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First of all, don’t get confused by the title. Let me assure you it is not really literally about a war that we are talking about here and yet the conflict between content and language is nothing short of a war.
It was few years back that i had wrote a poem titleed “bhaasha aur bhaav”. Even as i don’t remember the lines of that poem, the main idea/question in the poem was: What is more important: thoughts or the language chosen to express the thoughts? My opinion on the matter is clear cut to say the least. I vehemently believe language is a mere medium and hence is of secondary importance to thoughts.
While one would never have the power to stop you from thinking/writing about whatever you want, one expects you to have an opinion based on a knowledge of the matter you are talking about. The absence of facts/figures/analysis makes tall claims fall short of credibility. It is one thing to criticize Machiavelli and quite another to understand his Masterpiece, “The Prince”.
It is the former that we all love to do, lets accept: to criticize someone without understanding is the easiest thing to do, outright rejection is well suited to us as compared to careful examination. Why bother is often the excuse we have. We all live peacefully. with our prejudices. We hate it when someone questions it, isn’t it.
The ban on Jaswant Singh book Jinnah, Partition and Independence by Gujrat government is perhaps one of the most classic case of human bias. Even as we would like to assume Modi actually bothered to go through the book, our assumption exceedingly fails our logic. Little wonder then that the Court observed that the book was in no way against our national interest or for that matter sovereignty of the state.
Hindi Vs English debate rages on and now with Big B himself joining the chorus for Jai ho Hindi, Hindi supporters are confident of their win. Agreed there is no match going on, but a win is a win, even if it is a imaginary one. I have been a communication student. I had been Known by my friends in college as a Hindi bond (perhaps a slang used by my classmates to refer to a person who is good at Hindi), the term they used more to indicate at my so called inefficiency in English than to appreciate my deftness in Hindi.
Did i bother about this? Yes i did but mind you, it had less to do with my incapability with English and more to do with their skewed thinking.
Why can’t we grow up? We all wish to conform, in conformity with fashion, in conformity with the society & the people around us is what we see ourselves as.We don’t want to broaden our horizons. For me it is not about Hindi or English it is about having respect for all the varied languages India has. It is about being comfortable in your skin.
As far as the competition between thoughts and language goes, let’s break the shackles binding us. These twin shackles are ignorance and bias. Be open to ideas for it gives you more than futile criticism ever can.
To quote Voltaire: ““He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked”, i ll appreciate you all to share your wonderful and not so wonderful thoughts with me on the matter !
RSS 
You are wrong in thinking that you are the only person who is hurt by this, i am equally hurt.i really don’t if it sounds believable or not but frankly speaking i don’t write much on iNstablogs and have a poor knowledge of its functioning.If you could help me in this regard, how do one register a complaint and to whom?
I have no reasons to doubt your confession in this regard.I know you are speaking truth.
I have also nothing personal with you in anything related with Hindi.So plz don’t take anything personally.I am always only interested in issue at hand instead of attacking the author.
I liked your article but since I am aware of the great game to sabotage Hindi I could not prevent myself from pointing out that what you say is right but it holds no meaning if anything said in favour of Hindi is seen as imposition of language !
Ironically,removal of comments have in tragic way proved me right !!
Well, I am giving you the e mail id of community manager Mr Vinod.You can inquire about the removal of comments from him.I know what he is going to say:It’s a site where U can express only in English.But the moot question involved here is that ” can anything be removed without the permission of author”? More so when the whole thing is intimately related with the issue.One has not written an article in Hindi.It’s just a small comment.That’s too related very well with your ”bhava” issue.So what was the need to remove it? Above all, why not author taken into confidence before their removal ?
Please let me know the progress.My email id is : akpandey77@gmail.com
The EMAIL : vinod@instablogs.com
We’d like to inform you that Instablogs is currently an English language content site. We are expanding and in near future if we’ll include other languages, we’ll inform our users in advance. By that time it is requested to submit articles/comments in English only.
Furthermore, we would like to clear our point by making you understand that language is a medium to express your views but expressing them in language other than English would make it hard to understand to the majority of our users and some of our moderators. It would be difficult to moderate comments in Urdu, Spanish, Russian or any other language for that matter. We are not here to promote our or any mother tongue. We would request all the users to comply with the IB policy. For more details please read the Instablogs ’Comment Policy’. We hope it will clear whole matter.
Thanks for your clarification.I have indeed no problem with complying with the policy of IB in this regard.I have always done that and assured U of the compliance in similar issue that took place sometime back.
However,I do wish to add something to this issue.It’s a serious thing.Some things are to be stated clearly.Okay there will be no comment in Hindi at least from my part until IB comes out with new policies but then wish to say something more in this regard.
