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I support the motive behind the Karnataka Government’s move to derecognise schools which do not impart primary education in Kannada.
1. The Government is merely asking schools to impart instruction in Kannada till the 5th standard and not beyond. After 5th standard, the students are free to study in the language of their choice.
2. Education in Kannada doesnt mean there’ll be no English. English will be taught as a separate subject – this is the same status given to the national language, Hindi, throughout India in English medium schools. So, if the national language has such a status, then I dont see why an alien language should have greater status.
3. Many have raised fears that imparting education in their mother tongue to students will adversely affect the IT and BPO industries in Bangalore. I dont buy this. English will be taught. That people who study in Kannada medium cant speak English well when they pass school is no excuse. There are many who, even after studying in native language medium, speak excellent English. On the other hand, face it, many who are educated in English medium cant communicate effectively in English. Only a minority can speak proper English. Ask them to write GRE and most of them cant score beyond 300-400 out of 800. Ask them to write an essay and most of them come up with trash which doesnt make any sense. They lack knowledge of punctuation. They dont know where uppercase and lowercase letters must be used. Ask them which school they’re from and they give you the name of some big famous convent. It is a myth, therefore, that a person’s English speaking ability depends on the medium of instruction. A person’s English speaking ability depends on his language abilities which are more or less the same for everyone, irrespective of whether s/he is from an English medium or a native language medium school.
4. Students can obtain education in English medium after their 5th standard – this will affect their English language skills in no way. Technical education is anyway imparted in English medium and this is what matters for the BPO and IT industries.
5. Today, native languages are looked down upon by English educated students. People who speak in their mother tongues are looked down upon as cheap, uncivilised, lacking manners and decency and are called “mass people.” If a person speaks English however, his IQ levels go up in the eyes of others, s/he becomes ultra decent, modern, posh etc. etc. There are many who cant string together a complete sentence in their mother tongue. Native Indian languages are deemed unfit as media for modern scientific education. This perception is a remnant of the colonial era and is of course, untrue. This perception must be removed and teaching of subjects like mathematics and science in native languages will help in achieveing that goal.
5. Many of our English educated college students dont read newspapers and books in their native language and later, suffer from an inability to converse and write fluently in their native language to people who cant speak English. They cant write a halfgood essay in their native language. They cant translate an English sentence properly to their grandparents who cant speak English. Only about 30% of the country’s population speaks English in India. The rest, about 700 million people, cannot. One wonders then, considering that language is an important tool for communication, how can this English speaking minority interact with the rest of their 700 million fellow citizens who cant speak English, if they are not good at communicating effectively in an Indian language? Even within a state, the English speaking group is a minority and the majority cant speak English. How can this minority communicate with the majority if they cannot communicate effectively in the state language? (By effective communication, I mean not just speaking but also writing, not just simple writing but essays, articles etc. – in orthodox and not colloquial language) This can be solved by two means – either spread English throughout the state or dump English altogether. Neither is a practical or productive solution. What is required is a balance between native languages and English. One language should not take precedence over another. Presently, there’s an overwhelming tilt towards English – there is an increasing trend of parents encouraging their children to converse less in mother tongue and more in English – this must be reversed and primary education in the native language is a nice way to do it.
6. As English is attaining a superiority of sorts over native languages with the spread of education, English news media and western culture, one can experience a steady erosion of the importance of the mother tongue. Whether a person wants to spend the rest of his life speaking English, teach his/her kids only English and dump his/her native language altogether is ultimately the choice of that person alone but we have to remember – we are Indian because we are Indian. It all comes down to our very roots. One of the reasons we are Indian is that we speak Indian languages. An Englishman speaks English and is proud of it. A Frenchman speaks French and is almost arrogantly proud of French. What is surprising, however, is that an Indian educated in English is somewhat ashamed, in a strange sort of way, to speak in an Indian language. An Indian must communicate effectively in atleast one Indian language.
What is even more surprising is that it is western companies that are taking initiatives to market their products in India in Indian language versions. Just a few days ago, MSN launced portals in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi and Kannada. Linux and MS-Windows versions are coming up in Indian languages. Wikipedia also plans to introduce encyclopaedic content in Indian languages.
