Random notes

6

My love and affection for the English language began at a very early age.My uncle whom we used to call Damu uncle went Singapore searching a job when he was bearly 18.Later when an exchange of power took place in Singapore he opted Bitish citizenship and setteled in London.Untill his death in 2009 June at his residence at Thaliyil near Parassinikkadavu,(Kannur,Kerala) Damu uncle was a British citizen.A few years back he came to his mother land with the hope that he would be able to live here with all the leagal rights of an Indian.In those days he started an Institute at Eripuram naming it The Sreedevi Institute of Spoken English.For that he bought a big plastic round table and a few chairs.Damu uncle had to close his institute because he could’nt collect even one third of the amount he had to pay as rent .
I began to nurture a love for the English language during my ‘wanderings’ with Damu uncle who came home from London once in two or three years for a stay in our home for one or two weeks or at the maximum a month.Damu uncle would be very busy from the very moment of his home coming.He would visit all our relatives,even those distant ones whose links to our ancestral family would have to be established through so many cross references.But he considered that he should maitain all the age old ties.It was his emotional necessity and he considered it a moral responsibility also.Damu uncle took me with him wherever he went. He met his old friends,business men and doctors and lawyers who were his close friends during their stay in London for higher studies.Damu uncle and his friends conversed almost always in English and I sat among them as a frightened,silent listner.Even now my fear of the English language is very strong.But one thing;when years passed I understood that my mothertongue Malayalam is no way inferior to English and those whose spoken English was excellent had no serious considerations about the literature or other serious discourses in English or any other language.For them language is a tool for communication and proficiency in a foreign language is the easiest way to establish supremecy over others in certain critical situations.They are totally ignorant of the aesthetic value or the emotional fabric of a language that makes it unique among thousands of languages in the world.
25/9/2010