It's cold out there but we continue to inspire

This International Mother Language Month - Let's pledge to keep Punjabi alive and strong for the next generations

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa 
Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh 

Feb 21st, International Mother Language Day, is right around the corner. I am always excited about this day and month and hope you will be too. 

Unfortunately, with so much instability going on in Punjab - the land of our language, and given the mass exodus of Punjabis to the west, Mother Language and Environment, the two fundamental building blocks of our identity keep taking a back seat. With everyone out to exploit Punjab to its end, Punjab today needs our engagement more than ever. 

With our limited resources and capabilities but unlimited potential, we are experimenting with new ways to engage the students in Punjab to inculcate a love for the Punjabi Maboli and the air, water, and soil of Punjab with the content we have created. In the past few months, we have engaged close to a hundred school children in storytelling from our books, talked about the environmental degradation of Punjab, and inspired them to create artwork around it. We have awarded them the Nava-Naroa-Punjab booklets and presented their school with folktales books for libraries. 

Since our human resource potential is limited, in the last quarter, we partnered with several on-ground organizations working with children and donated our books so they could reach more students. Some of our partners include Sikh Aid and Sikhi Awareness Foundation. We have also supplied our Nava-Naroa-Punjab booklets to the Zira Morcha, Punjabi Lokdhara group, SohanGarh Natural Farms, and several others working individually to create an awareness of the environment. So far, five-thousand booklets have been printed and distributed in Punjab. 

I hope you will enjoy this video clip from our engagement in a few schools in the Patiala district. Watch the slide show

I also wanted to take this opportunity to educate on the importance of the International Mother Language Day.

ਸੰਯੁਕਤ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰ ਗੁੱਟ (ਯੂ.ਐੱਨ.ਓ) ਵੱਲੋਂ 21 ਫਰਵਰੀ ਨੂੰ ਮਨਾਏ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਮਾਂ ਬੋਲੀ ਦਿਹਾੜੇ ਬਾਰੇ:

21 ਫਰਵਰੀ 1952 ਦੀ ਘਟਨਾ ਮਾਂ ਬੋਲੀ ਨਾਲ ਇਸ਼ਕ ਦਾ ਇਤਿਹਾਸਕ ਦਸਤਾਵੇਜ਼ ਹੈ। ਜਦੋਂ ਢਾਕਾ ਯੂਨੀਵਰਸਿਟੀ, ਜਗਨਨਾਥ ਯੂਨੀਵਰਸਿਟੀ ਅਤੇ ਢਾਕਾ ਮੈਡੀਕਲ ਕਾਲਜ ਦੇ ਪਾੜ੍ਹਿਆ ਨੇ ਜੋ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਸਮਿਆਂ ‘ਚ ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨ ‘ਚ ਉਰਦੂ ਤੋਂ ਬਿਨਾਂ ਆਪਣੀ ਮਾਂ ਬੋਲੀ ਬੰਗਾਲੀ ਲਈ ਮੁਜਾਹਰਾ ਕਰ ਰਹੇ ਸਨ, ਉਦੋਂ ਪੁਲਿਸ ਦੀਆਂ ਗੋਲੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਸ਼ਿਕਾਰ ਹੋ ਆਪਣੀ ਮਾਂ ਬੋਲੀ ਦੀ ਹੋਂਦ ਲਈ ਕੁਰਬਾਨੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਗਏ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਹੀ ਸਮਿਆਂ ‘ਚ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਮਾਂ ਬੋਲੀ ਦੇ ਸਪੂਤ ਅਪਣੇ ਸੰਘਰਸ਼ ਨੂੰ ਕਾਮਯਾਬ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਰ ਸਕੇ। ਯੂ.ਐੱਨ.ਓ ਨੇ ਬੰਗਾਲੀਆਂ ਦੀ ਮਾਂ ਬੋਲੀ ਨੂੰ ਲੈਕੇ ਕੀਤੀ ਕੁਰਬਾਨੀ ਦੀ ਇਸ ਤਾਰੀਖ਼ ਨੂੰ ਮਾਂ ਬੋਲੀ ਦਿਹਾੜੇ ਵਜੋਂ ਅਹਿਮੀਅਤ ਦਿੱਤੀ।

ਯੂ.ਐੱਨ.ਓ ਮੁਤਾਬਕ ਇਸ ਸੰਸਾਰ ‘ਚ 7000 ਭਾਸ਼ਾਵਾਂ ‘ਚੋਂ 50 ਫੀਸਦੀ ਅਪਣੀ ਕੁਝ ਪੀੜ੍ਹੀਆਂ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਹੋਂਦ ‘ਚ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੋਣਗੀਆ। ਆਓ ਆਪਾਂ ਅਹਿਦ ਕਰੀਏ ਕਿ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਮਾਂਬੋਲੀ ਸਾਡੀਆਂ ਆਉਣ ਵਾਲ਼ੀਆਂ ਪੀੜੀਆਂ ਵਾਸਤੇ ਜਿਉਂਦੀ ਰਹੇਗੀ।

International Mother Language Day has been observed yearly since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The date represents the day in 1952 when students from different educational institutions such as Dhaka University, Jagannath University, and Dhaka Medical College demonstrated for the recognition of their language, Bengali, as one of the two national languages of the then (East) Pakistan, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka (near High Court), which is the capital of present-day Bangladesh. 

We salute all who have lived and died, loving and honoring their mother tongues. The martyrs of 1952 Bangladesh who died for the Bengali language are in our hearts this month and more. 
 
I hope you will celebrate this important month with us and do something profound to honor our beautiful and rich mother language - Punjabi. I also hope you will enjoy the beautiful resources we have created to celebrate Maboli Punjabi this month and every day of the year with your children -- be it our books or audiobooks or youtube videos of hundreds of children performing on our books.
 

Yours truly,

Gurmeet Kaur
www.folktalesofpunjab.com
www.pippal.org