Hindi and Sanskrit are slowly spreading their presence in the West and in other parts of the world. While the world is coming to India, Indians are running away from it, it seems. This is an aberration and it must be corrected. It is time we shed this mentality imposed upon us by our past colonial masters and start looking inward (this doesnt mean we should dump English) and give to ourselves, again, the great intellectual and spiritual wealth left by our forefathers. If we dont, we might soon see a day when, if a person wants to learn Sanskrit or yoga, s/he has to go all the way to an American university to do so.
Let us preserve our languages. The least we can do is send our kids to a primary school in which the medium of instruction is an Indian language.
As an addendum, in my view, Hindi should also be given prime importance in areas where the majority language is not Hindi, especially in southern India. Right now, Hindi is taught as a separate subject from 5th standard but in my view, it should be started from 1st standard itself. It must be introduced as early as possible to help students learn Hindi better as Hindi is very important in later life. Hindi, being the national language, must also be given higher status than English, a completely alien language. The perfect hierarchical arrangement is native language – 1st language, Hindi – 2nd language and English – 3rd language.
The Karnataka Govt. has been accused of cultural chauvinism. Taking steps to preserve one’s culture and identity is, by no means, chauvinism. The Karnataka Govt. deserves appreciation and praise, not ridicule. It has set a model for other Indian states to follow and I’m looking forward to the day when my kid will study the latest science and technology in Telugu and still speak excellent Hindi and English. Sanskrit can be the icing 
WRONG: Democracy is by the people, of the people and for the people.
REALITY: Democracy is by votes, of votes and ONLY FOR votes.
People be damned.
A dear reader of mine has tried to interpret the meaning behind the dream I had the other day. It was very impressive. What follows is the entire text of the email that I got from him. It might not be the truth but it surely gives a good perspective. His words are in blue font:
The Place
I was quite familiar with it. It was the bedroom of the house where I grew up but the outside environment seemed different. Outside, it seemed more like an appartment. I did not have an outside view since I was inside the room throughout but from inside the room, I could clearly notice people moving left-right/right-left on a verandah. If not an appartment, maybe it was a hostel building or something. (If you are still in Delhi , your urge to be at your home town and the compulsion to be in Delhi are conflicting each other. The visualization is just an outcome of the same)
What happened?
I dont know how but I seemed to be aware that every morning, a band of snakes, cobras I guess, about 7-8 of them, (maybe the number of subjects you have to fight with for the Civil Services Exam in the form of snakes…… and every day morning you have to start the same exercise) would stand in front of the door (outside the room facing me) and sway from side to side – some sort of a ritual? Even those who passed by my room, who I felt I was aware of, seemed to know that the snakes do this every morning – it was completely normal. (yes those pass by seems irrelevant because you know that you are staying there for studies and outsiders know the fact and they are no way connected with this) In fact, they werent afraid even a bit (because they are not in the examination process) and moreover, they felt that it was a good thing or something, so they used to ridicule me lightly because I showed an aversion to the snakes. This was the first morning.
Coming to the second morning. I just woke up, looked out the door-lens and noticed that the snakes hadnt turned up yet. I knew they would soon and begin their nonsense, so I locked the door. There were two doors – the one with the wiremesh (the mosquito net sort of door we use) – and of course, the standard wooden door behind this first door. I closed them both. I was just moving around the room, very relaxed I was – it seemed a nice morning.
A while later, I just went to the door to have a peek to see if the snakes had turned up. Yes, they did and they were doing what they usually do. I thought they were silly and just moved away and went back to my “moving around the room” thing.
Moments later, I dont know what happened. The scene changed completely. I went to the door, noticed that the snakes werent there. So, I opened the wooden door – which means the wiremesh door was still closed – and I was concerned with what I saw. I knelt down and I saw a girl, about 8 -9 years old, who was also kneeling down, facing me but concentrating on what she was doing instead. She looked innocent, poor, her hair looked soily, ( just the representation of the child you had seen on the street who was begging or so to you which you had narrated sometime back) seemed to have some sort of a cold determination to do what she was doing because while I was looking at her, she didnt move, even for a second, her eyes from what she was doing. At the same time, there was an air of casualness about her. It was as if she was doing something very routine. What was she doing, by the way? She was just trying to – I dont know what, dismantle the door (the wiremesh door)? Because she was pulling out thin-but-slightly-long pieces of wood from the bottom of the door – with bare hands. Weird but nothing harmful. Well, that’s what I thought initially and then, something else came into the scene – a tiger.
