Below a leerh of a conversation between myself and others...To me ay kainda hai, sanu aap nu puchnaa chaaheedaa, assi sach much sadi zuban nu pasand karde jaa nahi?
:
ਕੀ ਖਿਆਲ ਓਏ?
(Based out of Pakistan) These fellows have developed a new script for Punjabi Language and dialects. And that too they aim to educate people for free. Now, I'm not sure how the script works or if it's even any good (Stephen can shed some light on that I hope?) But I got to thinking. What kind of a person does it take, to develop a brand new script for a language, and on top of that, campaign and gain support to see it stand on it's own two legs and gain use?
Someone much like ourselves, I'd reckon. If you read through the website a bit, you find some of his complaints, are very similar to our own. That we Punjabis have let our language to stagnate, that we are adverse to change and proegress. We're still stuck in victorian england so to speak and unless the west suggests a new idea, we're fine sitting by idly doing nothing but drinking and making fools of ourselves (let alone picking up a book and reading)
Another problem which we seem to run into, is we're divided in terms of religion. Half our literature is in Gurmukhi, half is in Shahmukhi. Because Bob wasn't raised a Muslim, let's say he only knows Gurmukhi. That's great. He can read Gurbani and Kavishri and all sorts of cool things. But when it comes to the other half of the Punjabi literary puzzle, he's clueless. Can't read a lick of Shahmukhi.
By helping this particular script (or any other script like this) gain acceptance, we have the opportunity to unite the community and put out material that anyone can understand. Not to mention the fact we can simply translate the old classics into the new script, as one of our (Rana Sahb's and myself's) main goals is preserving our old literature and vocabulary, and by an extent customs and traditions.
Another thing he briefly touches on (the creator of this script) is that he wishes to help punjabi through the 21st century. By doing things like creating new vocabulary for example, which Dhillon Sahb and I have discussed a few times.
Not proposing we all drop everything we're doing and learn a brand new script which none of us have heard of before, just tossing out some thoughts and ideas. If we hope to get anywhere with our projects, then we need to think big and openly discuss these little schemes (Which as Punjabis come as natural to us as breathing or eating or getting drunk and fighting haha).
I plan to write up a little pitch/proposal and send it to this fellow sometime soon, I'll run it by you all first and see what you think. Perhaps we can write up one standard pitch which can be posted on message boards and be sent to people via emails/comments/etc.
(Thanks for putting up with my giant ramblings)
Well I dont know if another script will work...its hard enough getting people to learn the ones that have been around for hundreds of years! (Gurmukhi/Shahmukhi) Punjabi people just cant be bothered to read full stop! Another script may just confuse the situation even more? It's possibly like adding a Gaza strip between Palestine and Israel? That's the problem...and it seems we are definitely on the same page Mr BS Rana...
"That we Punjabis have let our language to stagnate, that we are adverse to change and proegress. We're still stuck in victorian england so to speak and unless the west suggests a new idea, we're fine sitting by idly doing nothing but drinking and making fools of ourselves (let alone picking up a book and reading)"
I couldn't agree more, I've been trying to push this whole - LETS FORGET DRINKING AND DROOLING OVER GIRLS AND BECOME REAL MEN AND DEVELOP OUR CULTURE...scenario so long but no one is bothered, we look stupid in the media because our Punjabi lok maansikta via whatever means and brainwashing is inextricably....stupid.
This is where we can team up and push development of our language (it's a delight knowing there are more people like you feeling the pain of a language on it's last limb)
As for your "ramblings" I wouldn't call them ramblings rather "essays" and they are an enjoyable and educational read to say the least so keep up the good work...we will discuss where Pachmi Baghaavat/Batti or whatever other name we want to give the movement should go and how...
No one who does not buy and read Punjabi novels or poetry books has the right to call themselves punjabi... Another reason to be ashamed of calling yourself Punjabi
We have killed our own language... We Are having to write these emails in English because the people we want to send our message to can't read Punjabi!
If you don't read Punjabi or write it, you are NOT Punjabi
wrote a little something about this to Rana sahb earlier. Sure, our people grow up speaking punjabi. Great. But no emphasis is placed on reading or writing. That's what English is for, right? So with such a setup in place, we can see that our audience needs adjusting. We're singing the wrong tune to the wrong crowd. In this case, we're performing a skit about values and self sacrifice for love of our language, but they want to see a miss pooja song dvd about facebook and daru and tractors.
This is why I say, that our audience needs adjusting. See, I have a theory. By being born and raised in the west, by having English as our first language, we're technically BAD Punjabis. We're more like Englishman. We have this thirst for knowledge, these grand ambitions, as only Englishmen have. No Punjabi wrote a dictionary for malwai dialect. It took the western curiosity and thirst for knowledge to come in and say "We need to know more about this, commission a research team to find out everything they can and put together a product we can look at."
