Languages and Relationships: Yearning for an Umbilical Cord When I was sent to the outside world, my physical linkage with the inside world, through a conduit which provided nourishment to me as a fetus, was clamped and clipped. Physically the newly born was detached, but emotional attachment remained. Punjabi was my biological mother; Hindi my foster mother, English my wife and Marathi my late born child. I was brought up in U.P. where we spoke in Hindi and it was like a mother but only a substitute mother. When I grew up, I got wedded to English. We remain life partners to this day. The relationship, as usually it happens with such a relationship, has remained sweet and sour. Marathi came late in my life, when we moved to Maharashtra, and like a late child became very dear to me. I am used to living with my English wife and cannot do without her. My child Marathi is very close to me and I dot on her. I am in touch with my foster mother Hindi and we do chat quite often. But I yearn for my biological mother Punjabi. Where has she gone? I have only childhood memories. An occasional dialogue with a surviving sibling in Punjabi is the sweetest sound to my ears. Rest of the time it is English, Marathi and Hindi, spouse, child and foster mother in that order. There is no substitute for the mother to whom I was born connected with an umbilical cord!
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 03:08:41 +0000
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