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Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- General
- Hindustan Times
Delhiwale: Purple prose
Plop! That's the sound these berries make after they fall from the tree, their purple juice sometimes squirting out in all directions on hitting the hard earth. The stains explain that why Walled City hawker Kishore is no longer hawking bananas. He is, instead, carrying a basket of these berries on his head, walking all day from gali to gali, hoarsely crying, 'jamun walla, jamun le lo.' Say hello to Delhi's jamun season. This evening, at a central Delhi roundabout, scores of men have gathered around a jamun tree, violently shaking its branches, causing the berries to fall, one after another. These jamuns will later be gathered for an impromptu feast. Some metres away, street vendor Mahaveer's cart is left with only a tiny pile of neatly arranged jamuns. He gets them every morning from Azadpur Subzi Mandi, where they arrive from Punjab, he says. But our own city-state is full of jamun trees. Crisscrossed with leafy avenues, the beautiful Lutyens' Delhi is rich with eight so-called avenue trees, one of them being jamun. (Others are neem, arjun, imli, sausage tree, baheda, peepal and pilkhan). Each year, the authorities auction the rights to collect the jamuns from these trees. In fact, scores of hawkers are currently conducting business along Ashoka Road, the avenue rich in jamun trees. These men and women line the roadside with baskets and buckets filled with the day's harvest, plucked freshly from the very jamun trees under which they sit, awaiting customers. Other jamun-dense margs in the vicinity are Rajaji, Ferozeshah, Tughlak, Tyagraj, and Motilal Nehru. An exceptionally luxuriant jamun stands in Connaught Place's N-Block. The tree is huge, its shade much appreciated during the hostile sun-drenched summer afternoons. Waiters from a nearby restaurant sit under this tree during their smoking breaks. The nearby Central Park used to have scores of similarly huge jamun trees. They were sacrificed for the greater common good, after the park was taken over by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in early 2000s. All the park trees were uprooted, the grounds dug up to make way for an underground rail terminus (Rajiv Chowk!). Whatever, as soon as the jamun season will end next month, aforementioned vendor Mahaveer says he will switch to selling coconut slices. In winter, he will switch to shakarkandi, which he hawks around the India Gate circle. Meanwhile, miles away in Ghaziabad, two men are repeatedly striking a tree branch with a lathi. Finally, something falls on the ground with a thud. It is mango, which, too, is in season.
News18
01-06-2025
- Politics
- News18
Kamal Haasan's Linguistic Gaffe: Popularity Of Language Not Gauged By Antiquity But Usage
Last Updated: The debate over superiority of a particular language smacks of wastefulness and futility. Language and art are no longer tested on the touchstone of antiquity and provenance India recognises 11 languages as classical languages: Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali. These languages are acknowledged for their rich literary and historical heritage, with some dating back over 1,500 to 2,000 years. The initial six were Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Kannada (2008), Telugu (2008), Malayalam (2013), and Odia (2014). On October 4, 2024, the Union cabinet added the remaining five to the exalted status. Curiously, Hindi doesn't figure in the list of classical languages. We don't have to look too far to find the reason. After all, Hindi is spoken in several dialects. Bhojpuri, Brij, Maithili and so forth. So, it is possible the government is still examining the antiquity and heritage of each of the Hindi dialects. Punjabi, too, doesn't figure in the list but that doesn't raise the hackles of Punjabis who revel in and celebrate the flippancy and bluff lightness of the language. The redoubtable Rajaji, famed for his foresightedness and intelligence, committed about 55 years ago the same error as Kamal Haasan – Kannada came out of the womb of Tamil. He, too, had hailed Tamil as the mother of Kannada. He post-haste tendered his apology for his insensitive utterance. Language and rivers have the knack of sowing seeds of dissension. The historical English-French rivalry harks back to the Norman Conquest of 1066 and subsequent Plantagenet rule, which led to French becoming the language of the English court and aristocracy, profoundly impacting the English language. This influence, while substantial, also fostered a sense of national identity that stood away from the French, contributing to a rivalry that extended beyond language. When one thinks dispassionately, the debate over superiority of a particular language smacks of wastefulness and futility. As wasteful and futile as trying to decipher the provenance of an art especially in the light of the modern trend to celebrate impressionist art as well in equal measure. On March 21, 2006, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey registered his first tweet, which read: 'Just setting up my twttr". This was the inaugural post on the platform, which was then internally codenamed 'twttr". The first tweet was later sold as a non-fungible token (NFT) and fetched a price of $2.9 million. To the art purists, NFT may be the ultimate in the dumbing down of art. Be that as it may. The point is language and art are no longer tested on the touchstone of antiquity and provenance. Coming back to Haasan's seeming gaffe, well he might have done it deliberately to cozy up to the present ruling dispensation in Tamil Nadu. At least the timing suggests that – hints of his impending nomination to the Rajya Sabha by the DMK government and his rash comment have almost coincided. That he implicitly denounced the other language while sharing the podium with Shivarajkumar, the son of late Dr Rajkumar – the Kannada matinee idol – is both cheeky and surprising given the fact Shivarajkumar sprang to Haasan's defence though not then and there. People are also questioning Shivarajkumar, who did not counter Haasan on the stage. They argue that Kannada is an independent Dravidian language like Tamil and other languages. Maybe he was overawed by the seniority and popularity of the thespian. Logographic and hieroglyphs languages may mystify those not familiar with their scripts but each letter conveys a special meaning in a manner of picture story books that makes them superior in the eyes of