Animal Rights? Who Cares?

I have long been an advocate of animal rights. Probably even to the extent of Menaka Gandhi. When we were young, my sister and I used to take butterflies with broken wings and place them on flowers, childishly hoping that they would drink nectar from them. Now that I am an adult, I do not indulge in such things, but my concern for animals remains.

Yesterday, an eagle got shocked from the live wire near my window at work. A colleague and I called the Animal Rights Fund. We saw good advertisements about it on the web. And boy, was it a mistake! I had to leave early yesterday, and my poor colleague was at our workplace when the guys from ARF came. Apparently, they were rude and horribly uncaring about the bird. The details are too gory for me to go into them again, but the bird finally got scared and fell from the stairs and died.

Are all "non-profit" organizations like this? I am just writing this to get the anger out of my system. Okay, we do not expect them to be perfect gentlemen, but they should at least have a little concern about the creatures they have made their mission to save!

ಕೆಟ್ಟ, ಕೆಡುತ್ತಿರುವ ಕನ್ನಡ

ಇತ್ತೀಚೆಗೆ ಮಿತ್ರರೊಬ್ಬರು ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿದರು "ಏನ್ರಿ, 'ಸಾಫ್ಟ್‌ವೇರ್' ಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಏನು ಹೇಳ್ತಾರೆ?" ಎಂದು. ನಾನು "ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ" ಎಂದು ಉತ್ತರಿಸಿದೆ. ಅವರು ಎರಡು ಕ್ಷಣ ಯೋಚಿಸಿ "'ಅಭಿಯಂತ' ಎಂದರೆ ಇಂಜಿನಿಯರ್ ಅಲ್ಲವೇನ್ರಿ?" ಎಂದು ಕೇಳಿದರು. ಹೌದೆಂದೆ. ಆಗ ಅವರು "ಹಾಗಿದ್ದರೆ ನನ್ನ ವೃತ್ತಿಯನ್ನು 'ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ-ಅಭಿಯಂತ' ಎಂದು ನಮೂದಿಸಬಹುದೆ?" ಎಂದು ಕೇಳಿದರು. ನಾನು ಅವಾಕ್ಕಾದೆ.

ಕನ್ನಡಭಾಷೆ ಬಹಳ ಸೊಗಸಾದ, ಮುದ್ದಾದ ಭಾಷೆ. ಆದರೆ ಇತ್ತೀಚೆಗೆ ಕೇಳಿಬರುತ್ತಿರುವ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಸೊಗಸು ಕಾಣಿಸುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ವಾರ್ತಾಪತ್ರಿಕೆಗಳಲ್ಲಾಗಲಿ, ದೂರದರ್ಶನದಲ್ಲಾಗಲಿ ಕಾಣ/ಕೇಳಿಬರುವ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬಹಳ ಸಲ ಸಹನಶೀಲೆಯಾದ ಕನ್ನಡ-ತಾಯಿಗೇ ಅಳು ಬರಿಸುವಂತಿರುತ್ತದೆ.

ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತ ಮತ್ತು ಕನ್ನಡಪದಗಳನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಿ ಮಾಡುವ ಸಮಾಸ ಅರಿಸಮಾಸ. ಕುಮಾರವ್ಯಾಸನ ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಲ್ಲಲ್ಲಿ ಅರಿಸಮಾಸಗಳ ಪ್ರಯೋಗವಿದೆ ಎಂದು ಕೇಳಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ಪ್ರತಿದಿನ ಬೆಳಗಿನ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ತೆಗೆದು ಎರಡು ನಿಮಿಷ ಓದಿದರೆ ಹೊಸ ಹೊಸ ಅರಿಸಮಾಸಗಳು ಕಣ್ಣಿಗೆ ರಾಚುತ್ತವೆ. ಕುಮಾರವ್ಯಾಸ ಅರಿಸಮಾಸಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಡಿದ ಎಂಬುದನ್ನೇ ಪ್ರಮಾಣವಾಗಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡು ಸಿಕ್ಕ ಸಿಕ್ಕ ಪದಗಳೆಲ್ಲಕ್ಕೂ ಸಮಾಸ ಮಾಡಲು ಹೊರಟರೆ ಸರಿಯೇ? 'ಸದ್ಬಳಕೆ', 'ಸಂಪರ್ಕ-ಕೊಂಡಿ' - ಒಂದೇ ಎರಡೇ? ಇವು ವ್ಯಾಕರಣರೀತ್ಯಾ ಅಶುದ್ಧವಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ಲ, ಕೇಳಲು ಸಹ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿಲ್ಲ. ಕೇಳಲಾದರೂ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದ್ದರೆ ಒಪ್ಪಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದೇನೋ...

