भाषाई विविधता और ज्ञानपोषित समाज

Languages in Indian subcontinent

यूनेस्को की संघोषणा (2003) के अनुसार ज्ञानपोषित समाज के निर्माण में हमें तीन मुख्य बातों का ध्यान रखना होगा। सबसे पहले हमें उस डिजिटल डिवाइड को समाप्त करना होगा जो विकास के क्रम में विसंगतियाँ पैदा करता है और जिसकी वजह से कई देश व समूह सूचना और ज्ञान के लाभ से वंचित हो जाते हैं। दूसरा सूचना समाज में हमें डेटा/सूचना, सर्वश्रेष्ठ तकनीक और ज्ञान का निर्बाध प्रवाह सुनिश्चित करना होगा और तीसरा हमें कई नीतियों और सिद्धांतों पर अंतर्राष्ट्रीय मंच पर एक आम सहमति बनानी होगी।

इस प्रकार से ज्ञानपोषित समाज मानवाधिकारों और स्वतंत्रता की आधारशिला पर निर्मित होना चाहिए। इसमें न सिर्फ अभिव्यक्ति की स्वतंत्रता होनी चाहिए बल्कि शैक्षिक और सांस्कृतिक अधिकारों का भी उचित स्थान होना चाहिए। ज्ञानपोषित समाज में हमें यह सुनिश्चित करना होगा कि ज्ञान के स्रोतों पर सबकी व्यापक पहुँच हो और वह ज्ञान किसी भी भाषा/संस्कृति के लिए उपलब्ध व उपयोगी हो। संक्षेप में कहा जाए तो एक संपूर्ण ज्ञानपोषित समाज के निर्माण में भाषाई और सांस्कृतिक विविधता पर विशेष ध्यान दिए जाने की आवश्यकता है।

प्रस्तुत लेख में भाषाई विविधता और ज्ञानपोषित समाज के अंतःसंबंधों पर विचार किया गया है।

इस लेख को पढ़ने के लिए नीचे क्लिक करें-

linguistic-diversity-and-knowledge-based-society

Walking on a thin layer of Ice: In the Midst of a Boat Ride

If we consider life as a journey, then it is better that we travel alone. Actually not alone in the way we conceive aloneness, but in a rather different way. This solitude is accompanied by longing, melody and the desire to be together again. All set to bring communion of the pain of separation and the joys of being together. And I must say this is a greater pleasure than any of the two. One should not travel alone to be alone in the end but to break the solitude which in turn will be rejuvenated on its own.

Now we come back to my farewell days in JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) before I took that mesmerizing ride to Kadamtala in Andaman Islands. We say memories fade, but I would say they take a backseat looking at you from behind. Watching you all your life. You cannot see them but they are always looking at you from your back. If you want to see them, you will have to face them.

And when I look back I see myself sitting on a concrete slab smoking cigarette with tea which is neither tea nor hot water or both, and talking some nonsense to an equally endowed lady in wee hours. Smoking is best done in company of a close friend (preferably woman) who ideally should be a smoker. Then you don’t give a damn what others are doing around you, and you think only about three objects- the burning cigarette in your hand, the woman beside you and the all the rational-irrational nonsense in air. I must admit that women are the best listeners. Compared to men they have more patience for listening and only after listening to your view, they would bring forward their own. You can blame it on their subversion by men but I am well aware that they are equally ferocious if they are fooled around much.

And I think of how every morning after getting up I used to go straight to the balcony at the back of my hostel Room and stare at the green tress and the vast sky outside. I used to feel so good by beholding nature. There are some numbers which remain stuck in our memory forever. For me they are 4, 219, 102 and 230. Now I’m not going to write about them here as they have their own stories stringed to them.

Have you ever enjoyed the rains in the open by walking on the lonely roads? This is a pleasure you can seek only when you are free from the worldly woes that cling to us all the time. Have you ever thought that you can become an alarm clock for somebody? I believe this is called humanness. Doing things without thinking of any gains is purely human and we do it often.

