So, why is teaching Telugu important for me, to even write a post, not one but two?
Well, for one, I only learnt to read and write Telugu after my seventh birthday. Hindi, had been my first language till then and the language I was most comfortable in, at that time.
I had many Urdu and Hindi speaking friends and that meant, I learnt Hindi more and almost no Telugu.
Summer holidays meant having my own private Telugu classes with my mom. She would borrow my sister’s old Telugu books, roll up her sleeves, rub her palms and start my classes!
Lucky for me, she had always been a patient teacher and never believed in violence. That being said, I always found reasons to not learn Telugu.
Textbook is out = Emergency Evacuation!
It took me nearly 4 years to learn the basics, the Varnamala, since I always ran away. I would hide somewhere, till mom got diverted by some other work or till she forgot that it was our study session! I don’t know why I hated it so much, it probably had something to do with, having to learn it, during summer vacation.
Interestingly, when I finally learnt it, I did it in 15 days flat!
Why?
I had to change schools, thanks to us moving into our own new house. The new school only had seats available in the first language Telugu sections. The section with first language Hindi had no available seats for new students. They were filled up.
With lack of seats looming over my head, I performed brilliantly in my admission test and got into the school.
Studying with sincerity..
Imagine my happiness, when I scored 90 out of 100 in Telugu, in my first quarterly exam at the new school. That was my first brush at hardwork.
I also remember crying tears of happiness (I do that from time to time!) when I scored 88 in my tenth grade public exams in Telugu. The 95 in Maths seemed trivial.
That’s why mother tongue is important. It takes little effort to learn and is as comforting as a mother’s touch. We can emote better in our mother tongue.
My chocolate munchkins, my kiddos, GBee and KBee talk in British English at home, thanks to the very British Peppa Pig.
They also talk in Telugu, but make it sound like British Telugu!
Thanks, but no thanks, Peppa, you Pig!
P.S:
1. The first cartoon shows me running away, leaving behind a thin film of dust. It’s not soul leaving the body! Thank you very much!
2. In Telugu, Vadhuvu is a Bride, Vidhava is a Widow. There is only subtle difference when writing them in Telugu script, but if one word is used instead of another word, it is a blunder. During my initial days of learning Telugu, these two words confused me.
3. Although my cartoons are basic, they take up 2 hours of my time, every time.
Till the next post, cheerio.
