> I grew up in late 20th century India, in a deracinated household.
> A cultural and linguistic break had occurred, and between my grandparents’ and my parents’ generation, there lay an imporous layer of English education that prevented both my father in Pakistan, and my mother, in India, from being able to reach their roots.
Blaming "only on a single generation of English education" is shortsightedness.Before implementation of english education(1835), art and literature of India was already on the path of destruction. At the time of its implementation, a large portion of India was illeiterate.
Anyway, I agree on the linguistic break.It has started many times ago.People want secure future for their children and preparing them to become Engineers or doctors.We as a society, have prioritised students to find the biggest sum of money and a secure future/career.In this country(or at least the place I belong now), after 10th people send the top students to Science, next to commerece and then the rest to arts.After science, people ask you "What do you want to become?"Unadmittedly, they have 2 options for you,Engineering or Doctor.
And today,the condition is worsening.Many toddlers and preschoolers today are glued to never-ending collection of youtube videos.Digital addiction at such a small age gives me no hope that they will be able to rediscover their true roots through their lifetime.
lordleft · 21h ago
"... Or that kãla, Time and Death, should be derived from the Sanskrit kãl, ‘to calculate or enumerate’—related to the Latin kalendarium, ‘account book’, the English calendar—imparting, it seemed to me, onto that word the suggestive notion that at the end of all our calculations comes Death. Almost as if kãla did not simply mean Time, but had built into it the idea of its passage, the count of days, as it were."
> A cultural and linguistic break had occurred, and between my grandparents’ and my parents’ generation, there lay an imporous layer of English education that prevented both my father in Pakistan, and my mother, in India, from being able to reach their roots.
Blaming "only on a single generation of English education" is shortsightedness.Before implementation of english education(1835), art and literature of India was already on the path of destruction. At the time of its implementation, a large portion of India was illeiterate.
Anyway, I agree on the linguistic break.It has started many times ago.People want secure future for their children and preparing them to become Engineers or doctors.We as a society, have prioritised students to find the biggest sum of money and a secure future/career.In this country(or at least the place I belong now), after 10th people send the top students to Science, next to commerece and then the rest to arts.After science, people ask you "What do you want to become?"Unadmittedly, they have 2 options for you,Engineering or Doctor.
And today,the condition is worsening.Many toddlers and preschoolers today are glued to never-ending collection of youtube videos.Digital addiction at such a small age gives me no hope that they will be able to rediscover their true roots through their lifetime.