There is something in JNU which makes it a real utopian territory. A place where you live away from the harsh realities of the world, enjoying the sweet nectar of life and thinking in a very bookish sense of life. But I also know it makes a very different individual inside you: a brick meant for making a house which stands only in dreams. An individual with above average sensibilities and concern for the preciousness of human life is born in almost every one who is touched by the life in JNU. This is place where a student can talk to all the big shots without bowing in front of them. This is also a place where young Indians jostle together whether they come from Bihar, Tamilnadu, Nagaland or Maharashtra. Life is a celebration for many us who have lived there because here you celebrate its dark side too. The unreality of the reality.

When I remember the winters, I wonder why the jackets turn into branches surrounded by the fog. You have to come back from a long walk in the wee hours after graveyard shifts to see this happening when you can walk only by holding hands. Winter is not always the time when nature goes into hibernation but it is also the time when tears are frozen and every thought just fogs. When you want to cry but you cannot. Winters have also been the beginning of new life for me. A time for unfolding of a new story. That is why I have started enjoying winters more now.

Coming back to the boat ride to Kadamatala. It was a usual hot and sunny day of February 2006 in Andamans when one of my university senior who came to Strait Island on an engine propelled dinghy boat to see us. When I was offered the ride to kadamtala, I could not resist it. We were going to visit the abode of Jarawas (one of the last survivors of Pre-Neolithic people on earth) at Kadamtala area in Middle Andamans. I had met Jarawas but only at District Hospital in Port Blair and not in their natural habitation. Our boat was small enough to accommodate just 5-6 people and thus could not brave the open sea. So we stick to the passage by sea shore inundated by mangroves. Sometimes we crossed between two mangroves separated like lost brothers. I was trying to touch the sea water when the boatman told me to stop doing it as the waters were infested by crocodiles.

After a 3 hours boat ride we finally reached Uttara jetty where I first saw some Jarawas standing at the embankment. We proceeded to Kadamtala village (a village of Bengali settlers) where I was introduced to a lean and thin Bengali guy who will take me to a very different world later. Next morning I was riding a Jeep which left us in the outskirts of the village. At the roadside we waited for another guy who was going to bring some medicine for the Jarawas. After waiting an hour or so, he finally arrived and after getting the medicines from him we embarked on a very special journey. We took a dust beaten path going inside the forest. The trees were becoming thicker and bolder as we were walking inside the forest. We came across two makeshift bridges made of fallen tree trunks spread over big ditches on which only an expert gymnast can walk. I managed somehow. I also noticed some human voices shouting nearby together with some small clear grounds on which some big leaves were spread. I was told that Jarawas use these clear areas to relax while hunting. After taking many turns and curves, I started feeling that we are reaching the habitation as I could see the sky more clearly now through the foliage.

But the destination was not that near. Finally after walking another half an hour we reached the Jarawa village. I could see some children and some women sitting under huts. My companion told me that most of them have gone for gathering (it was a honey season) and they will be coming back shortly. I was standing mesmerized by looking at the unique world looking back at me. One of the children asked about me from my guide. My Bengali friend told them that I have come from a very far place riding an airplane which they still see in awe. I was feeling thirsty so I took out the bottle of water from my bag. I took a sip. Soon all the women and children wanted sips from the bottle as if it is an elixir. Later more people returning from hunting and gathering expedition joined us. I was introduced to a man with marvelous physique. I was told that he was above 60 years in age. Here I and my Bengali friend were the only wearing clothes and representing the new civilization. I was living the past which our forefathers must have lived once. The charm of the grand old world was putting me in a transcendental world.

I told them in my half cooked Andamani Hindi and gestures that I met the Jarawa mother at Port Blair hospital whose 6 months old baby was injured by a bamboo stick at Port Blair hospital. They quickly recognized her and informed me that she belonged to a different Jarawa village. One child was touching my body to confirm my gender as he could not see what I could see clearly. He was new to our civilization. Though I was living with another group of indigenous and older group of Andamanese people (Great Andamanese), but I have seen them in a government sponsored model village (Strait Village) where there were concrete houses, electricity and indigenous people who depended on government doles for their day to day survival. On the contrary here I was standing in the midst of the last remains of Andamanese culture and society.

