Gokul G.K.

Poem and Text

Labani Jangi

Illustration

Pratishtha Pandya

Editor

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In what language does a mother dream? In what language does she speak to her children on the banks of Ganga to Periyar? Does her tongue change its colour with every state, every district, every village? Thousands of languages, lakhs of dialects, does she know them all? In which one does she speak to the farmers of Vidarbha, the children of Hathras, the women of Dindigul? Listen! Press your head against the red sand. Stand atop a hill where the wind caresses your face and listen!  Can you hear her, her stories, her songs, her cries? Tell me, can you identify her tongue? Tell me, can you hear sing you a familiar lullaby, just like me?

Tongues A dagger sinks through my tongue!  I feel its sharp edges - tearing the delicate muscles.  I can no longer speak,  the dagger got my words,  all syllables, all songs, all stories,  all known and felt.  This bleeding tongue,  a bloody stream  flowing from my mouth to my chest,  to my navel, my sex,  to the fertile soils of the Dravidian.  The land is red and wet like the tongue.  Each drop breeds new ones,  blades of red grass from black earth.Hundreds of tongues underneath,  thousands and millions. Dead ones rise from ancient graveyards,  Forgotten ones blooming like spring flowers,  singing songs and stories my mother knew.The dagger sinks through my tongue  blunt edges tremble, fearing the song of the land of tongues.

Of cursed tongues and towers

معتوب زبانوں اور میناروں کے حوالے سے

శాపగ్రస్త భాషలూ, బురుజులూ

சபிக்கப்பட்ட நாக்குகளும் கோபுரங்களும்

ਸ਼ਰਾਪੀਆਂ ਜ਼ੁਬਾਨਾਂ ਤੇ ਮੀਨਾਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਹੂਕ

ଅଭିଶପ୍ତ ଭାଷା ଏବଂ ଗମ୍ବୁଜ

ಶಾಪಗೃಸ್ತ ಭಾಷೆಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ಕಟ್ಟಡಗಳು

शापित ज़बानों और मीनारों के हवाले से

શાપિત જિહવા અને ઊંચા મિનારા

सराप परे भाखा अऊ मीनार

ভাষার যাত্রা: ব্যাবেলের মিনার থেকে পায়ে হাঁটা পথে

আকাশলংঘী মিনাৰ আৰু শাওঁলগা ভাষা

ശപിക്കപ്പെട്ട നാവുകളും ഗോപുരങ്ങളും

Bengaluru

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Of cursed tongues and towers

A passionate debate sparked off by a minister’s earnest appeal for a common national language takes a poet back to the Tower of Babel

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