shreyans's space

The point of language is communication. It doesnt matter what language you speak or whether you even speak at all till you can get your message through. I prefer speaking in Hinglish, not because I find it cool but because it comes to me naturally. I find it as a consequence of speaking Hindi at home/school along with me doing most of my official work in English. Somewhere along the line, while communicating, a mixture comes out on its own accord.

 

I was at a party some time back. A little "hi-fi" for me maybe. And I spoke as I usually speak. A little more Hindi than English. So, a statement like "Kaise ho?" also seems to be looked down upon these days. It felt weird the way people look at you when you speak in Hindi these days. English may be in vogue but thats not the point. Go to countries like France, Spain etc., they proudly speak in their national languages and dont feel ashamed in not knowing English. I am not a deep-rooted nationalist who feels that we should speak only in Hindi. No, that is not the point of this post. But, what is the shame in speaking Hindi? What is so wrong with it? Syntactically and with respect to the alphabets and other technicalities, it is far superior than English.

 

Its ok if people speak in English or Hindi - as I said you just need to communicate - but why look down upon someone who speaks in Hindi? My parents dont speak English very well and there is nothing to be ashamed in that. It is a good thing to learn English - it helps a lot. But if you dont happen to know it, you still have every right to be accepted. I guess these hi-fundu parties are not meant for me or maybe I just need to find someone Indian there.

Claustrophobic is the word. The strangulation of the throat, the breathlessness, the agony. Every moment feels like a lifetime. The pain pierces the body into the heart. Each cell shivers with the thought of the next. Suddenly, darkness dawns in. This is the end. I somehow know, this must be it. But no, I am not there yet. Death felt like such a shimmer of hope. Alas, it wasn’t to be. With half-closed pupils, I still see the world with blurred eyes awaiting the moment. Awaiting something. I am stuck between two pathways – hanging from a cliff. I fear loosening my grip and yet holding on is extremely painful. The two worlds seem far apart. Yet, I hope they coincide. Somewhere, within me, I hope for a smooth transition. It can’t be this abrupt. It doesn’t seem right. Communication sometimes is the key but here, I miserably fail to speak out. I hope for a stroke of magic and I don’t let the hope die. It is the only thing which pulls me along every moment of the darkness.

 

And in the far away distance, I see a flicker of light growing larger, more beautiful, approaching me. I guess the time has come. And a lullaby sings on its own accord somewhere in my heart. I am going to sleep now. Forever. And gradually, beautifully, I do it. I breathe my last!

 

It was raining pretty heavily this weekend. Warning was issued that nobody moves out of his/her home. So, what do you do when you are stranded at home? Ofcourse, TV!! Good, soaps do not occupy channel space on weekends. So, I could watch the news. Well, the plethora of news channels available for us gives us such wonderful variety to select from.

So, going through various channels, I finally landed up on India TV. India TV, remember? The Shakti kapoor scandal. The channel which relies on stings more than news!! Well, that’s what I used to think. Till, I watched this exclusive piece of footage which no other news channel could even cover! This wasn’t a sting operation though I thought, for the first time, that a sting operation would be much preferable. The news report headlined ‘Naag aur naagin ka pyaar’. Everyone is so keen on cashing on sex today that the news channel stooped to show two snakes mating each other at prime time. Well, we are not all that desperate, are we?

Well, if the idea wasn’t hilarious enough even for animal planet to show, the news reader made it even more incredulous. It seems he did a lot of ground research on snakes before he said this, “The female snake waits for the male snake. Then, the male snake climbs down a tree and reaches his mate. And all this while they feel nobody is watching them. But well, somebody is watching their romance. Who this is, we will tell you after a short break”.

Oh, you have to wait the entire break to know who saw the snakes mating. Ofcourse, it was the India TV camera! Sting, remember? Well, this was prime time 8 pm news on this channel and ofcourse no other news channel could show such important news to its viewers. Can you beat it, not even STAR News! But, I am glad for this exclusive bit of news, not for the news, but for the fact that it is exclusive, just on this channel! If others too joined in….