Window
Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee
Agartala
Agartala, the
capital of Tripura, known for its sprawling Rajbati (Palace) and intricate
bamboo works is an interesting city. Just 2 kms from Bangladesh, this sprawling
city, the second largest in North-east India after Guwahati lies on the bank of
Haora River. Considering its geo-strategic importance the airport is tiny,
chaotic and has an unkempt look.
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| Ujjant Palace, Agartala, Tripura |
It was my first visit to Agartala. The aircraft
stopped almost at the gate of the airport and the passengers alighted from the
plane and just walked into the arrival hall in less than a minute.
The ride from
airport to the University, distance of about 24 km took about an hour, thanks
to congestion caused by the construction of a flyover. It looked almost like
rural Bengal- the topography, the people, the houses- almost everything looked
familiar.
A while later I discovered another similarity:
the work culture is also the same.
Hindi Diwas
The Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi as an official
language of India on 14 September 1949.
Three years later, on request of Rashtrabhasa Prachar Samiti, Wardha, this day
was declared as Hindi Diwas and celebrated all over the country to promote and
popularise Hindi.
The dialect of Hindustani on which Standard Hindi is based is Khariboli, the vernacular
of Delhi and the
surrounding western Uttar Pradesh and southern Uttarakhand. Urdu, literally meaning, "the language of the camp", a dialect of
Hindustani, acquired official linguistic
prestige in the later Mughal period (1800s). Linguistically,
Hindi and Urdu are two registers of the same language. Hindi is written in the Devanagari script and uses more Sanskrit words, whereas Urdu is
written in the Perso-Arabic script and uses more Arabic and Persian words.
In the late 19th century, the movement standardising a written language
from Khariboli, for the Indian masses in North India, started to standardise
Hindi as a separate language from Urdu, which was learnt by the Mughal elite.
In 1881, Bihar accepted Hindi as
its sole official language, replacing Urdu, and thus became the first state of
India to adopt Hindi.
Hindi has all the qualities to be a good link language in India, which
has so many languages and dialects. Besides the fact that Hindi (or different
dialects of Hindi) is spoken by half of
the population of the country (in fact, it is now the fourth largest spoken
language of the world), it has the adaptability and flexibility, which many
other languages do not have.
It will augur well for us to learn Hindi not out of any compulsion or
coercion- but out of sheer love of the language which has a rich body of
literature to enjoy.
Two New
Books
It is a
pleasure to attend Book Release events, especially if the writer happens to be
young. It means- the next generation is growing up, and that is what takes
everything forward. The onward mobility means life is alive and kicking.
Recently I
came across two new books published by two young writers: Manas Padiary
(Jibanara Kete Ranga –Colours of Life)
and Parambramha Tripathy (Kichhi Kahibar Achhi- I have to say Something)
Jibanara Kete Ranga is also the title of a popular story telling
programme on Bhubaneswar-based Radio Choklate. Manas writes most the stories. I
am a big fan of Manas. He writes so well- with such intimate feeling- it is
sublime.
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| Manas Padiary presenting me his book 'Jibanara Kete Ranga' at Radio Choklate office, |
Tailpiece
The best thing
about attending a book release event as a guest is - you get a free book with
the autograph of the author.
***
This column appears regularly in www.orissadiary.com
11.9.2016
Mrinal Chatterjee, a journalist turned media
academician lives on the valley of Paniohala Hills at Dhenkanal, Odisha. He
also writes fiction. His latest book ‘Point by Point’, a collection of his
columns published in Odia daily Khabar
and Sambad Kalika is being released
shortly.
***
