Taatung Tatung

 

Taatung Tatung and Other Amazing Stories of India's Diverse Languages by Vaishali Shroff works like a porthole offering a view of the vast sea of languages from across the length and breadth of India. A slim work of nonfiction, it's rendered as a set of stories; stories of how languages and scripts were born, how they grew/changed/evolved over time, how some managed to thrive while others disappeared. Here, we have stories of languages that stay undeciphered, and even hidden from us till day. The linguistic journey is made wholesome and wonderful by treating languages like living entities.

From the time of Indus valley civilization, pre Neolithic era, Bhimbetka cave shelters to contemporary language movements that strove to get a certain language its due recognition, these stories are well organized, easy to read and assimilate and immensely insightful.

The book is not only an ode to languages but also to language activists and conservationists, reformers and epigraphists - James Prinsep, Potti Sriramulu, Meher Marfatia, Sooni Taraporewala, Elder Boa Sr, Mohammad Abul Kashem, Anvita Abbi, Palash Kumar Nath, Ganesh Devy, Shubhranshu Choudhary, Anand Singh Thapa …the list goes on. Their painstaking efforts that ensured languages thrived, that saved many endangered languages from perishing silently are elaborated in a lucid fashion. Since language is an integral element of a community's identity, history and politics are also interwoven into the account.

Though the book is meant for young readers (probably 13-14 yrs+ can read and absorb on their own), it astounds us grown ups with a wealth of information.  Reading this book along with your child would be an ideal way to relish it, one that allows lot of discussion and some Google search. 

I cannot sideline an error I noticed on page 65 (in the chapter titled A French Riviera In India) which states Malayalam as official language in Yanam and Telugu as official language in Mahe, it should have been vice-versa. 

Conclusion:

'Languages make us human', and it is also true how symbiotically languages have always required sustained effort and patronage from us humans (of kings or official bodies/ governments) to survive and flourish. As we read, a clear understanding emerges on how language is a potent force in binding people, how it has stirred many peaceful protests and bloody rebellions, and how linguistic apartheid is 'real' !

The bibliography offers scope for lateral reading. The choice of the title and even color of the cover reveal immense care taken by the author in crafting this work. 

'Every language has a story, and every story has a language' - dip into this book that has languages as its chief characters, you will walk out with a little more love for your mother tongue and more pride for the country's linguistic diversity, it's lovely!

An Order from the Sky and other stories

Vasantha Surya, the translator of the book in her introduction quotes a journalist - 'Write what you see, not what you want to see' and Imayam, the author, does the same in this collection of 11 stories.  

A man cajoles, coaxes and even threatens his family deity into giving him an auspicious, go-ahead signal before embarking on an important assignment. You need to read the titular story (also the first one) to know what this important assignment is. 

The translator's prowess comes out clean in 'Bus to Aaladi' that depicts ruckus in a mofussil bus - reeking of sweat, booze and tobacco smell, women quarreling over seat, men casually rubbing their bodies against women feigning innocence and blaming the rush and a conductor chanting 'Ticket, ticket', ignorant of the hell that the packed bus is. 

Imayam writes with a stunning sensitivity on women's issues in stories Payback Time, Sharada, Yearning, Bus to Aaladi. That there is no place for the aged in the society, that irrational faith in God is of no use, that growth and development is squashing up the backbone of the nation - agriculture are other subjects dealt with in these stories. 

That two stories here revolve around politics isn't surprising as Imayam says, 'If you reject politics, you distance yourself from society'. He is a registered member of the DMK party but doesn't hold any party position. Cash for votes, money over merit to get a ticket to contest in elections, the vital role caste plays in politics are examined deftly in 'One of Ours' and 'A Man of the Party'. 

Grounded in reality, mostly set in and around Vriddhachalam, Tamil Nadu, Imayam's stories are neither polemic nor preachy in tone. A minor quibble is that the short story could have remained 'short', repetition as a tool to emphasize one's observations makes some of these stories overly dramatic and lengthy.

I remember reading the line 'to put yourself in someone else's shoes, you need to remove yours first' at a metro station here, and Imayam's stories in this collection ensure we do the first step, observe without judging, be kind, sincere and empathetic. 

A true to life collection !!