Losing the Punjabi touch
THE three-part series of reports run by The Tribune recently on the abysmally low state to which the Punjabi language has fallen into reinforces the pain and anguish most self-respecting Punjabis feel about the language. In urban areas, it is rare to find a child speaking in the mother tongue with his family or friends. The only place the youngsters seek out the Punjabi language is the dance floor. They love to groove to popular Punjabi numbers, as do most other Indians all over the world. But ironically, music, which ideally should be a repository of the elegance, eloquence and expression of a culture, is today a rather cheap and vulgar string of lyrics put to thumping notes. It is painfully clear that the ignorance and neglect of the Punjabi language is complete. A language which boasts of a rich, rustic legacy and a trove of heritage comprising literature, scholarship, and dialects such as Malwi, Majhi, Doabi, Powadhi, Pothohari and Saraiki cannot be allowed to be marginalised. It needs to be preserved. The proponents of the “Punjabi Suba” had laid stress on linguistic credentials to the States Reorganisation Committee, which led to the trifurcation of Punjab in 1966.
Fifty years down the line, somewhere in our misplaced bid to progress, we have lost touch with the idiom of our land. The parents would do well to know that a bilingual child fares better in life, as per many studies. Without speaking Punjabi or writing and enriching it further, we cannot legitimately claim pride in our being the 10th most spoken language in the world, fourth in Asia and third in the sub-continent as also in the UK and Canada.
A language becomes extinct when the younger generation stops speaking and studying it. The distinct sign that one’s mother language is slowly dying is excruciatingly evocative of a larger cultural loss. The onus of saving it is on every native Punjabi — whether Sikh, Hindu, Muslim or Christian — proud of his origins. The government’s role in the preservation and promotion of Punjabi cannot be underestimated. Koi sun reha hai ji?
