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You are right in a way. We can
right proper name any whichever way we want to write. I can write Barua in
so many different ways.But please think again what you are talking about.
Gariyoshi is an Assamese magazine. I am not
asking that Gariyashi should change the name because I am saying so. People will
pronounce it GARIOSHI, a pronunciation which does not have any meaning in
Assamese language, and that may be perfectly all right to Gariyoshi
people. Let them rest in haven.
But if you are saying
if it has the proper Assamnese Roman transliteration like
GORIOXI instead of Sanskrit as it is now, Assamese people will
not buy it outside Assam? (If you are right, then I would say that is the
problem of the Assamese people. They want their big brother's approval. That
actually more than proves my point. Assamese people are suffering from a
bigger inferiority complex then I would like to
think.)
Like Gorioxi,
Yatraa is a magazine with an Assamese name with a
meaning. People will pronounce it YATRAA the way it is
written, a pronunciation which does not have any meaning in Assamese. Now
I would imagine, when the producer named it YATRAA he had some idea probably
have the Assamese meaning in mind. Although these are proper names, these
have Assamese meaning. (Conversely, imagine writing the word JARNI = Journey in
Assamese as JARONI for a name of a magazine, and calling it OK because it is
just a name of a magazine? It is exactly like it. People will pronounce it
as JARONI which pronunciation does not have any meaning in English. But
one may always argue to deaths with backward logic and win. I have seen many.
And life goes perfectly all right.)
But I thought it my sacred duty to
point out to the Assamese people what is right and what is wrong. So far
proper Assamese Roman spelling is concerned, XADIN, PROTIDIN,
JONOMBHUMI, XONGKORDEV, XOTRIA, OXOM, XIBOXAGOR etc are the
proper phonetic spellings which represent proper Assamese
pronunciation. (The letter A as used by Hindi and Sanskrit for Hosro A,
for vowel sound like U as in UP, does not represent the Assamese O sound of OXOM
etc) So if we name ASOM, people will read USOM and definitely not OXOM.
Now that may be perfectly all right to the Assamese (or shall we say Asomese)
people. And life will go on.
Now if your argument is that proper
name can have any spelling (which is right in a way) , then why we are trying to
change the name of Assam to Asom at all?. Why we changed the name of Gauhati to
Guwahati, Calcutta to Kolkata, Bombay to Mumbai etc . Why? These are all just
proper names after all.
Please think your logic
again.
What I am saying, you are right
just for the sake of argument, but not right for the context we are
discussing.
Assamese peole are doing it wrong
since Yandabu Xondhi. That does not mean we need to conitnue with our errors. We
need to do a beginning for correction.
RB
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 8:35
AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Yaatra
Please forgive me for butting in.
Barua, as this a 'proper' name of a magazine, why should any attempt be
made to change it.
A word like 'Gorioxi' in a magazine that is interested in
marketing itself outside the NE might have the same problems of
Asom/Axom we were discussing yesterday.
I think there is a contradiction somewhere.
On 2/14/06, utpal
borpujari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dear Shreejut Barua,
Thanks for your mail. You definitely have a point about how we should
write Assamese words in English. This is the name given to the journal by
its publishers, the North-East Foundation. I am sure if you also send this
mail to Dr Dhruba Jyoti Borah, who is the man behind this positive endeavour
(since this is probably the first time ever that an independent effort
has been made to take contemporary Assamese literature to the outside
world), they will look positively into your suggestions.
With regards,
Utpal Borpujari / New Delhi
Yatraa
????
This Roman spelling
is another creation of Ignorant Assamese
scholars!!
Assamese language has
only one a-kar pronounciation (unlike Hindi and
Sanskrit).
Therefore the 'yatraa' in Assamese Roman
Script should be written by a single vowel a as written for the first vowel. In Hindi and
Sanskrit, they have two a sounds. Don't
follow them.
Second, in Assamese
Y is pronounced as YO not JO. So the correct Roman translation
of the word Yatraa should be Jatra.
Similarly the name of
the megazine GARIYOSHI should be GORIOXI.
Ignorant Assamese
scholars should try to learn and stand for original Assamese creation and
not follow big brother Indian brothers.
Rajen
Barua
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006
4:56 AM
Subject: [Assam] Yaatra
Hi all. I had recently written an article on Yaatra in my paper.
The journal, I feel is a nice and first-time effort. - Utpal Borpujari /
New Delhi
| A Yatraa into light |
|
An English language journal
named Yaatra is all set to bring Assamese literature to readers,
writes Utpal Borpujari.
|
| |
| While Indian writing in English
in recent years has gone to gain international name and fame, writers
who have chosen to express themselves in their mother tongues in
different corners of India have not been fortunate enough despite giving
their readers a huge number of masterpieces. The culprit has
always been the lack of proper translation of the incredibly rich
regional literature. And even when translated works are published, like
those from organisations like Bharatiya Jnanpith and Sahitya Akademi,
often they fail to reach the masses adequately because of non-aggressive
marketing. Private publishers, of course, also do come up with the odd
translated work, but they are merely a sampler of the great treasure
trove of literature that we have. Compared to Bengali, Tamil or
Malayalam literature, the writings from the North-East, and particularly
Assam, are a major victim of this lack of translation, and the great
tradition of Assamese literature is virtually unknown to those outside
the region. In the backdrop of this scenario, a non-governmental
organisation called the North-East Foundation, has launched Yaatra, an
English language journal that will solely concentrate on bringing before
the readers translations of both contemporary and classic Assamese
literary work.
Based in Guwahati, the
foundation is quite aware that it has a daunting task in its hands,
specially as it will not be easy to market the journal all over India
from Assam. But the enthusiasm of the people associated with the project
are quite high, as was visible when the first issue of the journal was
launched recently at the Sahitya Akademi in Delhi by Akademi Secretary K
Satchidanandan in the presence of Jnanpith Award winning Assamese author
Dr Indira (Mamoni Raisom) Goswami, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and
noted intellectual from the state, Amalendu Guha. Says
Foundation chairman and Yaatra editor Dhruba Jyoti Borah, "It has been a
long-standing resentment of the people of Assam that very little is
known in the outside world about the rich literary and cultural heritage
and the present cultural scene of the state. At the same time, avid
curiosity is noticed about these in the rest of India and also abroad.
Yaatra is a project that seeks to popularise Assamese literature
and culture outside the state and each issue of the journal will contain
a wide selection of the best in contemporary Assamese literature and
culture." Launched as a non-profit venture, Yaatra will not be available
in newsstands like other magazines but will be distributed in the
literary and academic circles both within and outside the country.
The journal, says Borah, will have several sections that will
focus on different areas. Assamese novels, poetry, short stories, drama,
classics, criticism, book reviews, folklore and culture will be the
focus areas of the project which will also seek to include literature
and culture from the other North-Eastern states in it. "Assamese
literature has developed considerably over the years. It has drawn its
sustenance from the great Bhakti movement of Srimanta Sankardev, the
'buranjis' and the folk traditions of myriad groups of people that
inhabit the region," he says. For more info contact; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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