Very interesting! And he makes me guilty. NO never I am. Tamil is your tongue and my mom can speak Malayalam as my wife can by education and living in. But as I am good at Tamil and learnt well , I took only French in the college so that though I am not a french tongue fluently due to non practice, my French connections served my purpose at the right time. And once in Pondicherry my Pondy inspector brought a letter in French, and when quizzed, the assessee was evasive, my recording of the statement in pure Eng giving the french text, sealed him there with the disclosures. So even a small twig is helpful, somewhere in life. KR IRS 28824
On Wed, 28 Aug 2024 at 09:21, Chittanandam V R <[email protected]> wrote: > > *Received from Shri Sitendra Kumar* > > * Punjabi as ‘father tongue’* > > *Atul Joshi * > > *MY mother often reminisces that theirs was one of the first Punjabi > weddings in Yorkshire, England, in the 1960s. She shows newspaper cuttings > to bolster her claim. The headlines read: ‘The teacher weds the lady > twice’. This was to acknowledge that my parents first had a conventional > marriage at my maternal grandparents’ place, followed by the registered > court marriage. Though the Punjabi community in England was small, to begin > with, the common thread of the native language of the early settlers wove > them together.* > > *When I was a child, one of my father’s university colleagues (a British > woman) wisely advised him to retain Punjabi as the language of conversation > at home so that I could learn it and be connected to my roots. She opined, > ‘Your son would absorb English from the air, but the challenge would be to > make him understand Punjabi.’ As a rule, my parents would speak in Punjabi > at home; I picked it up with ease and that made my father’s heart swell > with pride.* > *He had an intense attachment to his mother tongue, while having respect > for other languages. It was no surprise that his PhD thesis in linguistics > from the University of London was titled ‘The phonology of the Punjabi > verb’. Eventually, he returned to India, took up a university position, and > we settled here. He was content that I went to a school that laid emphasis > on teaching and learning Punjabi.* > > *A generation later, my school going son had just been promoted to the > senior section. It was time for him to choose an additional language, and > he decided to take French. I asked him, ‘Is there another choice?’ > ‘Punjabi,’ he replied nonchalantly.* > > *I was quick to suggest that Punjabi should be his automatic choice. He > claimed that most of his friends had picked French. He said it gave them an > advantage to learn an international language, and it was fashionable to > learn French. If at all he opted for Punjabi, his existing class section > with all his friends would be changed. I looked at him and then played a > masterstroke, ‘But your mother tongue is Punjabi.’ He carefully thought > over it and then announced, ‘I agree that my nana-nani speak Punjabi > occasionally, but my mother tongue is Hindi since mom is from Ambala. She > always speaks in Hindi.’ I was nonplussed. Finally, I said, ‘Son, in that > case, your father tongue is Punjabi and that should be a good reason for > you to consider taking it up!’* > *My argument convinced him and he dutifully opted for Punjabi. His section > did get changed and his friends of five years were separated from him, but > he honoured my pride in my mother tongue. I could see my deceased father’s > appreciation mirrored in my son’s beaming eyes once he started learning > Punjabi. May everyone’s mother tongue flourish… with or without a nudge > from the father!* > *Atul Joshi * > ************** > *Chittanandam* > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZooqfdS0WL0xaed5ekw%2BBGadAkqmZn8YRxT-Hurph665dA%40mail.gmail.com.
