‘Pressure to adopt specific language’

As International Punjabi Maa Boli Divas is observed on February 21, a special ceremony was held at Saroop Rani Government College for Women by Folklore Research Academy and Pragtisheel Lekhak Sangh.

Bharatiya Sahitya Akademi Award winning playwright Dr Kuldeep Singh Deep said, “At present, there is a pressure to adopt only a specific language while many native and local languages struggle to keep up with the pace.” “People, who speak one language are migrating to a place where another language is dominant. When the speakers of a language start feeling inferior towards their language, that language starts dying,” he said.

Deep said songs of every language represent the culture of their region, hence, instead of English rhymes, students in Punjab schools should be taught Punjabi folk songs.

Punjabi poet Prof Surjit Judge said knowledge and imagination can be expanded only in one’s own language. “Adoptive language is born from the mind but one’s mother tongue is the language of the heart. A person’s emotions can be expressed only and only in one’s mother tongue,” he said.

Head of the Folklore Academy, Ramesh Yadav, said this institution had always been striving for mutual understanding of the Punjabi community, constructive culture and representation of folk literature.

In the second session of the event, five teachers, including Jaswinder Singh Jhabal, Jagroop Kaur Bhagtanwala, Jagjit Kaur Bahoru, Manpreet Kaur Jhanjoti and Inderjit Singh, , were honoured for promoting Punjabi.

Poet Sukhbir Singh Bhullar’s newly published poetry book “Hawaan Mikh Lakde Pal”, poet Kamal Gill’s edited book “Kaal-Kothri Te Hor Kashiyal” and the quarterly magazine “Anutash” were launched.