ಸಮಾಸಗಳದೊಂದಾದರೆ ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ವಿಶೇಷಣಗಳದ್ದು. ಅನೇಕರ ಬರೆಹಗಳಲ್ಲಿ "ಬುದ್ಧಿಮಾಂದ್ಯ ಮಕ್ಕಳು" ಎಂಬ ಪದಪುಂಜ ಕಾಣುತ್ತದೆ. ಮಂದ ಬುದ್ಧಿ ಇರುವವರು ಬುದ್ಧಿಮಂದರು. ಬುದ್ಧಿಮಂದರ ಭಾವ ಬುದ್ಧಿಮಾಂದ್ಯ. ಹೀಗೆ ಬುದ್ಧಿಮಾಂದ್ಯ ಒಂದು ನಾಮಪದ. ಈ ಪದ "ಮಕ್ಕಳು" ಎಂಬ ಪದಕ್ಕೆ ವಿಶೇಷಣವಾಗಲು ಹೇಗೆ ಸಾಧ್ಯ? ಪ್ರೊ. ಜಿ. ವೆಂಕಟಸುಬ್ಬಯ್ಯನವರು 'ಅಂಗವಿಕಲ' ಎಂಬ ಪದಕ್ಕೆ ಬದಲಾಗಿ 'ವಿಕಲಚೇತನ' ಎಂಬ ಪದವನ್ನು ಸೂಚಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಹಾಗೆ ಸೂಚಿಸಿದಾಗ ಅವರು ಪ್ರಾಯಃ ಅನ್ಯಮನಸ್ಕರಾಗಿದ್ದರೇನೋ. 'ಅಂಗವಿಕಲ'ರ ಅಂಗ(ಗಳು) ಮಾತ್ರ ವಿಕಲ. ಆದರೆ ವಿಕಲಚೇತನರ ಮನಸ್ಸು-ಬುದ್ಧಿ-ಆತ್ಮಗಳೇ ವಿಕಲ!(ಚೇತನ = soul , mind L. ; n.consciousness , understanding , sense , intelligence) ಆಂಗ್ಲದ 'differently abled' ಎಂಬ ಅರ್ಥ ತರಲು ಹೋಗಿ ಇದು ಎಂತಹ ಆಭಾಸವಾಯಿತು! ಕನ್ನಡದ ಎಲ್ಲ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಈ ಪದಗಳು ರಾರಾಜಿಸುತ್ತವೆ ಎಂಬುದು ದುಃಖದ ಸಂಗತಿ.

