Pratham's Storyweaver

Puttachi had been learning Hindi in her school in India, and she was about to start learning the Kannada alphabet when we moved here. So I taught her the Kannada alphabet myself during the break that she had between schools in India and the US. I didn't want her to forget the Hindi alphabet, and I wanted to make her more familiar with the Kannada alphabet. So whenever we have a few minutes, she chooses a Level 1 story on Pratham's Storyweaver platform, in either Hindi or Kannada, and she reads it aloud. It is working really well. Just wanted to share this with anybody else who might be looking for something like this.

Note: Since this is an open platform, some of the translations and stories are by members of the community, and the language/grammar might not always be top-notch. Check before you let your child read it. (It is indicated on the book whether it is a Pratham original, or by a community member.)

English and Kannada Rhymes

Almost two years ago, a friend introduced me to a set of Kannada nursery rhymes from Buzzers. The music was excellent, the songs were mostly sung well and the animation was competent. I bought the other volume, and that didn't disappoint me either. I'd recommend it to everybody. It does have its faults, and some songs are downright unsuitable for young kids, but on the whole, both albums are very enjoyable, and well-made. The music - it's worth saying again - is very good. Puttachi enjoys them, and I can say that these songs have aided in her language development.

So when she grew a little older and started getting familiar with English, I decided to try out the English rhymes album from Buzzers. But what a shock! The animation was stilted and robot-like, the music was flat, and the accents were atrocious.

I was on the lookout for good English nursery rhymes. There were western albums available, but I thought that it would be silly to introduce Puttachi directly to American accents, when she doesn't even know the language yet!

Then unexpectedly, I found just what I was looking for. I was actually looking for the heritage collection of Karadi tales, as I thought it was the right time to introduce Puttachi to it, as she has just started showing an inclination to learn English. I then saw it - Karadi Rhymes, it said, Indian Rhymes for Indian Kids. I saw that they were sung by Usha Uthup, and that was enough for me. It was volume 2, though, and I looked for volume 1 (I am very systematic in such useless matters), but I didn't find it. So I bought Volume 2 - audio CD + 1 book.

Oh it is delightful. Very likeable songs, very Indian in both subject and music. The illustrations are particularly delightful. I don't even have to mention Usha Uthup's glorious, flawless, soaring voice bringing it all to life. I'm not sure who enjoys it more - Puttachi or me, but we have the loveliest times, sitting together with the book while the cd plays.

Of course, I had to go and buy Volume 1 too, after that. That is good too, but I prefer Volume 2. It could be because I discovered that first.

There are animated video CDs available too, of the same songs in Volume 1 and 2. I viewed a few samples on Youtube, and they look quite good, but I think the audio CD + book will be a better choice.

Hope you enjoy them! And please give me some suggestions too!

GP Rajarathnam

This year is the birth centenary of the Kannada poet G.P. Rajarathnam.

He has written many, many books, but he is best-known for his work Ratnana Padagalu - life as seen from the eyes of Yendkuduka Ratna (Drunkard Ratna). The entire work, in verse, is written in rustic Kannada style. It is recommended that you read it out aloud to experience the complete effect. It is a very funny, sad, and extremely thought-provoking work. My mom read it out to me for a while long, long ago, until other matters claimed our interest and we forgot all about it. I really have to read the whole thing soon. Ratnana Padagalu has been popularized by well-known Kannada singers, and it is still appreciated and admired.

But the reason why I personally like him so much is because of his poems written for children. You could call them Kannada Nursery Rhymes. I am sure every Kannadiga child knows at least one of his poems - at least "Naayi Mari". His poems are very lovable. Small, easy to recite, and enjoyable too, what with the rhymes and alliterations.

I grew up reciting and singing these small poems and songs... my favourites are "Naayi Mari", "Taata butti tumba rotti", "Putaani Krishna", "Haavu bantu haavu bantu", "Kuri mari byaa", "Namma maneyalondu sanna paapa", etc.

According to GP Rajaratnam himself, he had no intention of writing poems for children. But once, he found himself jobless after doing his MA, and stood in for his ailing father who was a Kannada teacher in a school. He was quite distressed to see the kind of poems in the Kannada syllabus for such small children. That evening, while he was sitting and thinking, a poem, "Bannada tagadina tutturi", came to him without his bidding. He was thrilled with it, and taught it to his students the next day, who loved it too. He then went around teaching it to all the children he knew, until finally, it came to a publisher's notice, who asked him to write a few more poems and published his first collection of children's songs. The rest, of course, is history.

