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I have wings



Can you impose a language on the birds? Can you make the pigeons in Delhi coo in Hindi, for example? Will they arrest the pigeons as antinational creatures for refusing to coo in Hindi?

In ‘The Last Lesson’, a short story written by French writer Alphonse Daudet [1840-1897], the protagonist, a very young student in a French school, wonders whether the Germans will make the pigeons sing in German since his province of Alsace has been conquered by Bismarck. One of the very first things that conquerors do is to impose their culture and language on the new subjects. The conquest is complete only when the subjects give up their own idols and embrace the new ones. The imposed ones.

One of the reasons why I never learnt Hindi properly though I lived in North India for the most part of my life is that I had wings. I was a pigeon that knew only one language. Coo. Coo-coo. Coo coo coo.

Can you take away that language?

You can take away my food. You can take away my dress. You can take away my properties.

You can’t take away my language. My coo coo coo.

My coo-coo is my passport to a wider world. Birds don’t need passports and Visas. Because they have wings. They fly and hence they don’t see the border fences erected by human beings. They don’t have to see them, of course.

The best thing about birds is their wings.

I have wings.

PS. Instigated by the latest prompt of Blogchatter blog Hop: If you could fly, where would you go?

I have wings. I always had them. But they were clipped all along. By politicians of all sorts most of whom wore religious garbs. I still live in a country where wings are clipped day after day with words. By an eloquent speaker. Words bereft of wings.

Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanAugust 28, 2022 at 4:21 PM

    Hari OM
    What in interesting idea... of course the English did their best to wipe out the use of Gaelic and Scots when they invaded the Bonny Land (and Welsh in Wales and the Irish Gaelic...) and continued that trait throughout all their colonial activity; many English (and to be fair, some Scots too) who go to 'foreign parts for holiday' get all hot and bothered if the natives don't speak English... I detest that attitude. Language is so much part of culture and how we identify.

    On another note; the Currawong of Australia, a bird of beautiful voice, has been identified to have different dialects according to region and, in the example I saw, the community found on Lord Howe Island did not appear to understand what their cousins from Victoria were singing. If not different language, at least very different dialects. So I wonder if pigeons have 'accents'?!! YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 29, 2022 at 6:41 AM

      That's interesting about a bird having dialects. I wonder whether such variations occur among other species too.

      Homogenisation of language and culture is an integral part of empire building. India is becoming an empire, Rama Rajya.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousAugust 31, 2022 at 11:26 AM

    Surely, a language is way of communication which he/she develops from the surroundings when he/she grows up. It should be at consent and eagerness of one person if he/she wishes to learn any other language. Let him fee the need, if he feels it, let him learn, otherwise don't push him. Example of bird was really interesting. They don't see borders. Good piece of writing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 31, 2022 at 1:47 PM

      Language is also a medium of power. Taking away one's language is tantamount to enslaving one. When Hindi is imposed on non-Hindi-speaking people, it is a process of enslavement.

      Delete
  3. Anupama JoshySeptember 5, 2022 at 3:25 PM

    'The Last Lesson' still remains the first lesson to come to mind

    ReplyDelete
  4. Delhi Agra TripJanuary 21, 2023 at 1:53 PM

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