It was there beside the girl. It was lying down sideways (parallel to the door), its fore legs were stretched out in front of it, and was very intently focussed on what the girl was doing. The girl seemed to be dismantling the door piece by piece and the tiger seemed to be waiting. WAITING!
Then, something even more weird – the main wooden door was missing! I was desperately trying to put back the pieces which the girl removed but the girl was removing them again – we were competing against each other. I tried but I knew I wouldnt succeed. She was too adept and fast at what she was doing and it would be a matter of minutes, maybe just seconds before a huge opening will be made in the door, huge enough for the tiger to pass through! (The door seems to be some sort of your security. I interpret it in this way – you have a social concern more and deeply rooted and want to do something but your commitments are stopping you or you are helpless at this juncture due to other issues. Therefore these issues or your commitments are being used by you just to shield yourself or just to temporarily avoid the social concerns you have deep in your mind. At the same time, that concerns are slowing taking control over you….. could be)
I had to do something. I knew there’s no use competing with the girl. That was the only door. I couldnt get out of that room. My only choice – to get in the bathroom, lock myself in and call my dad. So, I moved quickly, grabbed by cellphone on the way to the bathroom and went inside and desperately locked it and started dialling my dad’s number. (Clearly shows to whom you have your full affection and security feeling… I just recollect an old tv serial – “UDAAN” – the story of a family where they struggle to get their girl child a good education and finally she becomes an IPS officer. One day when she was is in a big trouble – the senior police officer – calls her dad just to get the courage and she says she feels like to be in his hug as if she were only a 10 year kid…)
At that time, I woke up and I noticed, my heart was beating really fast and I was kind of very anxious if not scared. Of course, it was relieving to know it was “just a dream.” Previous “just a dream” events were more relaxing but not this one. This was hardly that relaxing. Sleepwise, I had great sleep – if I dreamt so deeply, I definitely had what they call REM sleep – enough sleep for the night. I got out of bed, grabbed my phone and saw the time – 5 AM or something – too early :p I went to the loo, came back to bed and wanted to sleep but couldnt. I was disturbed.
I frequently have a dream in which I begin to fall from a highrise building or some highly elevated edge and I wake up with a sudden twitch, ( this is a normal and a common dream among persons who are highly ambitious and also working with time constraints or chasing a time-bound target like an exam) especially strong in my legs. Other dreams that I have are less worrying though I remember a few really upsetting ones.
This particular dream counts among those upsetting ones. First thing, the snakes seemed to be cobras but I seemed to be aware that harming me would be the last thing they’d do and maybe that is also why I wasnt too bothered about them. For the record, I am generally afraid of snakes.
Second, the girl and the tiger. The tiger wanted to kill me, obviously. It seemed a hungry tiger. A hungry tiger will look for flesh and that’s completely natural. Though they dont eat human flesh, tigers are known to turn into maneaters. So, I am not bothered about the tiger – its intentions were clear. (Tiger I feel represent your Mains Exam – it is waiting to see whether your attention and intentions are getting diverted or not… just like it is waiting for the girl to make a hole so that it can come inside and catch you…. Relax. Don’t be afraid of it. Since it can come only if there is an opening and you are taking the protective step….like moving to the bathroom or so)
But who was the girl? Why was she trying to help the tiger kill me? She seemed really intent on getting me killed.
What do I interpret from this dream? What was my mind trying to tell me?
Dreams are highly symbolic, in that the objects that you see in the dreams might just be symbols for other objects. Words are symbols of thought. When you’re awake, you can speak, so you can express your thoughts. When we sleep, the brain doesnt. It keeps thinking. Maybe it adandons reason but boy, it does think – wildly at times – but the problem is when we’re sleeping, we cant speak. There’s no outlet to our brain’s thoughts. So, maybe it invents symbols by itself to represent the objects involved in that thinking event we call a dream. So, the tiger may not be a tiger actually but a symbol for something hungry, something that wanted to kill. The snakes might’ve actually been something that were out there to protect me but werent there when I needed them (imagine 7-8 cobras biting the tiger!)