ಇದೇ ತೆರನಾದ ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ಸಮಸ್ಯೆ "ಪ್ರಾಧಾನ್ಯತೆ", "ನೈಪುಣ್ಯತೆ" ಮುಂತಾದ "ತೆ" ಗಳದ್ದು. ಪ್ರಧಾನನ ಭಾವ ಪ್ರಾಧಾನ್ಯ, ನಿಪುಣನ(ಳ) ಭಾವ ನೈಪುಣ್ಯ. 'ಪ್ರಧಾನ' ಮತ್ತು 'ನಿಪುಣ' ಎಂಬ ಪದಗಳಿಗೆ 'ತೆ' ಎಂಬ ಪ್ರತ್ಯಯ ಸೇರಿಸಿ ಪ್ರಧಾನತೆ ಮತ್ತು ನಿಪುಣತೆ ಎಂದು ಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಹೇಳಬಹುದು. ಈ ಪ್ರಯೋಗದಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಶೇಷಣಗಳಾದ ಪ್ರಧಾನ ಮತ್ತು ನಿಪುಣ ಎಂಬ ಪದಗಳು ನಾಮಪದಗಳಾಗುತ್ತವೆ. ಈಗ ಈ ಪದಗಳಿಗೆ - ಉದಾ. ಪ್ರಾಧಾನ್ಯ ಎಂಬ ಪದಕ್ಕೆ "ತೆ" ಎಂಬ ಪ್ರತ್ಯಯ ಸೇರಿಸಿದರೆ "ಪ್ರಧಾನನ ಭಾವದ ಭಾವ" ಎಂಬ ಅರ್ಥ ಉಂಟಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. 'ನೈಪುಣ್ಯತೆ' ಕೂಡ ಹಾಗೆಯೇ. ಇದನ್ನು ಅರ್ಥೈಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ನನ್ನ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ವಿಫಲವಾಗಿ ಇದನ್ನು ಅಪಶಬ್ದಗಳ ಗುಂಪಿಗೆ ಸೇರಿಸಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ನೀವೇನಂತೀರಿ?

ಇನ್ನು ಜಾಹೀರಾತುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಕೇಳಿಬರುವ ಕನ್ನಡದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ. ಹಿಂದೆ ಉತ್ಪನ್ನಗಳು ಕಡಿಮೆ ಇದ್ದುದರಿಂದಲೋ ಏನೋ, ಜಾಹೀರಾತುಗಳು ಕಡಿಮೆ ಇರುತ್ತಿದ್ದವು. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಯೋಗಿಸಿದ ಭಾಷೆ ಕೂಡ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿರುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. "ನನ್ನ ನಲ್ಲನ ಹೊಲದಲ್ಲಿ..." ಎಂಬ ರೇಡಿಯೊ-ದ ಜಾಹೀರಾತಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಶಬ್ದಾಲಂಕಾರವೂ ಕಾಣುತ್ತದೆ. ಆ ಜಾಹೀರಾತುಗಳ ದರ್ಜೆ ಅದು. ಆದರೆ ಇಂದು? ಪುನಃ-ಚಿತ್ರೀಕರಣ ದುಬಾರಿಯಾದುದರಿಂದ ಹಿಂದಿಯಲ್ಲೋ ತಮಿಳಿನಲ್ಲೋ ಇರುವ ಜಾಹೀರಾತನ್ನು ಡಬ್ ಮಾಡಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ನಮ್ಮವರು ಅದೇ ರಾಗಗಳಿಗೆ ತಮ್ಮ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯವನ್ನು ಜೋಡಿಸಿ ಅದನ್ನು ಪ್ರದರ್ಶಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಕನ್ನಡದಂತೆ ಒತ್ತಕ್ಷರಗಳು ಹಿಂದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇಲ್ಲವಾದ್ದರಿಂದ ಈ ಜಾಹೀರಾತುಗಳು ಕರ್ಣಕಠೋರವಾಗಿರುತ್ತವೆ. ಅದೇ ಸಂಗೀತವನ್ನು ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡು ಇನ್ನೂ ಚೆನ್ನಾದ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯವನ್ನು ಅಳವಡಿಸಿ ಹಾಡಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿದೆ. ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗೆ "ಬೆಸೆದಿರಲಿ... ಜೀವನದಾ-ಸಂಪರ್ಕ ಕೊಂಡಿ" ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು 'ಬೆಸೆದಿರಲಿ ಜೀವನದ ಮಧುರ ಬಾಂಧವ್ಯ.." ಎಂಬುದಾಗಿಯೋ, ಅಥವಾ ಇನ್ನೂ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿರುವ ಪದಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿ ಹಾಡಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲವೇ? ಈ ಕೆಲಸ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕಷ್ಟ, ಆದರೂ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಸೊಗಸನ್ನು ಉಳಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಅಷ್ಟಾದರೂ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಪಡಬಹುದು ಎಂದು ನನ್ನ ಭಾವನೆ.

