Today is ‘Marathi Bhasha Diwas’, which is celebrated every year on February 27 in the honour of Marathi language. It also marks the birth anniversary of legendary Marathi poet Kusumagraj. Speak Up talks to non-Maharashtrians in the city who made efforts to learn Marathi language and take pride in doing so.
Due to my profession, it is very important for me to know Marathi
Since I hail from Jabalpur, I did not know Marathi when I was a child. However, since I have stayed in the city for the last 35 years, I was able to learn and brush my Marathi speaking skills to a large extent. Also due to my profession as a consultant for married couples; I have to deal with patients who are Maharashtrians and hence it is important for me to know the language. In the process of learning Marathi, I found myself attached to this language. I speak fluent Marathi but when it comes to explaining technical terminologies to my patients, I fair badly. Marathi is very easy to grab. It is similar to Hindi, which makes it easy to understand.
—George Judah, consultant and therapist
Marathi cinema has helped in publicising the language
Having a fair bit of knowledge of many languages, I consider Marathi one of the finest languages in the western part of India. The enriched literature, courtesy people like Vijay Tendulkar, adds to the attractiveness of the language. Marathi cinema also helps in publicising the language. The greatest development for Marathi as a language is the use of Marathi culture and language in Hindi movies. But I personally feel that some sort of orientation is required for the non-Marathi people in order to increase their skills in the language and this has to come from the government. Marathi is very similar to Kannad and the script shares similarity with Hindi. These facts make Marathi a very friendly language.
—S Ranganathan, director, JSPM’s Kautilya Institute of Management Studies
Marathi is a very easy language to grasp as it is similar to Hindi
I like to call Marathi as my mother tongue. Being born and brought up in Maharashtra and having done my schooling in a Marathi medium school, my language skills is at par with Maharashtrians.
My association with social work in Maharashtra has also helped me to learn the language like a pro. I find Marathi a very easy language to grasp as it is similar to Hindi. It comes across as a very sweet and soft language. Besides, my fondness for Marathi music is also one of the reasons why I learnt the language so quickly.
Especially the bhav geets and lavni are the major art forms in Marathi that I can relate to. Since I have been in politics for such a long time, I have to deal with people from various backgrounds, including Marathi speaking people. In fact, I speak much better Marathi than Punjabi.
—Mohansingh Rajpal, former mayor, Pune
The enriched Marathi literature has made me a loyalist to this language
Despite being a Kannad, I was born and brought up in Kolhapur. Since I have studied in a Marathi medium school, I got attached to this language. The rich and well-equipped Marathi literature is the major reason why I am so fond of this language.
I love reading literature by Shanta Shelke, J Kulkarni and Pu La Deshpande. Their rich work has made me a loyal reader of Marathi literature. Compared to Kannad literature, Marathi literature is far more vast and rich.
Besides, Marathi dictionary is one of the best I have come across as all the words have many synonyms thereby making it rich in vocabulary. All these elements attracted me to this language and thus I started a Marathi social networking website called mimarathi.net. Marathi as a language is easy to understand and hence I prefer using it.
—Raj Jain, creator, mimarathi.net
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