Because you approached Punjabi from the angle of a student, because Stephen went to Punjab and was looking INTO that world from a foreign perspective, because I grew up not knowing my own language, we really developed a passion for this. We looked through history books and dictionaries and really just fell in love. This is what Punjabis are missing out on. They already know the Language, they don't give a damn about Waris, Bullah, Nanak. They don't care about Sihari, Sassa, Kakka, etc. What's Shahmukhi? Ravi Satluj Chenab? The hell are those?
So, I don't think it's a case of THEM not being Punjabi. I think it's more like WE'RE not Punjabi. We don't drink and fight, we don't do drugs and carry around rifles. We don't fight over Jatt Chamaar not being allowed into Gurughar. We're busy reading and writing books, building contact networks, thinking about developing and aiding a language. There's something White people are famous for I'd reckon. They always look into windows from an outsiders perspective and think tot themselves, I'm going to do this, and do it better than the people who invented it. Then I'm going to show them the CORRECT way to do it. I'll write books and make libraries dedicated to this thing.
I'd say we're Englishmen through and through, eh
ਰੂਪ ਵੀਰੇ,
ਇਹ ਗ਼ਲਤ ਧਾਰਨਾ ਹੈ ਤੁਹਾਡੀ ਤੇ ਹੋਰਾਂ ਦੀ। ਮੈਂ ਤੈਨੂੰ ਆਪਣਾ ਇੱਕ ਲੇਖ ਭੇਜਣਾ ਚਾਹੁੰਦਾ ਹਾਂ ਜੋ ਇਸੇ ਚੀਜ਼ ਨਾਲ਼ ਸਬੰਧਤ ਹੈ। ਉਸਦਾ ਸਿਰਲੇਖ ਹੈ, "ਪੰਜਾਬ 'ਚ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਲੋਕ ਹਿੰਦੀ ਕਿਉਂ ਬੋਲਦੇ ਹਨ?" ਮੈਨੂੰ ਕੁੱਝ ਸਮਾਂ ਦਿਓ ਤਾਂ ਕਿ ਮੈਂ ਉਹ ਆਪਣੀਆਂ ਪੁਰਾਣੀਆਂ ਕੰਪਿਊਟਰੀ ਫਾਇਲਾਂ 'ਚੋਂ ਲੱਭ ਕੇ ਤੁਹਾਨੂੰ ਭੇਜ ਸਕਾਂ। ਸ਼ੈਕਸ਼ਪੀਅਰ ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ਾਂ 'ਚ ਇੰਨਾ ਮਸ਼ਹੂਰ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ ਜਿੰਨਾ ਪੰਜਾਬੀਆਂ 'ਚ ਵਾਰਿਸ ਸ਼ਾਹ ਹੈ ਜਿਸ ਨੇ "ਹੀਰ" ਦਾ ਕਿੱਸਾ ਲਿਖਿਆ ਸੀ। ਅਨਪੜ੍ਹ ਲੋਕੀਂ ਵੀ ਵਾਰਿਸ ਸ਼ਾਹ ਦੀਆਂ ਤੁਕਾਂ ਯਾਦ ਕਰੀ ਫਿਰਦੇ ਹਨ ਤੇ ਆਪਣੀ ਆਮ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ 'ਚ ਉਸਦੀਆਂ ਉਦਾਹਰਣਾਂ ਦਿੰਦੇ ਹਨ। ਮੇਰੇ ਖਿਆਲ 'ਚ ਧਰਮ ਤੋਂ ਪਿੱਛੋਂ ਜੇ ਕੋਈ ਇਉਂ ਮਸ਼ਹੂਰ ਹੈ ਤਾਂ ਦੁਨੀਆਂ 'ਚ ਸਿਰਫ਼ ਵਾਰਿਸ ਸ਼ਾਹ ਹੀ ਹੋਵੇਗਾ। ਬਾਕੀ ਫੇਰ ਸਹੀ। ਮੈਂ ਇਸਨੂੰ ਪੰਜਾਬੀਆਂ ਦਾ ਆਪਣੀ ਮਾਂ-ਬੋਲੀ ਨੂੰ ਪਿਆਰ ਕਰਨਾ ਹੀ ਸਮਝਦਾ ਹਾਂ।
Don't worry about that, Dhillon sahb. You've tasted a bit of the reality courtesy of our community. Naturally after spending so much of your own time, and money, you're going to lose it. Should you instead be happy?
After reading that email, I'm going to have to disagree. Shakespeare is taught to almost all English speaking kids in school in some form or another. One of the main reasons people in our community knew so much about Waris, Bullah, Nanak, is because we had such a strong folk music tradition. Now that the great folk singers and qawwals have been replaced by the Honey Singh's and the Miss Poojas, who's going to even know about Heer Ranjha, Sassi Punnun, Mirza Sahiba, Sohni Mahiwal?
Who's reading about Dullah Bhatti in school? Are the children being taught about these things? Do they read Shiv Kumar Batalvi, Surjit Patar, Babu Rajab Ali Khan? Let alone read any of that stuff, do they even know HOW to read? Is Punjabi language even taught in Punjabi schools? Is it MANDATORY to educate children in their mother tongue?
SO WHAT'S YOUR VIEW? ਕੀ ਖਿਆਲ ਓਏ?
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