The Principal Ponders!
My objective in having my own blog is to share my thoughts and experiences with all my friends that I meet or don’t meet regularly. There are people I meet professionally or personally who are not exactly friends or just acquaintances, but someone I would like to include in my list of friends on this planet.
When I read other blogs and the comments on the write ups in it, I realize how many people actually respond to various issues.
I do hope that I would be able to transform that response into action… a progressive and proactive action is all that is needed to usher in positive change.
My all time favourite line, “You be the change you wish to see in the world” is what drives me all through!
I want you to respond, discuss, debate or comment and I do hope ( I hate this word ‘hope’ coz it sounds so pessimistic that what you wish for may not happen)
So I change the word hope to…’I am sure’ we will together build an action packed community who will make a difference.
11th June
I feel obliged that I have so many friends who are willing to share my thoughts and respond too.
I am amazed at the change in this world where without meeting or calling up one another, we are able to interact. Interacting is one harmonising action in itself, however I follow the ‘Covey Habits’ sincerely so ‘Begin with the end in mind’ is what I would like to recall at this moment. My objective through this blog is to harmonise thoughts to bring in proactive changes in the world.
After all changes that occurred till now are the culminations of somebody’s thoughts.
For instance I am able to express in English thanks to Lord Bentinck and Macaulay.
You may wonder why!
Lord Bentinck was responsible to rationalise the mounting British expenditure in India, then. His proposal to employ Indians (the first outsourcing measure) who can be hired at a lower cost seemed practical. But the question was Indians are not English educated.
I now thank Lord Macaulay who supported Bentinck. They wanted to educate us Indians.
Neither Gautam Buddha nor Mahavira prevailed upon them to enlighten us poor Indians! Let me quote them: “we must form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern- a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect”.
Change Then : A change with a selfish motive for them. And for us, it was a change for ruining our identity.
I believe that when we fear something, we are sending out negative vibes which attract negativity and our fears come true. That is what happened to the fear of British who believed that “educating Indians in English would result in the British getting kicked out in 3 months”. Well may be not in 3 months but they were sent out.
Change Now: A ‘Change’ which was brought in for a ‘selfish end’ but proved to be beneficial for all concerned. Of course it was not readily accepted, but who complains now? Neither those who opposed English education nor those who brought it in!
We in our country are enjoying the benefits of western education and those in UK are happy that they don’t have to rule a billion people where 300millions can speak English. All is well that ends well.
I also have to thank the Tamilians for their opposition to Hindi as the National Language. English is the un’official’ language because of the ‘change they resisted’.
But for them, I would be blogging in Hindi for which most of my friends would not respond. In this case they opposed a change but I don’t know whether they benefitted out of it or not.
In all this, look at the proactive changes we Indians have adopted! English is spoken all over the world by Indians…albeit in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu or Bengali..but, it is spoken!
We are such good learners and we know how to make things happen. One university in Kerala has actually permitted its students to write the exams in a mix of English and Malayalam, and why not?
On the flipside: I somehow have this eerie feeling that Macaulay will be turning in his grave whenever he reads the ads in newspapers for Indian teachers to teach English in US UK and Australia. The sheer blasphemy of it all must be making him toss and turn all night and all day too!
Before I sign off for today, I just want to leave you all with a thought. If we are proactive and positive, change of any kind or size, shape or form will only make us into more intense human beings!
Episode punch:
I once had a healthy debate with someone on the importance of mother tongue in the development of foreign languages, in this case English. He tried convincing me that our first thoughts are in our mother tongue and then we translate into the language we have to express in. Clarity of speech in mother tongue helps a person in developing a new language.
Fair enough! My contention is that when we have so many typical regional, local and communistic forms of language, how does one think with clarity?
For example Telugu is spoken in many different ways in many regions. And what to say of the movie heroes and heroines who developed a new style of Telugu lending an unkind hand to the increasing confusion, lesser said the better!
In this global world that we have to live in, it is imperative that we groom ourselves with clear communication skills, particularly so in English. Do you think the Chinese example is good?
English immersion camps in China
A commitment towards learning English was part of China’s bid to host the Olympic Games, to the point that taxi drivers who failed an English test did not have the licences renewed and hotlines were set up to report incorrect English use in public places.