IB has its office in Shimla and run by Indians.It’s members (nearly 80%) are Indians.I don’t think that an occasional comment in Hindi is going to affect that much its readership or for that matter create problem for moderators.In fact,there are many Hindi readers of different nationality in foreign comments.
Strictly speaking,it might be the violation of language code but it’s hard to believe that it’s going to create some sort of mayhem or confusion for moderators or readers. If any reader or moderator is so much interested in comment written in different language other than one understood by him he/she could go for its translation.Where is the problem with an infrequent use of Hindi?
There might be a problem when it becomes a norm with no translation but it’s a healthy change if something gets posted in Hindi or any other language.
In fact,we all love the Hindi post/comments by Shiv ,Vijay and other readers and writers.They frequently use Hindi both in comments and article.It has not raised storm.It has not posed any problem for moderators nor led to any inquiry from any Spanish or Russian guy ? Even if there were some inquiry about the meaning of something written in Hindi in case of post by Vijay,he has come out with translation.That translation received happy responses from interested people.
I have seen Grace posting something in her language and later posted translation on request and we all enjoyed her act.So where comes the question of problem for readers as suggested by you?
Anyway, I wish to inform U why I posted the said comment in Hindi.Not for the sake of promotion of Hindi as I know promotion of Hindi is not allowed on IB even in month dedicated to promotion of Hindi when right from Supreme Court and Prime minister’s office everywhere people engaged in gestures to promote Hindi despite being strictly Engslish
speaking areas !!
I used Hindi to make it clear to this author that ”bhavas” do depend on the medium.And that if anything can be so wonderfully expressed in Hindi or any other Indian language what’s the point in using English other than the desire to attain global significance.I also wished to highlight the attributes related with Hindi that make Bhavas expressed in it greater dimensions than the bhavas expressed in any other language including English.
That’s why I roped in songs.There was no other alternative left for me other than to explain that in Hindi or Hindi written with English alphabets.
Their removal is a grave mistake on part of IB only because of IB policy in this regard.I cannot prevent myself from stating that why only in my case this IB policy comes in existence? I never heard of it when I saw comments or posts on IB in Hindi with no talk of their removal on ground of IB comment policy even as those comments or post have remote connection with the main theme.I mean they were not that intimately involved with the theme-something that’s the case in present issue.
Here as we are discussing something about the bahvas,I find the comments removed.Is it a right trend?The writer/reader too are not informed about their removal.When both writer, reader and other members are involved in discussion what was the urgency on part of IB moderator to remove them citing IB comment regulation ?If there was no confusion felt by anyone,what made IB moderator to get panicked about the IB comment clause, more so when the whole thing was intimately connected with the theme?
Okay there are rules.I am too in the field where we are concerned with law in the strict sense.However,we also know when to bend the rules to create better results in exceptional circumstances.
Shouldn’t have moderators reacted in a more sensible way and taken note both of the article and comment’s relation to it other than in roping in the comment clause in a foolish way.The moderators need to act sensibly other than using rules in mindless manner.
Its like asking a villager to speak in English because the judges can only understand English.Not realizing that there are moments when you cannot say all the things at par with the norms.Will moderators ever realize that ?
As you rightly stated, per the IB policy, it is appropriate the communications be in English for the benefit of the worldwide readers. Thank you.
It’s all in the mind !!
Anyway, U are absolutely right it will be hard for many readers to understand anything written in Hindi while talking about ”having respect for all the varied languages India has”.It would indeed be ”impolite and rude” in times when we have turned into clones of Raj times !!
Jai Ho to you Rajagopalan for calling a spade a spade !!
It was indeed ”impolite and rude” gesture on part of Mr Vajpayee to deliver his speech in Hindi to such a premier global organization having people belonging to different nationality !!!
Language also bring with it samskaras. Some fools don’t realize that.
Isn’t it tragic that attachment with your mother tongue(read Hindi) turns you into a laughing stock in present age India ?
Anyway, someone has rightly stated that ”Hindi is like a flower that’s trio of sweetness,beauty and fragrance.Sweetness inherent in it makes it sweet or adorable.Its beauty provide its a dignified stature.Its fragrance makes it unique or special.”..I am proud of the attributes inherent in Hindi..May be love for Hindi creates heartburn in some of the souls.Let that be the case for chosen fools !!
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Vijayji I like to provide you a contrast.Listen to the song ” Piya Aiso Jeeya Mein Samaay Gayo Re ” (Movie: Saheb Bibi Aur Ghulam; Singer: Geeta Dutt) and ” You are my Sonia” (Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham .
Now feel the difference.It’s strikingly clear that former song is bound to strike a permanent chord with our emotions because of sweetness and beauty granted by the Hindi !!
Have a look at this article in Hindi that brilliantly portrays the great game to kill or lessen the influence of Hindi.
http://visfot.com/index.php/bat_karamat/320.html
A must read for anyone wishing to understand the great game.
