Jai maata di!!

ज़ोर से बोलो!!  जय माता दी!!(Shout in the praise of Mother India!)

फिर से बोलो!! जय माता दी!!(Shout it again int the praise of Mother India!)

दिल से बोलो!! जय माता दी!!(Say it with your heart,in the praise of Mother India!)

मुह से बोलो !! जय माता दी!!(Say it with your mouth!! in the praise of Mother India!)

जय माता दी!!जय माता दी!!

जय माता दी!!जय माता दी!!......

I really wish I could write the whole post in Hindi..

Indians surprisingly constitute the biggest fraction of English talkers. Okay,it may not be that surprising, or maybe it is...err...the adaptation process taking it's toll. It is sort of a reason for pride and stuff,but in another way,it isn't. No doubt it has put us at an advantage at a macro level....hmmm  That's the best I can do to sound politically correct,and frankly speaking,every word that I type into this post makes me feel more like a hypocrite,specially while using jargon like 'Hypocrite'.

I am an Anupam Kher fan. If you do not know him,well...(firstly,bad for you)search him up. He belongs to this 'brilliant but underdog' category of actors..Another one like him is Naseeruddin Shah...And Nana Patekar,just to name a few. So I saw this TEDx talk by Anupam Kher..I remember this particular situation he was describing..He was in a flight,headed for...er...no clue..Cutting straight to the chase, he was sitting next to some guy...as one usually does in a plane and...this guy refused to recognize him...(Yeah,it definitely hurt Mr. Kher's ego but...) He described his neighbor's demeanor like..."Oh...I don't know this actor..I only watch English movies..Hindi movies are like low class" of sorts.. 

When I heard this,what I felt,in fact was not anger...or contempt or anything close to this by a long shot. I felt nostalgia.... It has happened all the time.  Few too many of my friends,and to b honest,many a times,I to have done the same thing. Just apart from the fact that I have managed to watch few excellent Hindi movies,both before,and after the 'cool factor' of watching English movies came int existence. For this,I have to thank my mom. She actually loves watching movies. But my dad isn't a big fan..Maybe one or two in a while..but not too many. 

This is one place here I truly appreciate the Chinese,Japanese(of what I know) and all the cultures,that have really kept their language preserved,maybe not fully,but to a lot greater an extent than we have. Our country is so diverse,the dialect changes every 100 km or so..My figures aren't super accurate,but sufficiently so to just get a picture of where we live. By the way,that figure of 100 km is totally valid in the state, where I originally belong ..Kerala..I don't need proof for this one. And before someone really beats me up,I have to add that I don't talk much in Malayalam,my native language... I love the expression on the faces of people when they think that they can talk whatever they want about/not about me in front of me,after they realize that...well,the guy got every word of what the folks were talking. That expression on their face comes at the price of 'fitting into' their community,maybe it will eventually happen. 

Woooops...too much digression. 

So coming back to Hindi..I was in school,(by the way...back in the days.) A friend and I were conversing in Hindi..Now,the school was an English Medium one(thankful to my parents,more than I can say),so medium of oral......I mean verbal exchange was (obviously..Duh!) English. One of us..okay!! I uttered this word 'abey'..which in British English,'literally'  turns out to be 'Oi'.

Now,we both were looked down upon...yeah,we had breached the school's etiquette...or in Hindi...हमने मरियादा का उल्लंघन कर दिया!! Sadly, the teacher caught my friend,instead of me. He sort of got scolded..meanwhile,I slipped through happily.... I know...I am not a friend indeed,but anyways... So that's the story.

In recent times,the book-worm bit me. It is sort of wrong usage of the term 'bookworm' but who gives? So I got fascinated with reading. I read more in the past 7 months,than I probably had read till then in my 2 decade worth life. So I told my mom,how books keep you occupied and stuff.She started reading too. She actually likes reading Hindi novels. I guess,as long as you read,be it anything,it absolutely is worth it. So in these summer holidays,whenever she reads,I just sit next to her and she reads to me. Probably,I should start reading Hindi myself. A change in language might come in handy...Yeah,so she picked up this book by Harivansh Rai Bachhan,actually his autobiography. Isn't it slightly strange how his grand-daughter-in-law is Aishwarya 'Rai' Bachhan?? Ahh!! Forget the frivolous intricacies..

Point is,this guy did his doctoral thesis on W.B.Yeats..all English literature and poetry...then he comes back to India and goes on to become of the most people in the Hindi literature circuit. Some admirable fellow. 

Thinking of this(I know this one is kind of long but..what to do?!),there is this TV commercial that comes on this channel called Comedy Central.I happened to have heard this one line.

It goes like this..."I'm not a sellout!! What's a sellout??"

Now,I actually forgot about this 'sellout' word for a while till I read the word in this book 'Outliers'(Malcolm Gladwel) when I realised what it meant. I am sure you know it,but just for the sake of it(or bluntly put...Just if you don't know the meaning,here it is...)It's like this person,belonging to a different community, trying to fit into a new community by trying to imitate this new community's people's habits.

From where I see,we have so successfully become sellouts. If you happen to belong to a decently well off background(that I am fortunate to belong to),it is sort of shameful a scene when actually look down upon you when you are speaking in your mother-tongue,or Hindi,most of the times.

From what fellows want to convey,it doesn't have CLASS. What nonsense??

Again,this realization of mine,is to be credited to my mom. 

For the credits to the first stanza in this post,all credits to Krishan Raj Singh by the way...