In the introduction to his "Kandana Kavyamale", the collection of collections of poems (!), he has written that these poems were written four decades ago, and they are still so popular, and has asked, what more could a writer want?

He wrote that in 1978. He would be thrilled to know that thirty years after he wrote that, at least one mother is still teaching her daughter his poems. His words are still alive!

Info:
His works are available at all popular book stalls.
Sapna Book House has recently published 25 volumes of his children's literature, available at all Sapna showrooms in Bangalore.

Engannada

A couple of months ago, we had visited somebody, and they were showing Puttachi pictures in a book.
"Tiger Elli?" They asked her. (Where is Tiger?).
Puttachi looked blank. They were surprised, and they called out to me and asked me how it is that Puttachi did not know Tiger.
I said, "She doesn't know Tiger, she knows "huli" (Tiger in Kannada).
"Puttachi, huli elli?" They asked her.
Her eyes lit up, she pointed to the Tiger in the book, and for good measure, shaped her hands like claws and roared.

I talk to Puttachi almost entirely in Kannada, and most of the common nouns and verbs are also in Kannada up to a sensible limit. For example, though I know that Rhinoceros in Kannada is GhenDamriga and Ostrich is BenkikoLi, I teach her Rhinoceros and Ostrich. Similarly, I call a chair "Kurchi", but a table, "Table", not Meju, simply because that is how I would say it.

But I know lots and lots of people, some who are not even English fans or fanatics, who use English for nouns when talking to Puttachi. For example, they will most likely tell me, "Shruthi, aa hoovu eshTu channagide noDu!" (Look! How beautiful that flower is!), and then immediately turn to Puttachi and say, "noDu, flower nOdu." Why "hoovu" to me and "flower" to her? And this is not a one-off incident.

I first wondered if this was a Kannadiga trait, but the little boy next door told me, "Aunty, sky mein sun hota hai aur night mein moon aur stars hote hain." Whatever happened to aakash, chand and suraj? Relegated to romantic film songs?

At he park I see more than fifty percent of parents talking to their kids in English. Entirely in English. I know that many of them are from bilingual marriages, and English is the common language at home, but the others?

Is it training for school? Is it an effort to sound "upmarket"? Or are there any other legitimate reasons?

Puttachi recognizes both English and Kannada words for several objects now, because I read out the English word from the book, and tell her the Kannada word for it. (And as it happens, she finds the English word easier to say!) Anyway, I am just keeping my speech to her Kannada based, sprinkled with English. And I am not too bothered.

Children are like sponges. I don't think there is anything to worry about that they will not learn English in time for school, if that is the reason. If there is any other reason, I would love to hear it.

It's a long way to Tipperary......

TP Kailasam is one of Karnataka's better-known humorists. Though he passed away about sixty years ago, he is remembered quite often even now in many contexts. A host of delightful stories, anecdotes and witticisms are attributed to him.

He was a very interesting person. He reportedly could blow smoke rings and spell out his name with them. How cool is that! (I mean, not his smoking, you know what I mean!) He was a master punster, and often refered to himself as "Typical Ass".

Most anecdotes are best told and understood in Kannada, but here is one interesting story. Once, while Gandhiji was staying for a while at Nandi Hills, there was a concert by the great violinist T.Chowdaiah. Gandhiji, enjoying the magnificent music, turned to Kailasam, who sat next to him, and asked, "Who is this great man?" Immediately, Kailasam replied, "Oh, Bapuji, you are a great non-violinist, but this Chowdaiah is a pakka violinist!" He was rewarded with a wide toothless grin.

On another occasion, somebody asked Kailasam, "You say that Sir M.Vishweshwaraiah is blessed with sixth sense, does that mean that nobody else has sixth sense?" Kailasam replied, "Oh sure, you do have it too, but in your case it is called non-sense."

Anyway, this space will not suffice if I begin to relate his anecdotes, so let's leave it at that.

Recently, I had been to a wedding reception, where there was a live Sugama Sangeeta (Kannada Light Music) concert. I did not recognize the male singer, but the female singer was the gorgeous M.D.Pallavi (I know her better as Vidya of Mayamriga fame).

