Sunday, August 02, 2009

News

Well. Not really. No news. Just an observation, in fact.

I was watching the 8 o’ clock Tamil news yesterday. The lady happily chattering away in chaste Tamil. Or should I say, thooya tamizh? Anyway, I couldn’t get most of what she was saying - which made me wonder at least half the population, if not more would be people who do not fully/ easily understand the language in its purest form. At least not as easily as the spoken form. And, it is a fair assumption, I think that TV news should be more tuned to listeners who do not have access to other media like internet (due to cost), newspapers (due to illiteracy). In which case, speaking in thooya tamizh is just about the last thing to do. I mean, I am all for saving the language and all that - but seriously, not at the cost of it beating the very purpose of the medium used.

[Obviously, a similar argument should be read for Hindi/ Bangla/ and other languages too. Just a disclaimer, just to emphasize that it is the habit - of using language in such a way - rather than the people or the language itself which is under scrutiny]

This has occured to me earlier too - as in much earlier, when I was much younger and much sharper. At a time when I thought I would probably realise when I grow up and gather worldly wisdom, unlike the rolling stone. And yet I do not understand it today. Which obviously implies that I have grown up much like the rolling stone. Or have I?