My Bengali friend gave some of them the medicines he brought along. They liked the way he applied some antiseptic lotion to their injuries and bandaged them. Medicine brought two warring civilization together. Jarawas who were hostile to all intruders in their territory till 1992, made peace only when the magic wand of modern medicine touched their lives. Time was running fast and we had to return to kadamtala village also. So we bid goodbye to the Jarawas and started the return trail. While coming back I was thinking as if I was sitting in a time-machine set to throw me back to the world I belonged.

To be continued.

Smoking Trivia

History
Native Americans used tobacco before Europeans arrived in North & South America. At extremely high doses, tobacco becomes hallucinogenic; accordingly, Native Americans generally did not use the drug recreationally. Rather, it was often consumed in extraordinarily high quantities and used as an entheogen (a psychoactive substance (most often some plant matter with hallucinogenic effects) which occasions a spiritual or mystical experience); generally, this was done only by experienced shamans or medicine men. In addition to being smoked, uncured tobacco was often eaten, drunk as tobacco juice, or used in enemas.
Source: Wikipedia

Person
In 1609, John Rolfe arrived at the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia. He is credited as the first man to successfully raise tobacco for commercial use at Jamestown. The tobacco raised in Virginia at that time, Nicotiana rustica, was not to the liking of the Europeans, but Rolfe had brought some seed for Nicotiana tabacum with him from Bermuda. Shortly after arriving, his first wife died, and he married Pocahontas, a daughter of Chief Powhatan. Although most of the settlers wouldn’t touch the tobacco crop, Rolfe was able to make his fortune farming it for export at Varina Farms Plantation. When he left for England with Pocahontas, he was wealthy. When Rolfe returned to Jamestown following Pocahontas’s death in England, he continued to improve the quality of tobacco. By 1620, 40,000 pounds of tobacco were shipped to England. By the time John Rolfe died in 1622, Jamestown was thriving as a producer of tobacco and Jamestown’s population would top 4,000.
Source: Wikipedia

Film
Tobacco Blues (1998): directed by Christine Fugate and narrated by Harry Dean Stanton. Plot outline: This documentary looks at four tobacco-farming families in Kentucky, to see how they are dealing with the current situation. Tobacco is a cash crop not easily replaced in the poor Appalachian region where most tobacco is grown. The farmers want the public to realize that they are not evil–the farmers are just trying to make a living the best way they know how. But while the tobacco companies continue to increase their overseas production, over 125,000 tobacco farmers are projected to lose a significant portion of their income during the next 5 years. This documentary looks at how the four families are coping with the possible loss of their farms, their livelihoods, and their lifestyle.
Source: IMDb

Numbers
The WHO in the 2002 World Health Report estimates that in developed countries, 26% of male deaths and 9% of female deaths can be attributed to smoking.
Incidence of impotence is approximately 85 percent higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers.
Tobacco related illnesses kill 440,000 USA citizens per year,[9] about 1,205 per day, making it the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.
There are over 19 known carcinogens in cigarettes.
According to a study by an international team of researchers, people under 40 are five times more likely to have a heart attack if they smoke.
A team of British scientists headed by Richard Doll carried out a longitudinal study of 34,439 medical specialists from 1951 to 2001, generally called the “British doctors study.” The study demonstrated that smoking decreased life expectancy by 10 years and that almost half of the smokers died from diseases possibly caused by smoking (cancer, heart disease, and stroke). About 5,900 of the study participants are still alive and only 134 of them still smoke.
Source: Wikipedia

Thing
Smoker’s Hat: In a nut shell, the battery powered Smokers Hat sucks up the cigarette’s smoke and filters it, deodorizes it, ionizes it and spritzes a fresh scent near the exhaust fan before it spits it back out.  There are even a couple of built-in cig pack holders and a nifty visor that’s appropriately tinted smoky.
Source: totallyabsurd.com

