yet again ... getting lost ... then enjoying self-discovery ...

Learning languages together This piece finds place in the Deccan Herald . Thanks to the team there. Thanks are due to colleagues for being together during the journey, the questions, and sharing not only confusions but also memories.  Thanks Richa for the comment on the draft.  Some time back we initiated capacity building sessions for teachers at our school. These sessions focus on English and Hindi; languages.   10 out of the 15 teachers at the school teach languages; they are the participants. Our school is located in peri-urban eastern Uttar Pradesh; these teachers converse in Bhojpuri. Today, while it is not easy to pinpoint what has worked and what has not gone right, it is not difficult either to discern the positive energy these sessions have or the learning they enable. Looking back and gleaning through the journey is fun; we have experienced more learning, more surprises than we had bargained for.   Sessions. Together the 11 of us walked the langua...

Phoolsunghi Author: Pandey Kapil  Translator: Gautam Choubey  Publisher: Penguin – An imprint of Penguin Random House  Year of publication: 2020  ISBN: 9780670095193  Pages: 162  Price: 399/-  At the onset I confess that neither have I read Phoolsunghi in its original form nor have I read any other book in Bhojpuri. However, the current place of my stay – also my birth place – allows me to be amidst Bhojpuri. Listening to it flow at one level and discussing it at another. Dr Ganesh Devy’s statement on Bhojpuri, also mentioned in the introduction, also struck. ‘Bhojpuri has not only stayed alive . . in the whole world, Bhojpuri is the most rapidly developing language’.  Few months ago a colleague had pointed out how Maithili – as a language – has been accorded the status and respect which Bhojpuri, though more than deserving, continues to be deprived of. Reading further about the author and the characters had me wonder on this. During a brief con...