The girl, on the other hand, might’ve represented someone who wanted to get me kiled and was desperately trying to help those who were ready to do so.
Well well! My mind is trying to tell me someone is out to kill me? Just an intuitive interpretation. All farce, all farce, of course. It was just a dream but something just doesnt feel right. For the record, I am in relatively great mental health these days.
Good morning by the way! The sun is out, wake up! (Leave all these things for the time being…………… you have miles to go before sleep…. Don’t walk keep running…….. ALL THE BEST)
Dedicated to all the victims of terrorism around the world.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2498116629030232894&q=salaam+mumbai
Touching.
In these times of mistrust and hatred, this is really really good to see: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/bihar-madrassa-teaches-hindu-kids/21945-3.html
Patna’s children, who attend the darul-Uloom Al-Islamia madrassa, begin their day with the recital of the Holy Koran and follow it up with Sanskrit slokas.
Strange? Well what is stranger is that this Islamic school has 40 Hindu students and they are at ease with both the Koran Sharif and Sanskrit hymns.
This unique Madrassa in Patna teaches Hindu students about the Koran and Muslim students about Sanskrit texts.
Says a student Kapil Kumar, “We learn both Hindi and Urdu. That’s how we will progress.”
The national song, Vande Mataram is recited at this madrassa everyday irrespective of the directives of any ministers. And the teachers of the madrassa are proud of it.
Hope to see more of this. Congratulations to the management of that madrassa!
Those kids, when they grow up, will be the flagbearers of unity in diversity and secularism – I hope.
If you thought that burning effigies is a disease that afflicts only the Islamic world, you’re wrong. It is a way of protest that is catching up more and more among Hindus in India, as well.
The most recent examples are the protests that erupted after Lord Krishna was dressed in jeans and was seen having a mobile phone in his hand.
Goswami, at the request of some fun-loving devotees, gave the deity on Thursday a “modern look” complete with jeans and a shirt and wielding a mobile phone. The western dressing of the idol had led to strong protests in the holy town and raised a public outrage.
How long will we take to understand that the mobile phone is not entirely the creation of the West? When will we realise that the development of the mobile phone was also helped by Eastern companies and definitely some Indians as well? The mobile phone belongs to all humanity and not a single country or cultural division.
Now how does dressing Lord Krishna in jeans with a cool mobile in hand amount to sacrilege? My take is that dear Gopala himself would’ve loved to be dressed in some fashionable clothes.
Till yesterday afternoon, Goswami had bravely stuck to his guns, saying the new attire was perfectly in keeping with Krishna’s image of a playful god with many faces and avatars, always game for a bit of leela (illusion or prank).
“Nitya naya roop, nitya naya leela, Krishna ka yehi hai parichay. Kya guna kiya hamne (A new face and a new trick every day, that’s the hallmark of Krishna. What sin have I committed)?” the chief priest had told reporters in Vrindavan. (link)
Ejjactly. Moreover, the Lord has no form. He’s Eternal. Drill some of that into your devotees’ muddled brains. They lack basic understanding of their own religion.
In another case, Sania Mirza allegedly stepped on the national flag and subsequently, her effigy was burnt. Now, if she indeed stepped on the flag, she has hurt my sentiments as well. Therefore, I would take legal recourse and get a case registered against her under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act but I wouldnt go about burning her effigies.
How can you join hands with a wolf
To promote vegetarianism?
How can you join hands with Pakistan
To fight terrorism?
It is the 21st century
The age of rationality
But the situation in South Asia has no room for good sense, it seems.
We have initiated peace with Pakistan so many times.
We have showed immense trust in Pakistan
During the Lahore Bus Declaration,
A great favour actually after all that has happened
In the preceding decade, in Kashmir and elsewhere.
But just 5 months later,
Pakistan waged war against us in Kargil.
Even after this shameful breach of trust,
We have showed immense trust in Pakistan again
By inviting Musharraf to the Agra Summit 2001.
Just a few months later,
Our Parliament is attacked by Pakistan-sponsored and -trained terrorists.
How much more can we trust Pakistan!
ARE WE MAD!
ARE WE CRAZY!
WHAT THE HELL IS THE PM THINKING!
