Follies and foibles we are captive to

Have we sometimes wondered why we should be referring to places and institutions in our country through associating them with places and institutions abroad?

For ages there have been the many references to Dhaka University (DU) as the Oxford of the East. Certainly those who have used that term picture Dhaka University as something of a mirror image of Oxford. It is their way of looking at DU as an institution which strives for excellence in the same way Oxford University has established itself in history. But is that a fair position to adopt? We will not go into analysing the state of Dhaka University today, and will leave it for perhaps another day.

But why must we think of Dhaka University as the Oxford of the East? The patent truth is that Dhaka University, or any other university in the world, stands on its own merit. Dhaka University is simply that, Dhaka University, just as Calcutta University and Harvard University exist through their own reputations. For us, therefore, Dhaka University is simply Dhaka University.

We do not enhance its appeal by placing it on a par with another and necessarily foreign university. Besides, any reference to Dhaka University as the Oxford of the East will in these times be disturbing, given the gulf of difference which separates Dhaka University and Oxford University, in that intellectual sense of the meaning.

The best option for us, therefore, is to let Dhaka University be what it is and for Oxford University to enjoy the reputation it has always had in these past many centuries. And it is not merely on the issue of a university that we need to go for a change in perspectives. In these past many decades --- and it is a strange phenomenon which has been common to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh --- movie makers and cinema goers have been kowtowing before Hollywood.

And what has emerged is quite a laughable fact: India has its Bollywood, Pakistan has its Lolliwood and Bangladesh has its Dhaliwood. Now, merely because Hollywood impresses us with its heritage, with its movie stars, should there have been any reason us to borrow from it and fashion or refer to our own movie industries in ways which leave us rather mystified?

It is all a matter of collective self-esteem. Move on to the issue of all our young female models popularising, on a regular basis on social media, clothes stitched in Delhi or Kolkata. How many of these models have we observed speaking for the saris and kurtas produced in Bangladesh? Coming by suits from London, lehengas from Lucknow, and shalwar kameez from Karachi is fine. We all want, at times, a dash of the foreign about and around us. But there is too such a fact of life as upholding the prestige of one's own country, especially where fashion is concerned.

The firms which employ these young Bengali models to advertise foreign products on social media owe it to the nation to ensure that local products are actively promoted before citizens. No, it is not protectionism we ask for. It is only that in our craze for foreign goods we ought not to forget that there are too the many manifestations of national pride right before us.

A similar problem arises when many among us, in our Bengali conversations and discussions on national as well as global issues, tend to lapse into an employment of English terms and phrases. We are certainly in favour of circumstances where we can master English and employ it skilfully in our dealings with the outside world. There is no dispute here, but the problem is one of our irritatingly breaking into using English words where Bengali words are available and so spoiling the conversation.

It is always a mark of good education, indeed sophistication, for an individual to speak in his own language when addressing an audience in his own country. And, yes, isn't there any way for us, for some of us, to turn our backs on the use of such terms as 'wow' even when we happen to be conversing in Bengali? Where has our own 'bah' vanished? And why must we keep falling back on such post-modern and certainly pointless terms as 'awesome'?

You might say that these are all human follies and human foibles. And you would be quite right. However, what matters is for us to do everything possible to avoid making such mistakes. In a country whose struggle for self-expression commenced with the Language Movement in 1952, we need to ask ourselves if we have been able to give our mother tongue the honour it deserves in our lives.

Attitude, you might be tempted to add, is of importance. Of course. Have you observed that at home, when we sit down to lunch or dinner, we prefer to have bhaat-maachh-mangsho? But the moment you step into a restaurant to enjoy a meal with your family or friends, your language instantly changes. You ask the waiter for rice-fish-meat? Our Bengali language goes missing and we quickly resort to English. Attitude, yes. Or is it something else?

At wedding ceremonies, both in cities and in our villages, there have been changes we did not foresee as recently as a couple of decades ago. Families, some of them, happily have records of Hindi movie songs blare loudly through the entirety of the occasion. Where have we lost the traditional Bengali folk songs marking preparations for the solemnity of marriages? Certainly Hindi and Urdu songs are those we love, but there are particular occasions when it is our indigenous melodies which are called for.

The bottom line: let Dhaka University be what it is, be simply Dhaka University. Let Bangladesh's movie industry not be an imitation of terms, not be awed by Hollywood. Let our own language govern our conversations without foreign terms insinuating their way into them.

It is not ultra-nationalism on our part. Neither is it chauvinism. It is simply a way of asserting our presence in the world.

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