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Let us resuscitate our mother tongue
Highlights
Let us be inspired by Latin Americans, Europeans and Chinese who nurture their language and breathe fresh air into it and yet they are in the international game, dominating every field
Let us be inspired by Latin Americans, Europeans and Chinese who nurture their language and breathe fresh air into it and yet they are in the international game, dominating every fieldKudos to The Hans India and Aruna Ravikumar on an excellent cover story on the politics of Telugu language in Sunday magazine (November 1). The author has rightly articulated the need for saving Telugu. It is very unfortunate that our tech-savvy politicians, administrators and even people of both the States feel that Telugu is a mawkish cloak from the past that has to be offloaded. At every opportunity, we make ourselves feel that our language is inferior and are in a hurry to relegate it to the history. Our corporate schools still punish the students for talking in Telugu.
There were media reports that the Amaravati foundation plaque was chiseled only in English, unfortunate indeed. It is amusing that the government wants Amaravati to be another Singapore, but not a Telugu city. The Telangana government is too conspicuous by reneging on promises to promote the local dialect. Telugu is one of the classical languages of our nation, "Italian of the East.” But still, we tend to disown it unceremoniously. The governments of both the States should initiate urgent measures to elevate the status of Telugu.
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments should collaborate and plan a Museum of Telugu Language, Arts and Culture. The museum should draw its inspiration from Portuguese Museum of Language – Sao Paulo Brazil. The museum should showcase Telugu heritage, history, evolution and development of language scripts, accents and dialects over the ages, using modern technologies like modeling and simulation.
It should also bring the music of Thyagaraja,Ramadasu, Annamayya, poetry of Nannaya, Tikkana ,Pothana and others to the people, along with folk arts like Harikatha, Burra Katha, Oggu Katha through trendy audio-visual experiences. The dance forms like Kuchipudi ,Perini Siva Tandavam etc must be highlighted. The exhibits should bring to life the classical and modern literature, drama and cinema, science and technology and unique traditions like Avadhanam.
The museum further should depict the culinary, sartorial and ethnological aspects of Telugus over a period of time and pay tributes to the Telugu Velugulu. The museum should transgress the barriers of religions, castes, regions, states and countries should incorporate the rich diversity of Telugu culture from Andhra, Telangana, Rayalaseema, Odisha,Tamil Nadu, Mauritius etc.
The museum should also engage in preparation of Telugu encyclopedia, Who’s Who of Telugus, develop content, and should be a system of record for everything Telugu. It should bring about new methodologies of teaching Telugu, creating technical jargon, translations and conduct research to preserve and enrich the language. It should be made accessible to all Telugus all over the over and should welcome their contributions and inputs.
The museum would inspire the youth and lay people alike to feel proud and further inculcate a sense of respect towards the sweetest language and salvage it from a moribund stage.
If we master our mother tongue we can master any language with finesse. The education system needs an overhauling; just changing the medium of instruction would not bring about any progress.
Let us be inspired by Latin Americans, Europeans and Chinese who nurture their language and breathe fresh air into it and yet they are in the international game, dominating every field. As the author has said pointed, let us brace ourselves for a new revolution to save our language and innovate it. Media houses, politicians, academicians, writers, film stars and Telugu lovers should take this movement to the central-stage. Let's resuscitate Telugu! (The writer lives in Dorchester, Massachusetts, US)
Raaj Kumar G
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