'We're losing our ability to be bilingual' May 6, 2006, 12.00am IST Ever since his irst boo!

, Saat Sa!ham Trechalis, Sahitya "!a#$emi#%inner &iran 'agar!ar hasn't returne$ to %riting in Marathi. (is latest boo!, )o$'s *ittle Sol$ier, is in English an$ he $oesn't have any +lans o going bac! to Marathi. "t least, not until he gets an intereste$ au$ience. Meena!shi &umar tal!s to him about being a bilingual %riter, his love or languages an$ the +ain he eels on not being acce+te$ by Marathi critics, Why have you sto++e$ %riting in Marathi.or %hom shoul$ I %rite- I can't survive %ithout an au$ience. /ublishers are not intereste$ to touch the Marathi translation o my last boo!, 0uc!ol$. "n$ this is the boo! or %hich I receive$ the Sahitya "!a$emi a%ar$1 The Marathi +ress shunne$ me the $ay I %rote 2avan an$ E$$ie in English. They elt I %as not authentic. They thin! that anyone %ho %rites in a language other than one's mother tongue, is not authentic. 3ut are these guys even remotely intereste$ in, say, &anna$a or 3engaliIt's 4ust a stance. It suits them to tal! as i they are really %orrie$. It really +ains me that Marathi critics $on't acce+t me. "re you com ortable being i$enti ie$ as a bilingual %riterI %ish I coul$ have been a multilingual %riter. I am very conscious that I $on't s+ea! or %rite many more languages. (o% im+overishe$ I am that I $on't !no% Tamil or or that matter any other In$ian language. "lso, I $on't %ant to be !no%n as an In$ian %riter. What matters to me most is that I shoul$ be a goo$ %riter. Mumbai is +erha+s one o the e% cities in the country %hich has been a home to 5uite a e% bilingual %riters li!e "run &olat!ar an$ 6ili+ 0hitre. What is so s+ecial about the cityI $on't thin! the cre$it shoul$ go to Mumbai alone. It's true o Maharashtra on the %hole. What's marvellous about the state is the em+hasis on e$ucation. 3ut things are changing ast. It has become +restigious to s+ea! in English. Even an auto#$river in Mumbai +re ers to s+ea! in English. /eo+le li!e me are $isa++earing so ast that it's unbelievable. It's terrible that %e are losing our ability to be bilingual. 6o you thin! this $ivi$e bet%een regional %riters an$ those %riting in English can be bri$ge$- Woul$ more translations hel+3e ore %e have more translations, %e nee$ a certain o+enness. /eo+le shoul$ be %illing to acce+t other languages. They shoul$ have res+ect. (o% can any language not be anything but beauti ul2ea$ more, 'We're losing our ability to be bilingual' # The Times o htt+,77timeso in$ia.in$iatimes.com7home7o+inion7e$it#+age7Were#losing#our#ability#to#be# bilingual7articlesho%718190:2.cms;i<==1.>:?brW@ In$ia