HOW THE HELL CAN HE SHOW SUCH DISRESPECT TOWARDS MY LIFE!
When they have frequently spit at my face when I have showed great trust in Pakistan,
Why the hell do our governments keep thinking of mutual trust, confidence building measures and other holy crap!
When will we Indians learn!
I feel humiliated.
I feel cheated.
I feel uncared for.
I feel defeated.
The terrorists have won their game
Of getting us to talk peace with the gun to our head.
Tomorrow, it might be me, or you
Getting killed in a bomb attack on a Delhi Metro train or a DTC bus.
Dr. Singh will be perfectly fine with all the security around
But those who are vulnerable, people like you and me, our friends,
Our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters will be torn to parts
And…
There’s nobody to protect us.
The men who are supposed to protect us
Join hands with the terrorist himself.
Tough times lie ahead.
Listen up, O silly Indian!
Honest question, do your men still have their penises?
I think they dont!
They’ve lost their manhood!
They dont deserve to be called men!
Your brothers and sisters are mercilessly butchered!
Bombs explode in trains – kill hundreds!
Thousands have been slaughtered in Kashmir!
Thousands more will be slaughtered!
Hundreds more bombs will explode!
In trains and buses
And in temples and in mosques!
After all this, what do your men do?
Do they protect your brothers and sisters from further violence?
No!
Alas, they join hands with those who kill your brothers and sisters!
Your men will talk peace with those who want to kill you!
Your men will propose confidence building measures with those who want to bleed your nation with a thousand cuts!
Your men will release terrorists who want to kill you!
Your men will repeal laws which are designed to bring the reptilian killers to justice!
Your PM calls a person who has supported and sponsored the mass murder of your countrymen a “good man”!
Your PM says a terrorist wants to fight terrorism!
Your PM may as well say,
O silly Indian,
That the earth is flat!
Guess what, your men will still believe it!
Your people will still vote for such a man!
Meanwhile,
In each and every bomb attack that takes place,
Your brothers will continue to die!
Your sisters will continue to die!
Your children will continue to die!
Your men do nothing!
Bleed, O silly Indian!
Cry!
Die!
Balls to your 2 million strong armed forces!
Balls to the world’s largest democracy!
Balls to your men!
Oh I forgot, they’re not men!
Well how does it matter?
They dont have balls anyway!
Look here. This is going to sound an extremely silly post but I’ll just tell you what happened. This is so weird. I was shaken awake completely and I wanted to tell this to someone. So, here…
I had a dream and it wasnt a pleasant one. It was so disturbing that it woke me up and I felt my heart beating fast.
The Place
I was quite familiar with it. It was the bedroom of the house where I grew up but the outside environment seemed different. Outside, it seemed more like an appartment. I did not have an outside view since I was inside the room throughout but from inside the room, I could clearly notice people moving left-right/right-left on a verandah. If not an appartment, maybe it was a hostel building or something.
What happened?
I dont know how but I seemed to be aware that every morning, a band of snakes, cobras I guess, about 7-8 of them, would stand in front of the door (outside the room facing me) and sway from side to side – some sort of a ritual? Even those who passed by my room, who I felt I was aware of, seemed to know that the snakes do this every morning – it was completely normal. In fact, they werent afraid even a bit and moreover, they felt that it was a good thing or something, so they used to ridicule me lightly because I showed an aversion to the snakes. This was the first morning.
Coming to the second morning. I just woke up, looked out the door-lens and noticed that the snakes hadnt turned up yet. I knew they would soon and begin their nonsense, so I locked the door. There were two doors – the one with the wiremesh (the mosquito net sort of door we use) – and of course, the standard wooden door behind this first door. I closed them both. I was just moving around the room, very relaxed I was – it seemed a nice morning.
A while later, I just went to the door to have a peek to see if the snakes had turned up. Yes, they did and they were doing what they usually do. I thought they were silly and just moved away and went back to my “moving around the room” thing.