those who have adopted them. What is important is that languages and dialects are unique to the defined ethnic groups. To the credit of English, it must be granted that it is the only language that is the language of science, commerce and international travel. Spanish and French despite their colonial links have remained confined to certain geographical segments. Truth be told, except English, all other languages have remained local by and large albeit rich with their unique cultural impressions. The wider appeal of the English language perhaps lies in the UK and the US spearheading scientific and commercial pursuits with all other languages languidly content in the cultural sphere. And BTW, despite the stiff upper lip caricature of the Englishman, English dictionary publishers have been open to enrichment of the language by foreign tongues. Guru and catamaran are just two of the Indian words adopted with alacrity by the English dictionaries uninhibited and unmarred by narrow considerations. Despite its rivalry with French, English has borrowed loanwords from French like savoir faire. Ditto for German (The writer is a senior columnist. His X account is @smurlidharan. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views) tags : Indian languages kamal haasan Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: June 01, 2025, 13:30 IST News opinion Opinion | Kamal Haasan's Linguistic Gaffe: Popularity Of Language Not Gauged By Antiquity But Usage
Time of India
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
95 years later, the Salt March lives on in Tamil Nadu, but the memory slips away
Every April 13 for the past 25 years, D. Sakthi Selvaganapathi, a horologist from Tiruvarur, makes his way to the Trichy cantonment. There, he joins fellow Gandhians for a 240 km salt march, reenacting the historic Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha led by freedom fighter C. Rajagopalachari 95 years ago. Gandhians across Tamil Nadu have been reenacting the march for the past 60 years, says Selvaganapathi, ever since the 25th anniversary of the original walk. "The reenactment is a reminder of breaking the salt law imposed by the British," says the 71-year-old, who represents the Trichy-Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha Dandi Yatra committee. "We continue to campaign against caste discrimination and alcoholism, advocate for literacy, and promote khadi, all causes that the Satyagrahis fought for in 1930." On March 12, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi led about 78 volunteers on a 387 km walk from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to the coastal village of Dandi in Navsari district as part of the Civil Disobedience Movement. On April 6, at Dandi beach, Gandhi broke the salt law by boiling seawater to produce salt. Later, Rajagopalachari, President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, began a 240 km march to Vedaranyam to replicate Gandhi's protest. On April 13, 1930, 98 Satyagrahis started their journey from Dr T. S. S. Rajan's residence near Trichy Cantonment. The marchers walked through Srirangam, Kallanai, Thanjavur, Papanasam, Kumbakonam, Needamangalam, Mannargudi, and Thiruthuraipoondi, campaigning against caste discrimination and promoting national integration and social harmony. Despite threats of imprisonment from Thanjavur district collector J. A. Thorne, people in every village and town supported them. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Google Brain Co-Founder Andrew Ng, Recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo "The sun did not rise over the Bay of Bengal on April 30 when CR and 16 fellow marchers set out towards Edanthevar salt swamp, a couple of miles from Vedaranyam camp. Almost immediately after they reached the swamp, they bent and picked up some salt," writes Rajmohan Gandhi, author of the biography 'Rajaji, a Life'. Rajagopalachari was immediately arrested. A trial was conducted at a salt shed (now the office of the salt commission in Agasthiyampalli). A judge sentenced Rajagopalachari to six months of rigorous imprisonment in Trichinopoly central prison. Following Rajagopalachari, hundreds of people defied the salt law in the following month and were arrested. Every year, the Gandhians and Congress cadres dressed in khadi and carrying Indian flags from across Tamil Nadu reenact the march with a symbolic start at the same point near Trichy cantonment. The villagers of Vedaranyam and a group named Salt Satyagraha Reenactment Marchers Reception Committee welcome the reenactors as they arrive at Vedaranyam on April 28. The following day, the group holds a fast and sings songs of national devotion at the Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha memorial, even spinning yarn on charkas. On April 30, the Gandhians garland busts of Vedaranyam's freedom fighters such as A. Vedaratnam, K. Vairappan, and V. Subbaiya, and grab handfuls of salt and raise slogans in front of the salt march memorial pillar in Agasthiyampalli where the salt laws were broken. "We are doing this in the hope that the younger generations will not forget," says Selvaganapathi. "Today's generation is not aware of the significance of the Vedaranyam Satyagraha," says 'Pookadai' T. Panneerselvam, a florist from Trichy and representative of the Salt Satyagraha Awareness Committee. "Though we Gandhians have been keeping the spirit of the Satyagraha alive with the reenactment, the govt too needs to promote awareness. The govt could develop memorials that educate people on this movement," says the 61-year-old. P. V. Rajendran, a representative of the Salt Satyagraha Reenactment Marchers Reception Committee, says names of Satyagrahis should be inscribed in memorials as people only know about Rajaji. "We can have sound and light shows at the memorials to educate students about it." Many historical sites associated with the movement are now dilapidated, says Selvaganapathi. "Dr T. S. S. Rajan's house in Trichy and the historic buildings in Vedaranyam where the Satyagrahis were detained and tried after the salt march need renovation." The family of Sardar Vedaratnam, who was one of the main figures of the Vedaranyam march, has been demanding statues of the freedom fighters for years now. "We have been petitioning the Union govt to rename Agasthiyampalli Railway Station as 'Salt Satyagraha Agasthiyampalli Railway Station' and Vedaranyam Railway Station as 'Sardar Vedaratnam Vedaranyam Railway Station' for a few years now," says his 74-year-old grandson A. Vedarathinam.
