Ami chai Bangali tar bhashay bolbe UN-ey?

Ratnottama Sengupta, TNN, Feb 25, 2013: Such pretty flowers growing in the hills, Kanchha why don't you get it for me?" "Why just flowers Kanchhi? I'll get the moon for you..."

Songs sung in jubilation marked February 21 at the Bangla Academy. Songs by Nepali students, Santhali couple, Bauls. Almost bringing to fruition the much-loved words where Kabir Suman says, "Ami chai Saontal tar bhashay bolbe rashtropunje/ ... Nepali chheleta guitar haate... gaite asbe Kolkata te..."

What a lovely move for an academy that keeps busy with dictionaries, encyclopedias, grammarians. For, this day is meant to promote linguistic diversity since languages are, without doubt, the most powerful instrument of preserving our tangible and intangible heritage. "Every move to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will not only encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also develop fuller awareness of cultural traditions and inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue," states UNESCO.

And yet, while we go about our daily lives, using the internet, downloading Hollywood and dancing Bollywood, speaking Hinglish, reading English, rubbishing 'Robi-sung-blues', some 14 to 19 languages are going extinct every year. You heard it right: Every Year!

Let's not look for a villain since the reasons range from colonialism to commerce and computer. In the end linguicide - 'language death' for you and me - is a fallout of assimilation. In some cases, like Sanskrit, the morphed and got a robust 'offspring' that acquired a vitality of its own. In some cases, say Scottish (Gaelic), the 'minority' succumbed to the political majority. In some cases - yes, Bengali - the politcal 'underdog' stood up to those who tried to impose Urdu. Latin didn't gain by being the liturgical language of the Church, but Arabic did, as the medium of Qoran. And Hebrew? It's the only 'clinically-dead' tongue that gained new speakers because of a religio-political move!

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But Santhali is a long way away from being heard in United Nations.

It's 14 years since February 21 became the International Mother Language Day, in commemoration of the sacrifices of Salam, Rafique, Barkat, Jabbar - the students Dhaka Police killed for seeking recognition of their mother language. That unparalleled passion led to the birth of Bangladesh, the Mother Language Day, the attempt to get Bengali official recognition of the UN.

Still, it's not among the six languages used by the General Assembly or Security Council. 'Rashtra punjo' still speaks English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, French or Arabic - and gets simultaneously translated into the other five. No UN document gets published until it's available in all six. For, these six are the first or second language of 2.8 billion people on the planet - that's nearly half the world population. And they're the official languages of more than half the states in the world - roughly, 100!

So what are the chances of Bengali becoming a UN language? Since it's the world's fifth most spoken language, elected representatives from Bangladesh as well as Bengal, Assam and Tripura voted in 2009 for it to be given the status of an official UN language. Bangla PM Sheikh Hasinapushed the proposal during her address to the 64th session of General Assembly, arguing that Bengali holds a "singular place as a symbol of people's faith in the power of languages to sustain cultures, and indeed the identity of nations".

Now, my big question is: If Bengali joins the league of these six world languages, will it make a difference to my son and daughter, nieces and nephews? Or will they continue to crowd the St Xaviers and La Marts of the world, for better job opportunities? Will they read Rabindranath through Radice, screw up their nose at Sarat and Sunil, abandon Nandan and Priya too for Inox and Fame?

The answer, as Dylan-da once said, is blowing in the wind...