[Sidenote: In Mayamriga (A popular Kannada soap directed by TN Seetharam, that was aired a few years ago), Pallavi played the role of Vidya, a singer, who walked with a limp. During this concert at the wedding, at one point, Pallavi changed her sitting position, and as she did so, she gave a slight grimace and rubbed her foot. The first thought that popped into my head was, "Oh, her bad leg must be giving her trouble... ". Even as I started thinking this, I realized what I was doing... "Oh man", I thought, "That was just in the serial.......... Pallavi's leg, in reality, is just fine..." If I, who hardly watched a dozen episodes of Mayamriga, could get so attuned to her reel personality, then what about those people who watch soaps with total dedication? Reminded me of this post of mine. End of sidenote.]

So, during the concert, the male singer sang the song "Namma Tipparhalli Balu Doora". I remembered it as a song I had loved as a child, but had long forgotten it. I was thrilled to listen to it after all these years. I vaguely remembered that it was composed by TP Kailasam. This, and another song, "Kolikeranga", had been two of my favourites.

"Kolikeranga" is a spoof of the English poem "Constantinople". The story goes that when Kailasam was studying in London, an English friend of his sang "Constantinople", and claimed that this kind of a song cannot be composed in any other language. And Kailasam, as a challenge, composed "Kolikeranga" right on the spot.

I googled and found that even "Namma Tipparhalli Balu Doora" is a spoof of an English marching song, "It's a long way to Tipperary".

You can listen to both these songs, sung by C.Ashwath, a well-known singer in Kannada, here.

Both these songs have the first few lines of the English original, and then the Kannada version, as a continuation. Do listen to them. The English original "It's a long way to Tipperary", is such a beautiful, evocative song... full of old-world charm. I just fell in love with it.

And if you are a Kannadiga, do concentrate on the lyrics of the Kannada versions - they are hilarious. And if you don't catch the lyrics, you can find them here. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

And here's to more such accidental discoveries!

Reading in your mother-tongue.

They say you realize the value of something only when you it's gone. I realized that it holds good for your mother tongue too!

I am a voracious reader, but my reading was limited only to English. I have read hundreds of books of all varieties - classics to thrillers, from all over the world. Short stories, novels, novellas, essays - they have all gripped me and taken me to different worlds, given me ideas, put thoughts in my head, and made my brain a highly imaginative one.

Even in my childhood, my parents knew only one way to keep me truly engaged. Put a good book in my hand. They were very happy that they were successful in inculcating in me the reading habit. But they had one complaint. That I did not read anything in Kannada. I could read Kannada very well, I spoke it every day at home, and it was after all, my mother tongue. Then why didn't I read anything in Kannada? Once my mother caught me complaining, "Oh there are millions of books all around the world waiting to be read! I wish I knew all languages so that I could read all of them!" She quietly told me, "You know Kannada and haven't read even one Kannada book.. what will you do with knowing other languages? And it is not as if Kannada doesn't have good literature. Do you know that Karnataka has got the highest number of Jnanapith awardees? There is a huge treasure out there waiting to be read in your own language. And you are worrying about other languages".

Even this lecture did not affect me. I happily trotted off to a corner and curled up with yet another English book.

Then I went to study in a different state. In the hostel, there were very few Kannadigas. I got to communicate only in English and Hindi. I never knew how much I had taken Kannada for granted. I desperately wanted to speak in my language to somebody. I regularly called home to speak in Kannada, and caught myself singing Kannada songs, which I did not even know I knew. On a visit home, I cribbed about it. My mom spotted a golden opportunity and slipped a slim book into my bag while I was leaving. I went back to the hostel, and while unpacking, uncovered this little book "Rangannana Kanasina Dinagalu" (The dreamy days of Ranganna) by M.R. Srinivasamurthy. It is a very simple, light and humorous story about an idealistic village school inspector. Something in Kannada! I was drawn to it. Reading the first few pages was painful as I had not read Kannada after I studied for the last Kannada examination in school. But once I got the hang of it, I read full speed. I absolutely devoured the book. A totally new world opened to me. My own world!

