Languages!!! Languages!!!

Learning languages can be fun (as if knowing how to read, write and speak in 3 languages wasn't fun enough!!!). Yes, for Indians, we are generally comfortable in communicating in 3 languages (generally) - English, Hindi (our national language) and our mother tongue (and we tend to create a new language by concocting the three languages most of the times). But, some people (including a good friend of mine) have a flair for learning new languages. Unfortunately for me, whatever I have learnt in my first 5 years of life has been permanently stored in my memory, and any new language I learn is automatically purged after a few years of inactivity.

I have traveled a lot since I was a kid, been to almost all the states in India, so have been exposed to a number of languages. But, somehow, I never made a conscious effort to learn that region's language. So, I was stuck speaking in Bengali at home, Hindi with friends and English at school. In my school life, I had French and Sanskrit as a part of the curriculum, and, I think I managed to get good scores in those subjects quite well, but actually didn't get a chance to converse in those languages. So, after a few years, the only things I remembered were a few unrelated words.

I stayed in Kerala for more than 2 years, but somehow, managed to be just fine by not learning Malayalam - English was fine enough :). Then, when I moved to Pune, haven't even made any effort to learn Marathi, even though it has been about 7 years here.

But now, I realize that learning languages can be fun. Other than knowing the various ways in which you can communicate to the residents of the place, it helps you to understand that region's culture even more. For example, currently, I have started learning German, and other than learning about the language, I am also becoming aware of their culture and lifestyle.

So how do I rate the languages I know (refer the picture at the starting of the post)?

1. English - 6th box

2. Bengali - 5th box

3. Hindi - 6th box

4. Sanskrit - 5th box

5. French - 5th box

6. German - somewhere in between 3rd and 4th :)

7. All other languages = prelinguistic :P

The ultimate level of perfection? Profanity, of course :)

Welcome 2009!!

2009 is here, and January is almost over. And, it had been an eventful month so far - Mr Obama becoming the president of United States (and that makes him, unarguably, the most powerful man on earth). Also in the news had been the popularity of our very own Mumbaikars in the British movie "Slumdog Millionaire", and our beloved Mr Rahman for weaving his melodious magic, yet again. I haven't had a chance to watch the movie though, but that's the first thing on my list for this weekend.

Other events which had created headlines, especially in India, is our PM's surgery, which kept him away from the 60th Republic Day festivities. The argument with Pakistan regarding the Mumbai attack continues, with its incessant denials of having any part to play in that event - phew!!! 

The economy is still in bad state, with the unemployment rate increasing (and with the recent announcements of over 70k layoffs across various companies, things seriously look a bit too gloomy). UK has finally announced that it is in recession.

The announcement of the Padma awards have, as usual, created a bit of a news (atleast in my opinion). Conferring the award to our golden boy (in Olympics that is) was expected. And so was the list of filmstars (Akshay Kumar, Ash - which makes her the 4th Bachchan to get it). But did someone forget about the other medal winners at the Olympics.

So, it has indeed been a month of events. Hopefully, things will improve soon (from the financial point atleast).

And yes, this is my 2nd post for this year, and coincidently, it marks my 50th post on my blog (hurrays)!!!

Mumbai Attacks - What Next??

I remember Wednesday night, when, all of a sudden a friend from US pinged me on gtalk, asking to check if my friends in Mumbai were safe. I didn't know what he was talking about - it was 11.30 in the night, and the last time I checked the news at 8.45, there was no mention about anything out of the ordinary. But, then, I immediately went to one of the Indian news portal, and came to know what he was talking about. People masacared in CST railway station, leaving around a 100 dead and many more injured!!?? And on top of that, the hostage situation in two of Mumbai's best hotels? Was this a joke?

The next whole day, while in office, we kept refreshing the news sites, hoping that this would stop as soon as possible. But, to our shock, it continued for the whole of Thursday and Friday. The terrorists had taken over the Taj and the Oberoi hotels, and there were still speculations going on regarding the count of hostages (the majority of them were US and British citizens). Yes, the terrorists were targeting foreigners. The incessant gun firing, and random blasts continued throughout the day in these hotels.

The National Security Guards (NSG) did their best to bring the situation under control. But some of the bravest of the Mumbai police and the NSG lost their lives in the operation.

After two days of continuous fighting, the hostages were rescued, and most of the terrorists were killed.


Now the question is, why did this happen in the first place? The news channels broadcasted the CCTV coverages of the entire attack, so why was this not avoided before so many lives were lost? A few months back, there were a series of bomb blasts in the Indian capital city of Delhi. Has there been no steps taken by the authorities to protect the lives of citizens from such appalling acts of terrorism? What do WE need to do to make sure such an incident is avoided in the future? Or are we just going to live in fear? Are we going to think twice before going out with friends to a cinema? When are we going to get a reassurance from the government? I agree, no one is safe in today's times - you keep hearing about such incidents throughout the globe - but the things happening in India in the last few years makes you think back and notice...


I pray for all the brave souls who lost their lives in the attack.... May God bless us all....