time, it is his mother tongue that he has been listening to since the moment he becomes conscious about his surroundings. We connect and communicate with each other through the medium of a common language. Taking  a very common example of this, when we move to a new place and we are alien to the language, the culture, the society, if we come across someone belonging to our native place, we usually communicate in our mother tongue. It is that common factor which readily connects us to the person and we feel that sense of belonging. We cannot express our feelings, emotions in a second language than we do in our mother tongue. Then why is so that it is on some random occasions that we are proud to speak in our local language? It is true that today English is the most widely spoken language, but does it mean that we would forget our roots? 

Today everyone wants to study in an English medium school so that they do not face any problem when they enter the world outside. It is commendable that the schools teach students to read, write and speak fluently in English. The local language, the mother tongue is treated as merely a part of syllabus that needs to be completed. Students are given punishments for speaking in any other language but English. The ones who come from a convent school would easily relate to it. It is not only the school or college authorities but the peer group as well which compels us to communicate in a language which is acceptable by all. Today, if you are not affluent in English, people would look down upon you, not comfortable in being friends with you, might sometimes humiliate you. The events and programs conducted in educational and any other institution are all English based. You cannot think of being a part of an event if you do not know the language. As its true, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."One of the basic requirements of any multinational company or any other organisation is communication skills and command over language. Nobody is to blame because, the world is so competitive that to survive with dignity and to keep pace with the times, we have to be eloquent in English.

Its the youth who can bring "the youth" closer to their language. I being a Himachali, never really listened to or enjoyed listening to "Pahari songs". The growing culture of western music has trapped us all in its never ending web. But after listening to some well sung "Pahari" songs in the voice of Mohit Chauhan, Laman band, I grew fond of my folk music. They have brought up so much revolution in our songs that now I would make my friends listen to it.Recently this TVF series, "Tripling", added our Pahari folk song, towards the end of their series that it made the series even more dearer to me. There can be such hundred other ways to encourage people to learn and respect their mother tongue.
We should not hesitate to speak our language because that is where we come from, and that is imbibed in us since childhood.
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So this whole "Matribhasha Divas", was an eye opener for me. I should know "Hindi" as well as my local dialect, the same way and even much more than I know English. Afterall, it was India which gave Sanskrit to the world and  that is where many English words come from.