ಇತ್ತೀಚೆಗೆ ಒಬ್ಬ ಹಿರಿಯರು ಸಖೇದರಾಗಿ "ಕನ್ನಡದ ಆಯುಷ್ಯ ಇನ್ನು ಎಪ್ಪತ್ತು-ಎಂಭತ್ತು ವರ್ಷಗಳಷ್ಟು ಮಾತ್ರ ಎಂದು ಅನ್ನಿಸುತ್ತದೆ" ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿದರು. ಈಗಿನ ಕನ್ನಡದ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ ನೋಡಿದರೆ ಅವರು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದು ನಿಜವೆಂದೇ ಅನ್ನಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯ ಕನ್ನಡನುಡಿಯ ಆಯುಷ್ಯವನ್ನು ಹೆಚ್ಚಿಸಲು ನಾವೇನು ಮಾಡಬಹುದು?

ಇದನ್ನೂ ಓದಿ:
Random ramblings: ಎಷ್ಟು ದಿವಸಗಳಾದವು ಬರೆದು!!

Harry-puraaNa

I am an unabashed fan of Harry Potter. Not so much of a fan (my priorities have, er... changed now) to leave aside all other things and keep reading till I finish the book, but enough of a fan to prebook, buy and read as soon as possible. The narration is tight, the stories riveting and the characters are immensely loveable.

Today I had lunch at a relative’s. A few of us were discussing excitedly about ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’. (No, I still have not finished it. I have been terribly busy these couple of weeks and let R read it first.) An Uncle, G, heard our conversation and said “You would not read with so much interest if ‘baalanaagamma’ or ‘paataalabhairavi’ were released, you want only a western Harry Potter”. A couple of other elders joined in. The youngsters’ voice of protest was drowned in the elders' complaints about how today's kids loved "foreign" books and foreign everything. All this stemming from an innocent discussion about Harry Potter.

Let me make one thing clear first. I am all for preservation of Indian culture. Nobody who knows me can say that I do not read Indian books. I am pretty well-informed about our puranic and vedic lore. And it really irritates me when some people, writers included, rant that the HP series is not good, just hyped by the media. G was of the opinion that the sole reason for the popularity of HP was because of the publicity by the media. I think that the media-hype will work for the first volume and probably even the second. Beyond that, it is solely the writer's capability and the books' quality that makes the book popular or not popular.

I think I have complained elsewhere in my blog, that kids hardly read these days. They are so full of video games and the TV, that reading books other than their textbooks is somewhere at the end of their list of love-to-do things. This is if reading does find a place at all, in such a list. In this scenario, the one series that has taken many kids and adults back to reading is the Harry Potter series. They have made reading 'cool'. The books, even if they can be read very easily, are well-thought out. And since they are pretty voluminous, I think they tend to make other big books less intimidating, in the long run.

True, we have other, better books even in India. But let us not grudge Rowling her well-deserved popularity. She has given us a wonderful series of books; let's enjoy them!

Corporate responsibility

I do not watch serials on TV, but recently I happened to watch a few minutes of the kannada serial 'Minchu', directed by T.N. Seetharam.

What was going on was this. X, the managing director of a company, has an assistant Y. Now, there is another person Z, who is in need of money for her daughter's wedding, and approaches the finance department of the company for assistance. Z has already taken a housing loan and is still repaying it. Because of that, the finance department agrees to loan only a small amount of money. Z approaches Y, who takes her case to the MD and convinces the MD to increase the loan amount.

