The magic of words.

Since my childhood, I was trained to read the newspapers in the morning. Soon, it became a routine. Though I focus only on the front page, back page, sports page and pages number 2 & 3, I rush through the other pages and if there is anything catchy, I will give it a look. So since then, I am fascinated about the magic, the magic in words. The same words which conveys a funny mood can give you a tragic feel. For example, \’The girl fell on the tiles\’ can be a funny incident looking at the intense of the injury. Lets now swap the words, \’The tiles fell on the girl.\’ Tragic, isn\’t it? This is the magic, words carry. Personally I believe words are the most powerful weapon in the world. You can mentally harass and break a person using your words. But with the same words, you can cheer him up and make him the most happiest man. It depends on the kind of words you use, the kind of tone you say and the whole mood of the conversation.

As my knowledge increased, these words became a part of my life in the form of dialogues in films and commentary in cricket. They started to influence my grammar and vocabulary especially the cricket commentary from some of the legends like Harsha Bhogle and the writers like Sharda Ugra and George Binoy. In my day to day use of English language, these people and more started to influence me. When it comes to my mother tongue, the influence came from the surroundings, the political figures, the movie dialogues and newspapers. I must say reading and listening enhance your language skills. It enriches your knowledge in the language and gives you a wider point on it.

I am a huge fan of Modern Indian fictions. With the likes of Durjoy Datta, Preeti Shenoy and Sachin Garg, the concept of Indian books in me has started to expect nothing but the cliched love stuffs. But what still fascinates me or what makes me eager to read their books again is though the theme is love, pain and drama the way they set it up on different locations, backgrounds and characterization is appreciable. Quentin Tarantino once famously said \’I steal from every single movie ever made.\’ Personally speaking, I am not a great fan of copying a film – in this case – and making it frame to frame without the remake rights. But I love adaptations. The new age audience in Kerala who thinks our movies are a trash sit and criticize the great Priyadarshan saying all his films are copies. But tell me, haven\’t you also sat and enjoyed Kilukkam? Haven\’t you tripped over \’Mala, mala, kunjinte peru mala\’? You take so much pain to copy an answer in the examination hall but what if you write it wrong? Likewise, in all the so called copied films and books, a director and a writer has a specific role and they have their own contributions. I will always say copying is an art in an art form. Unfortunately, exam isn\’t an art form!

Speaking about exams, its the words again that matter. Recently I met three girls hailing from a village in North Kerala. Their command over English language is strictly intermediate. They were medical students and came to me asking to explain a topic in their text. I went through their text book and I was really shocked. Those were the simplest of sentences one could ever find in a text book. But they didn\’t understand it and they wanted me to make even simpler statements and explain to them in Malayalam. It was seriously difficult to simplify the already simple statements but I guess I did a good job. But their exam was tough! It wasn\’t because they didn\’t know anything. They knew everything but not the words to use. They didn\’t know where a word should be used and what is the exact word for a situation. On a detail talk with the girls, I realized they were Malayalam medium students till 10th std and in their surroundings, they don\’t have to use English much.

In this context, I will tell you something which I feel really good about Kerala. During my degree course, I understood that the only state in India (apparently), which make the students study in English medium in 11th and 12th without any other choice is our own Kerala. That opens a minimal language efficiency to the students and no wonder why we have 100% literacy rate.

When someone asks us about our daily needs, we say food, shelter, air and water. But along with that, we don\’t realize words are necessary. The speaking ability is necessary. The eye sight and the hearing ability are necessary. We forget the inborn skills and abilities in us and take it for granted. Don\’t do that. Without words, life is incomplete.