The Marathi Day

 In Maharashtra, February 27 is a feverish day annually, whatever might be the actual temperature. It has to be as it is the Marathi Day. The celebration of a mother tongue is indeed a requisite as its speakers alone can truly glorify it.

Every year on this day or on its eve, almost ritually, there are programmes after programmes glorifying Marathi, speeches and fervent discussions on its quasi classical status, its not being granted the classical status as yet, et al.  Genuine issues indeed, but why do they get merely repeated ritualistically?

Beyond mere jingoism and photo-ops, how can the language of heart be the master  language its ardent supporters fervently want it to be? First and foremost, it has to be the language of knowledge. 

In this era of knowledge as the real capital (the best example of it would be the kpo's and/or the start-up's), how can we strengthen Marathi as a language of knowledge, of information, of science and technologies, of commerce and business, and most importantly, of humanities is the real question.  

Umpteen workshops for script writing and/or poetry making may flourish on the D-day, and beyond, as the Wapp Groups have turned in to a writer minting factories. But entertainment industry has only these many possibilities which are anyways "managed" with their own logic, if any at all.

Actually, a language grows great because the thought in it is unusual. Remember how and why Sant Dnyaneshwar could initiate Marathi? He began a new mould/mode of thinking. His attempt hence was more radical than that  by any predecessor, for instance.

Marathi needs to grow now in that fashion, as the language of radical, path breaking thought, knowledge and wisdom. It has to create a new pathway instead of the much travelled rout(in)es. May be, better translation modes,  encyclopedia and dictionaries might help? German, for example, has up to date dictionaries for each and every discipline and its tributaries. English  is a rich master of world affairs because it chooses to accept newer concepts and terms from every intellectually creative are(n)as or for folk forms and terms of daily usage. Initially, the terminology may appear difficult, but why is there such a terrible need for excessive simplification? Why not believe in the user's native capabilities and capacities? 

In brief, only when the language of heart becomes the language of head, it would gain real prestige, I suppose. 

Pratima @ how to make the mother tongue the dream language with immense status that we want it to be?