Varanasi : So, Our Man in Parliament speaks English ! And Quite Fluently !!

Varanasi / New Delhi. July 1 .So, here is yet another revelation; our man in Parliament speaks English; and that too quite fluently. The Gaurdian was not quite off the mark when it published its historic editorial on India's 2014 general elections :- Final Departure of British Raj;  Narendra modi only assured the Firangi retainers that all is not lost, they can still remember that once upon a time there was British Raj in India.

                                             Occasion was the launch of  PSLV carrying five satellites from 'developed' countries; PSLV performed its fete successfully. Modi keeping in mind the gathering, consisting of scientists, spoke in English, in spaces switching over to his natural language- Hindi. How was his communication level in these two languages, comparatively ?

                                             For Banarasis, it was the first occasion when they heard our man in parliament speaking English. He spoke extemporally , that too in English ! Did he memorize his speech or some body was there doing prompting ? Impossible skeptics, Banarasis raise doubts. It was live speech and whole nation watched and listened the Modi's oratory skill, it was really an extempore speech and speaker was quite at ease and confident. When ever he had to add some lively inputs  he switched over to Hindi.

                                             The Guardian, in its ' Final departure of British Raj' editorial also took note of language skill of Indian leaders. It wrote, " Modi is not a natural English speaker ";  as if it was one of the proofs that the colonialist had left the wild sub-continent with no left overs. His British biographer said, Modi interacted with him in English ; the so called national media reported that Modi interacted with US ambassador 'poor'  Nancy Powell in halting English, Powell had to utter some sentences in broken Hindi to establish some sort of  rapport with a hard nut. This is all known to us before the speaker himself opened his mouth in Sriharikota.

                                            A few days ago a foreign correspondent recalled that about 15 years ago he participated with Modi in a TV debate where the then  BJP office bearer  put forward his opinion in forceful English. The correspondent, however, added,  Modi spoke in heavily accented English. One wonders how to describe the peculiar  accent of Modi's English, was it Hinglish tone or Gujarati dhokla flavour. Was it pleasant or annoying ?

                                          We Banarasis don't believe in niceties of language. You can deliver sermons or you can hurl score of galis. It is all the same for us. The only condition is-  it should be sweet and refreshing and on this count Modi failed ! Fortunately.

                                          His Hindi oration, though a nasal voice, a technical fault according to sangeet martand, is heart felt- penetrating and convincing . English version is just like official press release, soulless and marred with faulty  pronunciation and emphasis; for example "rich culture" becomes " reech culture". More over it was not pleasant at all.

                                         In Hindi he is a Koyal ( cuckoo) and in English he is a Kauaa ( crow).

Modi, Sushma should press for memorial of Veer 

Savarkar in Marseilles ( France ) 

New Delhi/ Varanasi. June 29. Foreign Affairs Minister of France, Mr. Laurent Fabius begins his four day official visit to India from June 29 , apparently with an invitation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Paris at the earliest.

                                                            France, as an 'old Europe' was a traditional friend of India and even in its 'new Europe' avatara is keen to further bilateral relations. Mr Fabius visit offers an opportunity to Modi to press for a long pending project to built a memorial in Marseilles in france , where Veer Savarkar performed an extraordinary fete of courage and bravery by jumping into sea from a British ship and reach shore of France in July, 1910.  Veer savarkar's fete inspired generations of revolutionaries and freedom fighters and was recorded in the history books in golden letters . France initially rejected the request of British imperialist to hand over the detainee and this led to an international dispute. The case was later decided in international court where the verdict was in favour of the barbarians. Savarkar was sent to kaala paani to serve double life imprisonment. France took it as a national humiliation and government there narrowly survived.

                                                                       France, to redeem itself from national shame suffered a century ago, agreed  in 2010, the centenary year of the great leap ,  to build a memorial honoring Veer Savarkar in Marseilles, who was considered an epitome of struggle against colonialism and imperialism. Manmohan - Sonia regime showed no interest and pygmies launched a campaign against any memorial here in India or  there in Marsielles in honour of Savarkar. Now, the electorates of the country have thrown the old regime into dustbin and pygmies are licking their wounds. One only hopes that at least Sonia Gandhi would ultimately recognize that as a president of India's oldest political party, it was expected from her not to disparage but to respect national heroes,even if some of them differ from Congress ideology. Father of nation,  Mahatma Gandhi, who was an anti-thesis of Savarkar, always held the latter in high esteem. Marxist thinker M N Roy virtually worshiped Savarkar and touched his feet when they met  in Bombay.

                                                                   During electioneering Modi spent a few minutes in the room of the Pune's Fergusson college hostel where Savarkar once lived as a student. Modi later said that  he felt vibration of national commitment and sacrifice in the hostel room.

                                                                               A memorial of Veer Savarkar on the beaches of Marseilles will be as significant as the highest statue of Sardar Patel in the middle of Narmada river in Gujarat. And like bringing back ashes of great revolutionary Shyamji Krishna Varma for immerssion in holy Ganga and Sabarmati, Modi will be instrumental in honouring yet another national hero on foreign land.

                                                                                      Modi should make it a point to visit Marseilles when ever he visits France and if by then the memorial was completed he should offer a few flowers to Veer Savarkar on behalf of the nation.

                                  Renaming the blog : Seeing the world from Varanasi prism

                                                         "Varanasi : Our Man in Parliament"

                                                 Elections are over and Banarasis elected their representative for lower house of the Parliament of world largest democracy. And ' our man in Parliament ' happens to be Prime Minister of India .This blog was started to cover the historic 2014 Lok Sabha elections which produced an amazing outcome. Presence of Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal in the election fray generated a lot of interest in this constituency and after many, many years in the ancient city of Varanasi widely recognized as spiritual capital of India. Now, with Modi in Parliament with a promise to rejuvenate the holy city, it is an imperative to keep interest alive in the happenings of this oldest city on the planet, spiritually a cosmos and in this-worldly term, a global village.

                                            The blog  attempts to report the developments in the city  and analyse and see national and international events from Varanasi prism.