Hola...
Hope everyone is blending in well with the changing weather, situations, upcoming festive season or if not anything the upcoming winter season. It's just another week before Bengali's start celebrating their greatest festival of the year 'Durga Puja'. While living outside home and place our minds and hearts constantly oscillate between both the places.
This morning after my S left for school i was chatting with a friend of mine. She is a close confidante of me and over the years she can almost sense what is going on in my mind. We started with exchange of pleasantries and the weather to festival and importance of celebration. After our discussion a lot of questions started to bang my head. How am i doing in teaching my children our traditions and cultures? Are they getting a fair idea about their customs? Will they be able to identify themselves with the people of their roots? Will the binary surroundings leave them confused? What will they finally accept? These questions left me dumfounded for quite a few minutes until i stopped them from owning my mind.
According to me the first step is to talk to them in their first language. It is very, very important to teach them their native language because its their first identity. Language plays a very imperative role in building minds and identifying themselves. While it is also essential to know the local language for better adaptability, yet it is equally important to speak the native language at home. I believe you can express your true emotions only in your language. I may be completely wrong though. Many people have friends or spouses who do not speak the same language yet they bond over lifetime, but somewhere i feel its critical for the children to learn their first language first.
These days with the rapid changing scenario people back in my place are ignoring to teach their children their native language and teaching them to be global. While i am certainly not against it but what i fear is that down the lane the kids do not forget their roots. I have always been vocal about teaching my children my native language and faced criticism too. My S struggled in his initial school days but children i feel are are super absorbers. They grasp the situations pretty rapidly. While its a mix of two languages currently at home, yet i feel privileged to be talking in my first language. At least when i lose my judiciousness and i indulge in jargons (occasionally though) my S can figure out and help me with a glass of water. Hope he can read my mind in the near future too.
On a happy note i made cauliflower rice with a boiled egg for my S and snack box had fruits and smoothie. Catch you all tomorrow with some more rants...Till then enjoy....
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