Model: Young Sardar Mewa Singh.
Columnists
Punjabi Can Be Contagious!
Janam Da Firangee,
Sikhi Mai Mangee
FATEHPAL SINGH TARNEY
Changing religions can be a fairly uneventful experience in many situations.
For example, if a person in the West moves from one Protestant denomination to another, there is only minimal adjustment required, especially since it is a move from one sect of Christianity to another.
However, when one goes from Christianity to Sikhi, there is a major cultural adjustment to be made and language is central to this. Because language is one of the most fascinating things about what makes us human.
Almost 40 years ago, when I became a Sikh, a wonderful Sardarni Sahiba physician gave my name, “Fateh,” to me. I wanted to give my wife a Punjabi name as well. I had seen a film set in the subcontinent during the British Raj and there was a very commanding woman in it, called The Begum. So I began referring to my wife as The Begum until a Sardar friend of mine told me that Begum is a Muslim term, especially a title for Mughal ladies. I eventually settled on ‘Raj Dulari’ for my wife!
Dictionaries can be helpful and misleading at the same time in terms of learning a new language. I began, for example, to call each of the physicians at our local sadh sangat, “Hakim Sahib.”
Dictionaries can delude in any language. Our housekeeper is from Brazil and although I am fluent in Spanish and she understands everything I say in that language, I try to improve my Portuguese by using a dictionary. I wanted to remind her to please regularly change the sheets on my stepson’s bed while we were away in Michigan for the summer. Instead of using the correct word for bed sheets, going with a dictionary’s definition, I used the Portuguese word for sheets as in sheets of paper!
I’m sure many of my Sikh brothers and sisters in the diaspora, trying to improve their English, have experienced similar challenges and misunderstandings!
Seriously learning a new language requires the courage to speak and feeling brave and secure over making mistakes. A sense of humor also helps a lot. One has to be uninhibited which means not being fearful and reluctant to speak aloud. One can take the learning of a new language very seriously and yet maintain an ability to laugh at one’s mistakes either in vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation.
In my particular case, I am always ready and willing to speak Punjabi, but occasionally become quite nervous, which results in mistakes. For example, once, in a shop of a Sardar in New York City, I wanted to say “Bahut mehnga!” but said “Bahut nanga!” instead.
Once, mērī piārī patnī [a.k.a. The Raj Dulari] misplaced the only key to her car. I recall saying something like, “Chaabi kithē hai?”
She snapped, “Please speak to me in English, I do not speak Punjabi!”
My wife continues to have trouble even with words like ‘bus’ meaning" enough” in Punjabi and 'bus' as in a vehicle carrying many passengers. We searched all over the house for about half an hour for her car key.
Then I heard her exclaim, “Achchha!” She had found her key!
Go figure …
About a month ago, I, along with her other grandfather, was helping our granddaughter with a school project. It involved an elaborate poster. We worked with her on cutting out pictures and pasting them on a big poster board and printing out captions on the computer.
When all of it was done, my granddaughter, who knows about five Punjabi words, no more, shouted “Shabash!”
June 10, 2016