Okay, this was just an instance in a TV serial. But it was directed by Seetharam, and we can be sure that he thought it out well, before bringing it on screen. No one can deny that a company is responsible for its employees. But there is only so much anybody can do for anybody else. Even when it is possible, it is not right to cross those limits. What if all the employees of the company (or even half of them, for that matter), ask for loans, for genuine reasons? What would X have done?

Being complacent that someone higher-up is going to bail one out of all difficulties is bad. Unfortunately, I guess that is how we humans are wired (I sometimes wonder if it is just an Indian trait!). Some people always expect that rich companies help mend the bad roads, help government-run schools, and generally donate money generously for all causes.

Recently, I read an article that I received by email, written by Ravi Belagere. It was an open letter to Sudha Murthy. I respect Ravi Belagere a lot for his views, but this article struck me as very odd. Apparently M.P. Prakash, our erstwhile Dy. Chief minister, told Ravi Belagere that he asked all the IT majors to donate money for the development of infrastructure and various other things, and apparently all of them replied that "they would get back on this issue", but have not gotten back since then.

That is not all. Belagere rants about how all flyovers are near the IT offices, how the rich IT companies do not care about the necessities of the farmer whose land was destroyed by floods and about poor children who do not have access to education, how Bangalore became so very costly because of the IT companies.

To an extent, what he says is true. There is too much immigration from other parts of India to Bangalore. Cost of living is escalating. Rents have touched an all-time high. The traffic-situation is abysmal. Rather than spend evenings quietly with books, the youth prefer to hang out at malls. Ask any highschool kid, he/she wants to be a software engineer and nothing else. It is like they do not have any rolemodel in any other field. Good teachers, scientists and the like are hardly to be found. These developments are not good.

But how wise is it to blame the IT industry for everything? Businesses are there because they are in demand. An IT company exists because there are sponsors and shareholders and customers. And people work for IT companies because they pay them enough money to give good education to their kids and build bigger houses. Even IT companies get tax subsidies from the government because they generate revenue and create more wealth. Engineering colleges hiked their fees because of the high salaries the students may get once they finish their education.

And it is not like the IT companies do not do anything for the society. At R's company, there was this quarterly event where each person of the team was paired with a kid from a nearby government school. At the end of the event, R gave him his phone number, and asked him to call if he needed any help. True, such events are few and far between, but that is a start, and a good one at that. RSS has a few orphanages and schools ('anaatha shishu nivaasa', 'aruna chetana', etc) that thrive on donations by 'Professionals in Seva'. The Infosys Foundation has also done a lot of social work.

As harsh as it may sound, companies are answerable to their shareholders, and that is how their policies are made. M.P Prakash cannot complain against global companies without plugging the corrupt holes in his own ministry.

Karnataka Bandh

Yesterday was Karnataka bandh, called by a few pro-Kannada activists. The news reports say that the bandh was total in many parts of Karnataka. In districts like Mandya and Mysore, where people are more emotionally tied to the river Kaaveri ( I do not like splling it Cauvery), there were some incidents of destruction of public property and violence, but it has been peaceful otherwise.
Near my home at Basaveshwaranagar, there was absolute silence. There were a few stray two-wheelers moving about, but otherwise, the roads were so deserted that children were playing cricket outside, without any hesitation. It was nice to see kids playing outside the house, for a change.
This said, was the bandh really necessary? I would accept a bandh as necessary if and only if I had a legitimate demand, and that demand was not even considered by the government. This bandh would have been necessary if the state Govt. were happy to abide by the orders of the tribunal. Now that the Govt. has already decided to appeal against the verdict, where was the necessity to do all that was done yesterday? Bandh is wrong, think of the implications on the economy! This was like cutting the nose to spite the face! Aren't there more effective ways to let others know the opinion of the public? Like hanging placards outside your houses/shops, etc? Writing about it to the almighty - newspaper? Non-violent protest-marches? I suppose asking people to think, would be too much!
Interesting read here -
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb132007/dhforum.asp