Sunday, September 22, 2013

Remember the time when.............

“Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age. The child is grown, and puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.” 
― 
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Remember the time when you went for your first outing and hmm ...you did something which got you embarrassed and today, you laugh over it?
Remember the time when you and whole of your family got together on a certain occasion and you had that adrenaline rush in you, running places?
Remember the time when you explored something new and beamed with joy?
Remember the time when you used to lead a carefree life devoid of any tensions, problems, living life king-size?
Well, That's Childhood.
Sometimes, when I realize that the past few years of my life has been spent in nothing but tensions, anxiety, loneliness, despair, frustration etc., those memories come from nowhere and strike you like a bullet. And I've always told my father and still keep telling him that "Wish we start growing up all over again"

.
“When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” 
― Patrick RothfussThe Name of the Wind


Childhood is that phase of life when you are inquisitive, learning new things, making friends, going out on vacations and having the best time of your life. We never care about what is kept in store for the future and who would at such an age? We discover and explore tons of stuff in our day-to-day life. Even today when I watch videos and pictures taken by my father when I was just a kid (in 4th grade or so. Okay, in all those years), those memories just capture me like roots holding a tree and takes me to a world where there is optimism written all over.
I’m now 18 and have realized that the world is not a simple place to live in. There is no free lunch. There are good and bad people all over the place and I have to deal with them all by myself and that are when I see that I've matured and my childhood is nothing but now a memoir of old photos and videos, which are currently lying somewhere, a place unknown which can be found only by chance.

“Grown-ups are complicated creatures, full of quirks and secrets.” 
 
Roald Dahl



As said by Roahl Dahl, we all have secrets within ourselves as we grow. Our fantasies, our dreams, our personal problems, relationship problems which make us look like a soul in despair. Growing-up means taking up a lot of responsibility on your hands and remaining faithful to them, leaving very little time for ourselves. When we think of childhood, we think of the innocence and the simplicity we possessed but then we realize we are beyond these things and now have both good and bad qualities beneath our souls but we can’t help it because some unavoidable circumstances at some point has made us so. But one day, out of the blue when we realize that we were before and what we are now, then our childhood memories will act like a balm on those sufferings we had to endure during those hard times. Not every time, but when you need it the most.

“Grown up, and that is a terribly hard thing to do. It is much easier to skip it and go from one childhood to another.” 
 
F. Scott Fitzgerald


I wrote this post because…… because I miss my childhood. I miss it each and every day of my life. What days those were!!Full of energy, that glitter in the eyes when I get something new or see or learn something new, pulling off pranks which may seem silly but worth remembering even today and the list doesn't simply end here. So my final message to all those kids who are on the verge of becoming teenagers and then to adulthood, Go out! Enjoy the sunlight, play sports, spend time with your family and friends. Never get tensed, depressed. You’ll be surely facing that at some point of time but for now, LIVE A TENSION-FREE LIFE!!
And the last thing- “Enjoy your childhood. Learn, explore and play”. This may look stereotypical but still, CHILDHOOD TIMES IS LIKE A PRECIOUS GEM. NEVER LOSE IT, YOU MAY REGRET THEN FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!



“[...] I grew up out of that strange, dreamy childhood of mine and went into the world of reality. I met with experiences that bruised my spirit - but they never harmed my ideal world. That was always mine to retreat into at will. I learned that that world and the real world clashed hopelessly and irreconcilably; and I learned to keep them apart so that the former might remain for me unspoiled. I learned to meet other people on their own ground since there seemed to be no meeting place on mine. I learned to hide the thoughts and dreams and fancies that had no place in the strife and clash of the market place. I found that it was useless to look for kindred souls in the multitude; one might stumble on such here and there, but as a rule it seemed to me that the majority of people lived for the things of time and sense alone and could not understand my other life. So I piped and danced to other people's piping - and held fast to my own soul as best I could.” 
 
L.M. Montgomery
, My Dear Mr. M: Letters to G.B. Macmillan from L.M. Montgomery


Cheers…….
KV

KARTHIK VARDARAJAN
13BCE0237

Quotes taken from-
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/childhood

