Sunday, November 27, 2011

Language- becoming richer by borrowing !

Language is a living and growing phenomenon- always borrowing words from other languages and assimilating them. While the American English is known to be more flexible and open, the Queen’s English (UK) bound as it is in strict rules of grammar- is more considered more conservative and not so open to external influences. But Queen’s English has also evolved over the years or one could say centuries. From Chaucer to Shakespeare and in modern times, the changes that have taken place are too obvious to have escaped notice. One is amused to see the words like “ lathi charge ”,& “ hartal ” etc finding a place in the English dictionaries. The word juggernaut ” meaning chariot is clearly derived from “ Jagarnath “ or “ Jagannath ” another name for Lord Krishna or even Lord Vishnu .


Recently , we have the word “ moolah ”- a slang for money ; another word “ diva ” denoting a woman of exceptional talent , as far as fine arts are concerned , seems derived from “ Devi ” meaning a Goddess . Similarly the word “avatar” hitherto reserved for an incarnation or a manifestation of God in the Hindu pantheon , has acquired a wider meaning. The ubiquitous potato in a new recipe is said to have come in a new “avatar”. There may be examples of such usage galore. The Hindi words like Guru, Mantra and Jugaad have already been recognized all over the world and are frequently used in English text.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

11-11-11.

What is so special about the date 11-11-11 , except that there is repetition of the digit 11 !
It may not be ominous-good or bad either way , but yes, there will only be repetition of digit 12 next year on 12th December- and that is all for this century. Only the twelve years of the century - one to twelve - see this occurring . Meanwhile good luck and best wishes to those who have their birthday or wedding anniversary or some other memorable occasion this day !

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Bhupen Hazarika

When Kalpana Lajmi’s Rudaali was released in 1993 , apart from the off beat storyline, the film stood out for two reasons. One, the masterly enactment of Sanichari’s role by Dimple Kapadia nee Khanna and the other - the song-- Dil hoom hoom kare, ghabraye , beautifully sung by Bhupen Hazarika , the doyen of Assamiya singing. It seemed as if the song had been written for him only , and only he could have matched the quality of singing with one by Lata Mangeshkar in the female version. Later he sang Gajgamini , Ganga tum behti kyun ho and duniya parayi in Darmiyan and Vaishnav jan te tene kahiye je----- the favourite bhajan of Gandhi ji

No more songs in the golden voice of Bhupen Hazarika , which has been silenced for ever !

Tributes to the maestro !