Moments later, I dont know what happened. The scene changed completely. I went to the door, noticed that the snakes werent there. So, I opened the wooden door – which means the wiremesh door was still closed – and I was concerned with what I saw. I knelt down and I saw a girl, about 8 -9 years old, who was also kneeling down, facing me but concentrating on what she was doing instead. She looked innocent, poor, her hair looked soily, seemed to have some sort of a cold determination to do what she was doing because while I was looking at her, she didnt move, even for a second, her eyes from what she was doing. At the same time, there was an air of casualness about her. It was as if she was doing something very routine. What was she doing, by the way? She was just trying to – I dont know what, dismantle the door (the wiremesh door)? Because she was pulling out thin-but-slightly-long pieces of wood from the bottom of the door – with bare hands. Weird but nothing harmful. Well, that’s what I thought initially and then, something else came into the scene – a tiger.
It was there beside the girl. It was lying down sideways (parallel to the door), its fore legs were stretched out in front of it, and was very intently focussed on what the girl was doing. The girl seemed to be dismantling the door piece by piece and the tiger seemed to be waiting. WAITING!
Then, something even more weird – the main wooden door was missing! I was desperately trying to put back the pieces which the girl removed but the girl was removing them again – we were competing against each other. I tried but I knew I wouldnt succeed. She was too adept and fast at what she was doing and it would be a matter of minutes, maybe just seconds before a huge opening will be made in the door, huge enough for the tiger to pass through!
I had to do something. I knew there’s no use competing with the girl. That was the only door. I couldnt get out of that room. My only choice – to get in the bathroom, lock myself in and call my dad. So, I moved quickly, grabbed by cellphone on the way to the bathroom and went inside and desperately locked it and started dialling my dad’s number.
At that time, I woke up and I noticed, my heart was beating really fast and I was kind of very anxious if not scared. Of course, it was relieving to know it was “just a dream.” Previous “just a dream” events were more relaxing but not this one. This was hardly that relaxing. Sleepwise, I had great sleep – if I dreamt so deeply, I definitely had what they call REM sleep – enough sleep for the night. I got out of bed, grabbed my phone and saw the time – 5 AM or something – too early :p I went to the loo, came back to bed and wanted to sleep but couldnt. I was disturbed.
I frequently have a dream in which I begin to fall from a highrise building or some highly elevated edge and I wake up with a sudden twitch, especially strong in my legs. Other dreams that I have are less worrying though I remember a few really upsetting ones.
This particular dream counts among those upsetting ones. First thing, the snakes seemed to be cobras but I seemed to be aware that harming me would be the last thing they’d do and maybe that is also why I wasnt too bothered about them. For the record, I am generally afraid of snakes.
Second, the girl and the tiger. The tiger wanted to kill me, obviously. It seemed a hungry tiger. A hungry tiger will look for flesh and that’s completely natural. Though they dont eat human flesh, tigers are known to turn into maneaters. So, I am not bothered about the tiger – its intentions were clear.
But who was the girl? Why was she trying to help the tiger kill me? She seemed really intent on getting me killed.
What do I interpret from this dream? What was my mind trying to tell me?
Dreams are highly symbolic, in that the objects that you see in the dreams might just be symbols for other objects. Words are symbols of thought. When you’re awake, you can speak, so you can express your thoughts. When we sleep, the brain doesnt. It keeps thinking. Maybe it adandons reason but boy, it does think – wildly at times – but the problem is when we’re sleeping, we cant speak. There’s no outlet to our brain’s thoughts. So, maybe it invents symbols by itself to represent the objects involved in that thinking event we call a dream. So, the tiger may not be a tiger actually but a symbol for something hungry, something that wanted to kill. The snakes might’ve actually been something that were out there to protect me but werent there when I needed them (imagine 7-8 cobras biting the tiger!)
The girl, on the other hand, might’ve represented someone who wanted to get me kiled and was desperately trying to help those who were ready to do so.
Well well! My mind is trying to tell me someone is out to kill me? Just an intuitive interpretation. All farce, all farce, of course. It was just a dream but something just doesnt feel right. For the record, I am in relatively great mental health these days.
Good morning by the way! The sun is out, wake up! 
PS: When I switched on my computer to write this post, opened Firefox and typed “http://yah” instead of the complete “http://yahoomail.com” and pressed enter, accidentally, this particular page opened: http://www.lib.byu.edu/~imaging/negev/Names.html. You try it. Type “http://yah” and press enter and see for yourself. The Names of God! Phew! Boy, what a weird morning this!
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