Song
Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple
See lyrics

Fictional character
Smoke is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. A former member of the Lin Kuei clan and a longtime friend of younger Sub-Zero, Smoke debuted in Mortal Kombat II as a hidden character to fight against. He was often spotted in the Living Forest stage in which he (along with Jade) peeked out of the trees. Like Reptile when he made his appearance, he was simply a grey clad version of Scorpion who moved extremely fast, and puffs of smoke surrounded his body. He would appear randomly before matches, offering clues that would enable the player to fight him, as Reptile had in the original Mortal Kombat.
Source: Wikipedia

Recipe
Tobacco onions
See recipe

Wordplay
The following are all smoking-related anagrams (a word or phrase made by using the letters of another word or phrase in a different order):
The cigarette and tobacco industry = Death by cancer, to distinct outrage
Imperial Tobacco = Boo! Capital crime!
A packet of Rothmans cigarettes = Smoke it…fate – throat cancer. Gasp!
The Tobacco Industry = Cancer to body, shut it!
British American Tobacco = Oi! Combat cancer habit, sir!
Source: Anagram Genius

Literature
Tobacco Road is a 1932 novel by Erskine Caldwell about Georgia sharecroppers. It was dramatized for Broadway by Jack Kirkland in 1933, and ran for a then-astounding eight years (3182 performances). A 1941 film version, deliberately played mainly for laughs, was directed by John Ford, and the storyline was considerably altered. Tobacco Road takes place in Georgia during the worst years of the Great Depression. It depicts a family of poor white tenant farmers, the Lesters, as one of the many small Southern cotton farmers estranged by the industrialization of production and the migration into cities. The main character of the novel is Jeeter Lester, an ignorant and sinful man who is redeemed by his love of the land and his faith in the fertility and the promise of soil.
Source: Wikipedia

Quotes
I kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day.  I haven’t had time for tobacco since.  (Arturo Toscanini)
One thousand Americans stop smoking every day – by dying.  (Author Unknown)
It has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake.  (Mark Twain)
If you must smoke, take your butt outside.  (Author Unknown)
The believing we do something when we do nothing is the first illusion of tobacco.  (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure.  It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied.  What more can one want?  (Oscar Wilde)
The best way to stop smoking is to just stop – no ifs, ands or butts.  (Edith Zittler)
Source: www.quotegarden.com

Proverbs
The old pipe gives the sweetest smoke. (Irish)
Only men with thick lips should smoke a cigar. (Mexican)
Enough food and a pipe full of tobacco makes you equal to the immortals. (Chinese)
It is better to be without a wife for a minute than without tobacco for an hour. (Estonian)
Tobacco hic,/ Will make a man well if he be sick. (Traditional)
Source: Creative Proverbs

Courtesy- http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-trivia-smoking.htm

The wound from within

Colonial rule in India is a history of isolation and separatism. And India is still trying to come in terms of the differences arising out of this history. Take for example the North-East India. North-East India is a cultural mosaic or a colorful kaleidoscope on its own lying in the North-Eastern frontier area of India which touches China, Burma(Myanmar), Bangladesh and Bhutan.

India’s independence in 1947 led to the emergence of a new nation consisting primarily of British India. But it also inherited the problematics of it. Due to various reasons, North-East India drifted towards a state of alienation resulting in insurgency or calls for sovereignty. In the course of time these nationalistic aspirations turned uglier and murky for both the government and the insurgent groups (commonly known as Undergrounds).

Today North-East India is still burning with the flames of seeds sown long time ago. This state of affair needs us to re-examine the role of the so called main stream society specially of the people living in Hindi belt in the above context. Recently I wrote a an article (which I actually started as a letter) on this issue titled ‘ मुख्यधारा के बरक्स हाशिए का समाज-पूर्वोत्तर ‘. To read this article (Pdf) click on the link below

The margins in the main-scape: North-East India

Songs in the Right Brain

Songs can make you think about a past event or a place if you are a music lover. One particular song you can associate with one place you visited or lived. When I hear this song ‘All these things that I’ve done’ by the Killers my memories of living in Prem Nagar, Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands comes alive. The lonely walk back home every evening. The head phone in my ears and the music in my heart.

When everyone has lost, the battle is won, with all these things that I’ve done.

One thing else, have you heard about ‘sleeping socks’. I just heard people can have different pairs for day and night. Smile !