The Language of Thought

There are times when I wonder if a generation of Indians who have migrated from their native languages to English as the primary language of thought have lost some part of their identities. This is a feeling that I get only when I look at people around my age group (+15/ -10 years), the rest clearly have a defined language of thought. 

When I look at the elder group (Age > x+15), I look at a bunch of people who have their thought and the ethos in their native cultures and contexts. They can talk any language they like but you know the language they are thinking in. 

Similarly, when I look at the younger bunch, they have a clear preference of language. Many of them would not even like to talk in the erstwhile native language. They have been clearly language naturalized. 

But my ilk, which I refer to as the 'Bridge' generation, is a mixed up bunch. Some of them have changed their language of thought and some are firmly entrenched in the native language. As a result, they often struggle to communicate with the preceding and the following generation. Not here to comment on where they should be. It is their own choice and they have either made it or they are stuck with it.

I started on this post when I was browsing online for a few books and my site suggested 'नीम का पेड़' (The Neem Tree) to me. Some from my generation might remember this TV serial from our childhood days. It used to start with a Ghazal sung by Jagjit and written by Nida Fazli. It started off beautifully:

मूँह की बात सुने हर कोई,
दिल के दर्द को जाने कौन
आवाजों के बाज़ारों में,
खामोशी पहचाने कौन !!

Let me try and translate it. This is how it goes:

Everyone hears the spoken word, Whom do I share with this sadness of mine

In this market of din and noise, Is there anyone who seeks silence...

And as it happens almost always, it does not translate well! Sigh!

Invictus

Not the movie but the brilliant poem from Henley!

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Reproducing Auden

Reproducing WH Auden's work with small changes

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message She Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

She was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good

Childhood Dreams

Was reading this article on WSJ that talked about a Professor at CMU. Someone by the name of Randy Pausch who gave his last lecture at CMU a few days back. He is suffering from Pancreatic Cancer and will die in a few days.

This one is so full of life! So I am linking it up here.




Do not worry, I am not giving up cynicism but am not that comfortable with my numbness anymore.

Collective Wisdom of the last three years

The last three years have helped me transform into a cynic. The following gems were produced during the golden age of my cynicism i.e. before I left Chennai for Delhi. This post is dedicated to the brotherhood of the OICs at the Bank.

1. Life is a struggle against the mediocrity of your own
2. Being simple is the most complex task that you would come across
3. Tomorrow will be as bad as today
4. When in the line of fire, Lie low!
5. Good advise is never appreciated if given out of time
6. A kick in time, saves nine
7. Anticipation is worse than constipation
8. Planning life is like taking the bull by its horns. Doesn't work!
9. Hard work is 99% perception and 1% perspiration
10. Independence in highly undervalued when you have it!
11. Never ever give more information than sought
12. If you knock at the wall in place of the door, you will hurt your knuckles
13. Rumors are always more interesting than people!
14. If you don't seize the moment, someone else will!
15. If its too good to be true, Wake up!
16. Unhappiness is directly proportional to the happiness of the residual world
17. Change is easy as long as it is for someone else
18. There is less good in this world than you think
19. The best mood to finish important tasks is last moment panic
20. Life is a coin biased against you!
21. Life is a lemon and I want a refund
22. Two and two make five with appropriate amount of alcohol or insanity
23. Irritation is the first pedestal to success
24. Boredom will get you sooner or later
25. Habit is the strongest narcotic
26. Like Thank you, Hello and Hi there, goodbye is just another word

Adding more, June 2011

27. Life is more twisted that you think it is
28. Hair today, gone tomorrow (More applicable for Men)
29. Only groups can be more tyrannical than real life tyrants
30. Why simplify when you can obfuscate
31. The tribe of stupid is for real and there are more of them than you would think