Monday, September 2, 2013

Indlish-The New Language In Town





I still remember a teacher of mine who was constantly made fun of because he spoke English with a mixture of Malayalam and English and the constant use of the word “that” while he talked. Sample this-“I want to say that, this class does not behave properly that, you people do not study at all that, I’m fed up!” Strange, isn't it?
Well, that’s not the only case I've encountered, there are lots and lots of people I've met and interacted with who speak really bad English or you can say that they speak 'Indlish', mixing their native languages with English. But one can’t deny the fact that we Indians have a unique approach towards English, the way we write, speak and manipulate it. So here it is-INDIAN ENGLISH
Indian English????What’s that? These questions must be hovering around in your mind, right? So here we go!!
Indian English is the group of English dialects spoken primarily in the Indian subcontinent. After India got independence, attempts were being made to make English our national language but due to protests from several states in India, it was retained only for official purposes. The widespread of English all over India led to different sort of adaptation in different states due to which people from one state may speak English in the way they speak their dialect and that reflects on the way they interpret the language and for them, some words in English may have different meanings for them. Here is a sample
India, as we all know, is the mother of innumerable languages like Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, English and a zillion dialects. But the thing is, people speak it while also mixing their local dialect in it. Bihari English, Anyone? This leads to the invention of new phrases and words in the so-called ‘Indlish Dictionary’. People here have a habit of using words which the Americans or the Britishers don’t usually use or have stopped using or maybe have never even heard of them ever. Here are some of the words- Half-Pants according to Indians and Shorts according to others (read American English). Purse in place of wallet, Hotel in place of restaurant and hotel (actually most of the Indians prefer using the word Hotel since it’s easier to pronounce, I suppose), Tomato Sauce instead of ketchup and zillions of words of which we have laid the foundation stone. For more words, check this out-
English has become a very integral part of our life. We see it everywhere. Posters, movies, magazines, newsletters etc. In fact, it is really hard to survive in this world without knowing English. Everyone expects that an educated well-to-do person speak classy English, write Shakespearean English and be the perfect English gentlemen. Some of us fulfill all those needs and some of us do not so unfortunately. In the past many years, while killing my time browsing Facebook. I've also come across some really horrible English. English, which one after seeing would definitely would not want to live on this planet anymore. You can see millions of such pictures online due to the widespread of Internet to every hook and corner of this world.
Here are some of the pictures and videos I've collected and my comments on them which depicts that “Some people do not give a damn about English”.






This was the one I liked the most . You can’t even imagine what the person was imagining while he wrote this ‘proposal for phrandship’.
P.S- “ I watchman her in college”. Speechless!!





All I can say is R.I.P English and R.I.P  Photoshop.” UFO sayeeted in Pakistan”.





Anyone interested in tasty, delicious, mouth-watering snakes?




Ummm…..Read, bang your head and scroll down!
(I’m very much sure Rihanna will commit suicide if she happens to come across this.)





Is that really supposed to be a notice???”Theft are missing not taken action police and administration”
(Hats off to the police for atleast
getting the spelling of administration correct!!)




English classes for lalies only!! What kind of specie is lalies?Never heard of it though.

Had a good laugh? Didn't you? Now coming to the point, I’ll again take this opportunity to say that Indian English has become an integral part of our life. Nowadays, Indians have a habit of mixing English with their very own local language resulting in a completely different kind of lingo. In my school, order was said as ‘audi’, permission became ‘permi’, aggressive became ‘rangarh’ (By the way, I've never understood the word itself.), trolled became ‘bugging’ and many similar kind of words were used at that and is still used. That’s not the story of only my school, many schools and colleges have their kind of 'language'. Not only schools and colleges, different places have different lingo where a mixture of English and the local dialect is spoken sometimes resulting in the emergence of a completely new language. 
The well-known Indian writer UR Ananthamurthy had remarked English was a ‘father-tongue’, whilst the languages we speak in kitchens and backyards, the ones we gossip in, are our mother-tongues. But the widespread of English language in India has led to the use of English words in our backyard and kitchen talks and this is irresistible. And then suddenly while we are talking about this stuff, “Why this Kolaveri Di” comes to my mind.
The lyric of this song itself indicates how we completely make a mish-mash of English sentences and words because we seem to be comfortable speaking like that now.
It may be OK to use such lingo but we have overlooked the fact that we, even after studying in an English medium school don’t even know the basics of grammar. It may be attributed to the negligence shown by our education system and we have to suffer in the later stages of our lives.
However, the biggest problem is our ACCENT. I've conversed with a lot of people and many of them speak English in such a manner that you cannot do anything but nod just for the sake of it. I read somewhere that schools in Tamil Nadu teach English with Tamil grammar because of which other people can't make out what they are talking about (Not all but some of them). This is a common phenomenon all over India and people from other countries make fun of it. Stand-up comedian Russell Peters has taken a lot of dig at Indian accents. Here you go!!
Here is a phone conversation from a movie on which I stumbled upon a long time back and it’s quite good.
And last but not the least, our very own Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Speech in the Parliament. Pure Entertainment!!
On the brighter side, language experts believe that ‘Indlish’ is good for the future. According to David Graddol, a British Linguist who studies English in non-English speaking countries, people will increasingly be called upon to be proficient in more than one language. Graddol says young people in countries like India will have an edge, since multilingualism will be valued as a professional skill. At the same time, India needs to be more aware of the evolution of English elsewhere in the world, as this will have an impact on its competitiveness.
But then the question comes, how should children in school be taught English? First of all, English is a language which should be relished and there are two ways to learn it- having fun with it or just learning it and today’s children know the difference between both. I believe that we should also focus on the linguistic aspect of the language so as to pronounce each and every word with precision. In addition to that, maximum attention must be given to grammar which is always ignored. Not to forget, always try to converse in English so that you come to know about your mistakes and rectify them instead of being made fun of.
English will always be the language of opportunity, but Indlish is the language of friendship. So we must speak in English but with correct syntax.
KARTHIK VARDARAJAN
13BCE0237
Reference Source-
Wikipedia
Youtube
(Facebook- R.I.P English)