there is a friend of mine who is quite, i'd say prejudiced, against indian authors. she isn't against indians writing, she just doesn't have the same inclination to read them as she would agatha christie or jeffery archer. i don't subscribe to this view because for me that's like putting yourself down. so if wrote a book in my name and not a psuedo then the number of my readers would would be short of her. but that's inconsequential here as she would read a book written by me in any case, because it would be written by me- thats just how friendships work.
but there are cases where the indian writers make you want to slap them. arundathi roy and shinie anthony.i happened to try the god of small things and kardamom kisses. terrible. i couldn't get through five pages. sure there probably are people who like them, otherwise ruskin bond wouldn't be praising shinie anthony and arundathi roy wouldn't have got the booker. but really...those are two unbelievable books..
but there are some indians who can write and write rivetingly well at that. one of them is vikas swarup. he isnt brilliant...he is good.
Q and A, for those who haven't heard of it, is a book that is about how an eighteen year old waiter at a bar wins a quiz show and wins a billion rupees. but he isnt given the money but arrested for winning the show. you get curious. then you find that his name is ram mohammed thomas. an uneducated boy, whose orphaned life sees him through situations that are hard but not so hard to imagine.
i read the book over the day yesterday. it wasn't the amount he was winning at the quiz show that made me read the book in a few hours but the tales of how knowledge assimilated in fragments through life serves a purpose. it isnt profound or a book that is heavy reading. it just lets you see what things can be and sometimes are in today's world. just because we don't experience them or see them doesn't mean incidents and things don't exist. though a bit cinematic, i'm glad for the ending.
well...i happened to read the book..really like it and wanted to write about it...so there...
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Sunday, February 05, 2006
communicate to the central government in hindi????
yesterday's bussiness line's front page article was on the possibility, a not-so-far-off possibility that all companies in india including the MNCs would have to correspond with the Govt only in hindi, the rashtrabasha.
india is a developing nation though the lines are blurring and development is fast coming within our range of vision. its just when things start looking up that the politicians decide its going too fast for them to comprehend and decide to slow it all down as fast as they can.
first you decide to call bangalore bengaluru. then you decide that all companies operating in india need to correspond only in hindi. how stunted are the brains of the politicians? and it isnt as though there are only a handful of them...there are hundreds of them and each one with an equal say in the happenings on of the country.
it isn't as though every indian speaks hindi. then again it isn't as though hindi is as simple as switching on a switch. i know..really profound..'switchin on a switch' but isn't it so much simpler to tell someone that when you click the switch one way the fan starts whirring or you have the television working or just plain and simple..there is light! is it going top as simple teachiong every one of india's growing populace the nuances of the language? and in a country like india where there are hundreds of languages and a higher number of dialects to each of those languages it would be forcing hindi on the actual non-hindi speaking masses.
our mother tongue, we learn from the day of our birth for that is the language we hear so much. english. it is a foreign language. but one that integrates the people of india. gives them a platform for addressing issues, for making suggestions, for equity in thought. there is nothing wrong with having to communicate in english. it brings the people of india together amongst their differences at the same time enabling the nation to have foriegn ties.
if made a concrete law, it would only go to show the childishness, vanity and joblessness of the men we've put to power to govern us with our best interests at heart.
how much time do these people have to waste? thinking up ways to regression when the population growth is still largely unchecked. when literacy still needs a saviour. communal harmony is still hanging by the thread in numerous places. oppurtunities are still going unchecked. brain drain is not a thing of the 90s, it is still highly prevalent. research can do with a boost, no not nuclear research or arms research, lower cost of medicines, better living conditions, higher yield of crops- research has no limit. the various sports can get a hand up. a little nudge and a little recognition. there are issues aplenty that need more attention and immediate action and none of it has to do with the language of communication.
if language is a hinderance, we'll find a way. it can be worked around. the men at the centre need not worry about that, they can with the blessings of every indian turn their attention to the rural, the poor, impoverished, sick and illiterate.
india is a developing nation though the lines are blurring and development is fast coming within our range of vision. its just when things start looking up that the politicians decide its going too fast for them to comprehend and decide to slow it all down as fast as they can.
first you decide to call bangalore bengaluru. then you decide that all companies operating in india need to correspond only in hindi. how stunted are the brains of the politicians? and it isnt as though there are only a handful of them...there are hundreds of them and each one with an equal say in the happenings on of the country.
it isn't as though every indian speaks hindi. then again it isn't as though hindi is as simple as switching on a switch. i know..really profound..'switchin on a switch' but isn't it so much simpler to tell someone that when you click the switch one way the fan starts whirring or you have the television working or just plain and simple..there is light! is it going top as simple teachiong every one of india's growing populace the nuances of the language? and in a country like india where there are hundreds of languages and a higher number of dialects to each of those languages it would be forcing hindi on the actual non-hindi speaking masses.
our mother tongue, we learn from the day of our birth for that is the language we hear so much. english. it is a foreign language. but one that integrates the people of india. gives them a platform for addressing issues, for making suggestions, for equity in thought. there is nothing wrong with having to communicate in english. it brings the people of india together amongst their differences at the same time enabling the nation to have foriegn ties.
if made a concrete law, it would only go to show the childishness, vanity and joblessness of the men we've put to power to govern us with our best interests at heart.
how much time do these people have to waste? thinking up ways to regression when the population growth is still largely unchecked. when literacy still needs a saviour. communal harmony is still hanging by the thread in numerous places. oppurtunities are still going unchecked. brain drain is not a thing of the 90s, it is still highly prevalent. research can do with a boost, no not nuclear research or arms research, lower cost of medicines, better living conditions, higher yield of crops- research has no limit. the various sports can get a hand up. a little nudge and a little recognition. there are issues aplenty that need more attention and immediate action and none of it has to do with the language of communication.
if language is a hinderance, we'll find a way. it can be worked around. the men at the centre need not worry about that, they can with the blessings of every indian turn their attention to the rural, the poor, impoverished, sick and illiterate.
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