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VIJAY:
Arvind you are right that Hindi is mired in sweetness.Old Hindi songs from our movies are popular in the whole Indian subcontinent.
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..........So what about your so-called respect for Hindi ?
Some comments posted in Hindi have been removed and if anyone is interested in knowing why they were posted in Hindi I should tell the most obvious thing to some of the blockheads that we are talking about Hindi and also about ”respect for all the varied languages India has”.....Though the author has tried her level best to prove that her article is not about ”Hindi or English” but it’s quite clear what she is up to.
For the site moderators or whoever has removed those comments it appears that anything in Hindi is unpalatable.They will obviously come up with a stupid excuse that it’s an English site and HINDI NOT ALLOWED...The IB’s attitude reminds me of the board in Raj times ”INDIANS AND DOGS NOT ALLOWED”.
Why the hell anything is posted that discusses fate of Hindi or has references to Hindi at all when it does not wishes to see anything in Hindi?This article should also be removed because though it’s not about Hindi,it still talks about language as medium to express the ’bhava’..It speaks about ” having respect for all the varied languages India has ” by rising above ”ignorance and bias ”.
But the writer can’t see the”ignorance and bias” dominant on Instablogs that does not allow comments in Hindi for all stupid reason.Is she pretty comfortable with that ?
”BHAVAS” represented in Hindi are of no use.If that’s the message then this dubious article that talks about ”being comfortable in your skin” and ”respect for all the varied languages India has” should be immediately removed and in future anything having remote connection with HINDI should not at all be published on this site.That should include articles dealing with Hindi movies and songs as well.
Ironically,people moderating this site are not aware of this fact that September is ,virtually,dedicated to promotion of Hindi in our country and elsewhere.
But for some including IB moderators having scant respect for Hindi is the only way left to show how much they love their ”Matrabhasha”.All they can do is show their superficial love for Hindi by talking about it in ENGLISH.But anything written in Hindi appears no less than ”f*****g words” to their ears.
Look I am not here to offer any explanations or seek any explanation from you either but then some points are to be clearly stated.When I say your article is dubious it includes your responses to comments.Comments too are the part of article.I am not angry because the said Hindi comments have been removed but because their removal is total defloration of the very spirit of your article,especially of the ”having respect for all the varied languages”.
You are talking about respect for all languages and here the bhailogs are brutally murdering our very Matrabhasha or National Language Hindi.And you are simply a mute spectator to happenings on your page ?
You are irritated that I have hailed your article as ”dubious” and called your love for Hindi superficial.You might not be interested in offering clarification but I have enough reasons to say why your intentions are dubious.
You have strongly suggested in article that ’bhavas’ and not medium is important.So love all the languages and let’s not get involved in Hindi Vs English war.In other words,everything is alright in our nation..Nothing wrong is happening in our nation and we can promote English and other langauges whether or not we promote Hindi.
After all,promoting Hindi is some sort of imposition of language,it’s not in tune with global demands and above all it’s not good for smooth presentation of bhavas (for they can be very well expressed in one’s local language!!).You see anything in support of Hindi as a war between Hindi Vs English!!
No.Supporting Hindi is not suppression of English or killing of bhavas or imposition of any language.It’s simply an attempt to resurrect the feeling inherent in Indian Constitution.It’s also an attempt to resurrect the wishes of yesteryear leaders who dreamt of usage of Hindi.
I call your article dubious because though it’s very good in listening that all the languages should be honoured for the sake of bahvas but then what about the honour of Hindi?What about bhavas expressed in HIndi or for that matter bhavas for the cause of Hindi in Hindi or in any other language?
Well, as per your article it’s very clear that you are not all interested in knowing what’s happening to ”Bhavas” expressed in Hindi ? Well,you can never do that.Because that will mean supporting Hindi.That will mean Hindi Vs English war etc..etc.
I think what has taken place on IB should be an eye opener.That’s the fate of Hindi or National language !!Let it be removed but one should keep quiet or else you be called supporter of Hindi !
I also call your intentions(read article) dubious because how calmly you have reacted to removal of comments !Is it ever possible for moderator to remove comments from one’s page? More so when author has not given its approval?If that was the case shouldn’t you have informed the concerned IB person and asked for their immediate restoration ? Were U sleeping when that was happening ?
Above all, what’s so offensive in comments removed ? I have simply presented the contrast in bhavas.Was that not in tune with sentiments of article ?
I also call your intentions dubious because I remember well that I had commented on the article even before it became popular.I received the Vijay’s comment on it.But the author of the post was not interested in responding to these comments.You chose to talk about them or express your ”anguish” when they are no more on the page ! You are indeed interested in upholding the ”bhavas” expressed in various languages.
Lastly,I am restoring the removed comments.Let they be removed again or starred negatively !! For Bhavas expressed in Hindi are offensive in nature.They hurt !!