|
Oh Thanks. Is it available on
line?
RB
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2:33
PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Yaatra, Garioshi
etc
BTW: Barua's letter on the subject is in the AT today.
--Ram
On 2/14/06, Ram
Sarangapani <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Barua,
In Assamese we pronounce it as 'Jatra' and thats as it should be. I
have no problems with your arguements there, and agree that the magazine be
named as such.
But let us look at it from a different angle. The magazine 'Yatraa' is
an English language magazine (so I guess the audience is the rest of India).
If they were targetting an Assamese audience, then Jatra would be the right
way.
"An English
language journal named Yaatra is all set to bring
Assamese literature to readers, writes Utpal Borpujari"
But if the language is English, the audience is non-Assamese, then
Jatra may not sell as much - from a
marketing stand point. The word 'Jatra' may not carry the
meaning journey in some other languages, but Yatraa
might.
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.
I agree with your
assessment as you had indicated in a previous post regarding the
historical significance to the English names and so they be kept the same
way.
I brought it up because the
example you gave that "Gauhati University" remains the same (even though the
city has changed its name). I think it should be so.
Not being a linguist of any
means, I was thinking only from a marketing point of view.
What if we were to translate
these Assamese language stories for German readers? What title would you
suggest so as to marketl the magazine in Germany?
--Ram
On 2/14/06, Rajen
Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >
wrote:
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]
Too much spam in your inbox? Yahoo! Mail gives
you the best spam protection for FREE! Get Yahoo! Mail
_______________________________________________
assam
mailing list
[email protected]
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
|