One simple sentence in the book did it. "Ranganna entered the restaurant at Chickpet, and had a hot cup of filter coffee and steaming hot idlis with the butter melting on them".
I had read books from all over the world - but nothing had touched me this way.
I had sighed with Alexei Ivanovich, the serf, when he removed his galoshes and entered his house to accept some tea from his wife Marsha, served from the boiling samovar.
I had been privy to the thoughts of Denise Legrand when she sat at her favourite restaurant at the Champs-Elysees and sipped a Chardonnay while waiting for a rendevouz with her beau.

But this was something I totally related to! I actually KNEW Chickpet ( an old locality in Bangalore).. I could smell the filter coffee, and taste the melting butter and idlis! I could feel it with Ranganna! When Ranganna talked about a certain variety of banana, I knew which one he meant. I knew what it looked like and how it tasted. When he wore a piece of clothing, I knew which kind it was. In all the other "foreign" books, I could only imagine and wonder! Of course, these took me to another place and time, and I enjoyed that a lot, being interested in different cultures and customs. But this was a different kind of enjoyment. It was something I could relate to. I felt the same warmth that I felt when reading RK Narayan, but this was warmer - because the turns of phrase, and the idioms and the language, everything was my own! I followed this with a string of other books in Kannada. The more I read, the more I enjoyed it.

Yes, English books still heavily outnumber Kannada ones, but now Kannada also has a respectable place on my bookshelf! All of you out there, if you can read in your mother tongue, but haven't tried reading any literature in it, go do it. It is a different experience altogether!

Random thoughts....

This is a very rough summary of a poem. I will not call it a translation, because I do not know the exact words of the original poem, which is in Kannada. But this is what the poem says:

When a sapling bursts out from the seed, do you hear any cymbals clashing?
When a fruit is formed, and ripens, are any trumpets blown?
The sun and the moon come everyday, giving light and life to this earth, but is there any fanfare?
They just come quietly, do their work, and go.
Such wonderful things are happening all the time, in nature - without any sound.
Then why do you, a mere man, have to tell everybody about everything you do?
Keep your lips sealed, do your work silently. That is real greatness.

Isn't it a beautiful thought?

This is just one poem, out of a beautiful collection of 4-line poetic gems. This collection, known as Mankuthimmana Kagga (Literally, Foolish Thimma's song), is like anything but it's name. Each poem holds within itself the most sublime philosophical thoughts ever. This has been written by Dr. D.V.Gundappa, or DVG, as he is popularly known. He is one of the greatest writers ever.

This collection, and another, Marulu Muniyana Kagga(Literally, Crazy Muniya's song) are similar, in that each is a treasury of little poems like this. There are hundreds of such beautifully worded poems in each of these collections. Ask any Kannadiga, and s/he will speak with reverence of these two works of greatness.

A few years back, my mother gave me the collection of poems, and would read out two of them to me each night, and we would discuss what it meant. The poems bring tears to the eyes. They are so simple, yet hold the most complex thoughts in them. But each thought hits the nail on the head.

Now why did I remember this, all of a sudden? A character in a serial recited this poem last night. This is a very good serial, called Muktha, which is aired every day on E TV Kannada. I avoid serials of any language. But this one, is a serial with a difference. The director, TN Seetaram, has been bringing serials of quality for the past few years. This is the third in his very successful and highly acclaimed series of serials (After Mayamruga and Manvantara). What makes it so popular is that it is the story of you and me. No huge mansions and improbable relationships here. It is a direct, straightforward story, sprinkled with titbits of knowledge, poetic references, and a very keen understanding of human relationships. People who never watch TV have been rescheduling their work to fit this serial into their schedules. (me included). It is better than any serial I have watched in any language, in a long long time. It has its share of irritants and discrepancies, but the overall quality of the serial makes you magnanimous and you tend to ignore all the shortcomings!

Producers and directors say that they give the masses what they ask for. I think that is a sad apology for their movies which are reaching abysmal levels. How did this man TN Seetaram come up with a decent wholesome family serial, when none existed before, and how did it become so successful? The audience did not know that such serials could exist until he came along. Now that they know, they have embraced it wholeheartedly. Can't it work for the rest of the entertainment industry too?

I think there is too much mediocrity everywhere, and we are just being tolerant. Mediocre newspapers, television shows, books, movies..... what I am worried about is - are we getting used to mediocrity? Can we recognize and resist it?

Update: For all of you who have come here looking for details on Mukta - you can try going here. There is a whole lot of discussion going on out there.