Organic growth is innate in a language as it adapts to changing times and places. Moving from one era to the next, one region to another it alters, growing in terms of vocabulary and usage akin to a meandering river. The vast variations of Hindi used over large parts of north India being an apt case. Similarly, languages reflect change as they interact with foreign ones brought to its proximity through traders, migrants, saints, travellers and soldiers. Delhi too has had its share of interactions with such groups of foreigners who have contributed to the city’s customs, culture and cuisine while adding substantially to its local language. Thus words like tarazu (balance scale, Turkish), gaz (a unit of measurement, Persian), kursi (chair, Arabic), kameez (shirt, Turkish), salwar (a dress, Persian) and blouse (garment, English) are being used in daily parlance without realising as to how they came into being and from where.
Recording this organic growth of Delhi’s languages is an interesting proposition being taken up by the Indian Languages Festival (ILF) Samanvay under its recently announced first documentation project. Called “Langscaping Delhi: Mapping a city’s linguistic routes”, it will not only look at the past but also zoom on the present by mapping the city linguistically bringing fore the existence and usage of languages in selected pockets. One can feel the presence of such languages through festivities and cultural celebrations by the linguistic minorities. Take the instance of the low key Chhath Puja in the past. Now a huge affair, it is patronised by political leaders and parties, mirroring the sizeable section of Maithili and Bhojpuri speakers residing in the Capital. The presence of Santhali speaking people is realised on observing them attend the Sunday church in large numbers. There a several areas which are dominated by one particular community. The Chittranjan Park gives a glimpse of mini Kolkata dotted as it is with fish and sweetmeat shops. Likewise there are streets in Mongolpuri locality dominated by Tamilians while Malayalis dwell in large numbers in Mayur Vihar and Dilshad Garden. Interestingly, there are many taxi drivers hailing from Banka district who are settled near Dwarka.
The project conceptualised by Prof. Apoorvanand of Delhi University will be led by him along with Sohail Hashmi, heritage activist as the mentor. When asked if Langscaping is merely an academic exercise, Apoorvanand says, “No. By uncovering the historical layers of language evolution in Delhi since the mid-19th Century and throwing light on the languages thriving in the city, the project will create awareness amongst people about the Capital being a multilingual geographical area. This will go a long way in sensitising them and respecting other languages.” Agreeing with him, Hashmi reckons that the project will counter generalisation and assumption that Delhi belongs to a particular community or a regional grouping. “It is the migrants moving to the city over a period who have made the city what it is today.”
The creative director of ILFS, Rizio Yohannan Raj, views the exercise as an urgent need to connect with younger generation. “Everyone particularly the youth need to realise the plurality of the society especially in the wake of growing intolerance and violence towards those who are perceived as ‘others’. Through this project we want to express the need for co-habitation, cooperation and commemoration because people live, work and remember together.” The project will not be confined to verbal manifestation of the language. “We will record the non-verbal forms too like paintings, festivals and celebrations as they form an important facet of the language,” informs Apoorvanand.
The programme will entail studying archival material available at the National Archives, Central Public Works Department, Delhi Development Authority and Railways. “This will help in understanding the shift in people and population over time due to economic and political decisions,” explains Rizio. Citing examples of such decisions, she mentions advent of railways in Delhi in 1865 which brought droves of migrants to operate it as well as dislocated many to allow construction of station and laying of lines; shifting of the imperial capital from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911 which saw a large number of Bengalis move as part of administration and the Partition in 1947 when lakhs of refugees poured in from West Punjab and East Bengal. Mapping will involve sending teams across the Capital to gather data and details on verbal and non-verbal expressions and communication besides capturing it on audio and video. “We are devising the tools and the methodology for this purpose. The researchers who comprise university teachers and students will be extensively trained as we want gather facts.” With Ashoka University having committed to the project, efforts are on to rope in Delhi and Ambedkar universities.
On how the language in Delhi evolved through interaction with migrants, Hashmi explains that it was necessitated when the foreign rulers needed to communicate with their soldiers and administrative staff recruited locally. So was the case with outside traders who needed to strike a deal with their provincial counterparts. The spiritual personages wanting to spread their message too contributed as they dealt with temporal matters. “The Punjabi Sufi saints used the language Saraiki, which borrowed from Punjabi, Multani, Turkish and Persian to preach.”
Delving on the aspect of confluence of languages in Delhi, Apoorvanand finds it interesting that languages that travelled from far established themselves in the Capital over a period of time. “In this context I find Shahpur Jat amazing. The Jats in majority there speak a dialect which is close to the one spoken in Haryana. That is not all as one finds Oriya speaking people engaged in plumbing profession and Murshidabad Bengalis doing zardozi work. People from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand too are there. So four to five languages are used in the area. At another plane, it is pertinent to note that even though Jats are predominantly vegetarians, they do not object their tenants eating meat thereby displaying their secular trait.”
According to Rizio “Langscaping…” is an attempt on the part of ILFS to move from a literary festival to a language festival by extending the mandate beyond verbal and literary. The first preview of the project will be showcased during the main ILFS in November.
