[Assam] [asom] Inner sense of Saraighat to tackle Bangladeshi menace

Mon Dec 29 23:20:13 PST 2008

I don't get the part of tackling the menace but Assamese being the Eastern most Indo-European language doe sseem a significant brand USP ( Unique Selling Point/Proposition)

Umesh Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy

Harvard Graduate School of Education,

Harvard University,

Class of 2005

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)

www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )

http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/

http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/

--- On Mon, 29/12/08, hthakur at comcast.net <hthakur at comcast.net> wrote:
From: hthakur at comcast.net <hthakur at comcast.net>
Subject: [asom] Inner sense of Saraighat to tackle Bangladeshi menace
To: assamonline at yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, 29 December, 2008, 11:20 PM

            Dear friends,

Mr. Subhas Medhi has urged the Assamese NRI "For tackling this Bangladeshi menace" by drawing attention of "activists in the western countries who are doing research on topics like Indo-European etc. etc. And i hope some such people are also campaigning for safeguarding important languages which are on the verge of extinction."

However, Bangladesh also has some 45 different languages --- people from Maimansing hardly understand people from Sylhet. In fact, there is a saying in Bangladesh that every time you cross a river (there are plenty of rivers there!) you run into a new language. 

Goaded by Assamese NRI, if some "activists in the western countries who are doing research on topics like Indo-European etc. etc."   arrive at that part of the world   "for safeguarding important languages which are on the verge of extinction",  they will be facing a big dilemma "Which language to save?"

With a great hope I suggested the topic "The Battle of Saraighat is a supreme battle in world history" --- hoping that it will revive our "self-confidence" . I am sorry that nobody has so far participated in the discussion. Instead of "self-confidence" , we are begging "activists in the western countries" to save us. 

I was hoping that the second truth to unravel at the discussion will be:  The Assamese became ready for "The Battle of Saraighat" without any foreign aid. 

It is very important that we regain our national character. That is the step number one "For tackling this Bangladeshi menace". How ? Shri Subhash Medhi has already given us the hint: i think even the wierdest of ideas could sometimes work. The menace is NOT saving the language. The menace is saving the land. Language keeps on changing with time. The land is forever. 

Let us glorify the inner sense of Saraighat.

With love to all,

Himendra

------------ -- Original message ------------ -- 

From: subhash medhi <medhi_2004 at yahoo. com> 

Dear friends,

I rarely participate in the discussions of this community but i regularly read contents of the discussions. 

For tackling this Bangladeshi menace I have got an idea which may sound funny to some but i think even the wierdest of ideas could sometimes work. Let us use this thread exclusively for collecting ideas on how we ourselves could do something to solve this issue and then get down to work. 

1)

A few years back i read in the Reader's Digest an article about two tribes of Kashmir: The Kalash and Hunza tribes. These tribes are found in the Hunza valley near Gilgit. Some people opine that these tribes are descended from some of the soldiers of Alexander The Great who had after wandering through the mountains settled down in Hunza valley. The Government of Greece was so interested in these ppl that they had initiated some scholarship schemes so that students from these two tribes could come to Greece to study Greek culture.

Why i told you this story is because these Europeans are very enthusiastic about such things. While no community of Assam could be said to be descended from Greeks or any other European race but our language Assamese being the easternmost Indo-European language is very important with respect to world history. 

I hope there are activists in the western countries who are doing research on topics like Indo-European etc. etc. And i hope some such people are also campaigning for safeguarding important languages which are on the verge of extinction. If we could somehow make contacts with such people, make them understannd our cause, educate the people of the world through media how the easternmost Indo-European language could die out, and in this way if we could bring this issue in front of the UN or UNESCO etc. etc. then i think half of our work is done. We could then create world opinion on how India's wrong policies is leading to the death of an important language.

Even then India might not award Assam something like constitutional protection but our issue would get world focus, some countries may also condemn India for its policies and surely the main opposition party may raise an uproar in the Parliament. All this could happen only if we could create a movement out of this. For implementing my idea, we would require a big publicity through world media. Also we might need contacts with important people in other countries. May be the Assamese NRIs could play a vital role in this regard. There are about 6000 Assamese NRIs and some of them are doing really well. Even if only 100 hundred NRAs come together for this cause amy be our job would be done.And even if they are not able to help directly they still might have contacts who could really help. Some Assamese NRAs are also working in the media. They could use their position to cause awareness for this issue. 

2)

I had read an article in some newspaper a few years back how some scholar from Japan had come to study the Bodo language. A similar approach as 1) could be used for the tribal languages of Assam but this time involving the east Asian countries.

May be we could at least give this a try. Even if we are unsuccessful, our efforts won't go unnoticed. In these crucial times, even the slightest of efforts could mean a lot. This is the time when the NRAs could give Assam the best possible gift ever possible. All this must however be done clandestinely as there would be people who would like to sabotage it.

This is just one idea. There could be many other ideas. So let us pour in our ideas and then get down to work.

Subhash

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