The strain on the trainers

This was a great mental liberation for the trainees. Yet, it is very sure that many of them took a long time to understand the tremendous effort and mental strain it was on me. For, most of them were all youngsters working in low level jobs, (as per the Indian social mood). They were being allowed to come up to my level. The very act of addressing me with a Mr. prefixed to my name was indeed sacrilege on my personality. For at least my seniority in age has to be acknowledged in Malayalam with words of respect. I was simply allowing the erosion of my stature, in the hands of a remote-village living youngsters, whose parents more or less did at best, low-Levels jobs, in the Middle East.

The problem was more exacerbated by the fact that many of them were also employees of small-time businessmen who, in a natural feudal language code mood, would incessantly strive to show-off by comparison. There were occasions when some of them would feed the trainees with pejorative words and descriptions about me. Well, it was essentially the problem of weak people being cruel. For, their very social stature depends on suppressing others, who they feel can be suppressed and snubbed. It is a string of actions that move down the ladder of social hierarchy.

In a way it was the same issue of the British officials having to deal with ‘Indians’ who were the subordinates of superior ‘Indians’, as acknowledged by the British Crown. The indicant word definition of ‘British officials’ could be manipulated by the senior ‘Indians’ and that could be fed to the lower class ‘Indians’. The taking over of power by the British Crown was an action of utter stupidity and it was to hurt the ‘Indian’ lower classes. But that was in a very circuitous way, which they couldn’t understand or make sense of.  

Now, the essential problem was that since we were trying to disseminate the original stance of pure English of England, at least in the social code levels, we were to face the brunt of the social brutishness of a feudal language code. To reciprocate in the same tone would be reacting to Malayalam codes. This would give a temporary respite or victory. However, we would be pushing ourselves back to Malayalam arena.

Beyond that I couldn’t make my self compete with remote-village shopkeepers of India.

The taunt of the women folk

Even though a good number of students did admit that Varuna and Ashwina were their trainers, it must have been a topic of jest among others immediately outside this circle. Here again, I have seen the women folk being more explicit in their negative words. For, the women folk are at best a group of people forced to stay behind the lines, in their homes. It is not essentially connected to the husband being very possessive or imprisoning them. The issue is of a larger scope and cannot be dealt here in detail. It is more or less connected to fact that the local village town cannot place them in the proper slot in the language codes, where they would not only enjoy ‘respect’, but also can garner ‘respect’ to their husbands.

INSERT IMAGE OF DEVEKOVIL ANGADI

There is this doctor in the local village. He is not from the locality. His wife is not from Kerala, but has learnt to speak and comprehend Malayalam. She doesn’t go out into the village shops. She sits at home. Why? She knows that if she moves around in the local areas, she will start as an Oar (Avar) and soon descend to Oal (Aval). I have a feeling that many Whites in South Africa would also be suffering from similar emotions. They would become recluses if they are living in the midst of vernacular speaking blacks. And grow corpulent, which may again give a hint of prosperity, when actually the opposite would be true.

The issue could easily be understood as a situation in which the trainer class is being positioned below the trainee class. The trainee class has been powerfully indoctrinated against being trained by their own traditional tribal leadership.  

I will leave that subject for the time being and move back to the issue of how the womenfolk viewed Varuna’s and Ashwina’s general movement in the place. Varuna and Ashwina did not move with the people in the place. They moved only as trainers or something akin to that among persons who accepted them as that. Accepting them as that was not difficult, for there was no need for any obsequious attitude towards them. However, the absence of such codes did not keep them in a position of exquisite worship also, which is what other teachers necessarily get in the guise of Chettan, Mash, Saar, Ji, Mahatma etc. It was a training in which the trainees improved, and not like the Gandhian training, in which the top man became an object of veneration and the disciples remained painted in dirt.

I have heard women, not men, speaking loudly, when they see Varuna and Ashwina going to the river for swimming thus: Oh, she (olu Lower You) looks as if she is having some disease. What kind of a looks is this?’ Even though I do not remember any man saying anything in the same vein, I have heard small boys mouthing similar words used by their mothers and sisters, with regard to Varuna and Ashwina. However, as far as the direct mental effect that these words had on Varuna and Ashwina, it was negligible. For, they couldn’t understand Malayalam. And they had no means to retort back in the same tone, for the pejorative codes were unknown to them. Yet, they have admitted that they did have the experience of some mental distress when accosted by such inimical females.  

When oblivion takes over

Now coming back to N & S, Varuna and Ashwina were associating with persons who were kept on the lower indicant words by almost everyone, including their own parents. Even though I did mention to their father to avoid the lower indicant words with regard to Varuna and Ashwina, from their own context of association with them was as trainers, that was almost always a forgotten theme. For, as he himself, his wife and his children went on improving their English standards, wherein they could climb up above their Malayalam code lower positions, the feeling that Varuna and Ashwina were trainers was fast getting erased. For, soon they could speak in reasonably good English, with a standard much above the local people’s English standards.

Moreover, such things as computers, which they had earlier visualised as divine object beyond the purview of their children, were fast becoming common tools, especially due to the immense information passed to them by Varuna & Ashwina. In the earlier days, they were quite willing to admit that Ashwina was their trainer. As the years went by, it became a sort of disruptive knowledge to them, which was a discomfort to acknowledge. Especially when Ashwina was forcefully put into the same school, in a class much below them. The student hierarchy of that school would force them to assert a superior mood, and Ashwina to admit their superiority.

Over the years, N & S improved in personality much. In fact, if the initial difference in stature they had with Varuna and Ashwina were to be compared, with their current personality, it would be seen that there is not that much difference between them now. Actually, in many ways they would be in a higher position. For, among their own family members, they stood quite high, in that they were moving with a less fettered communication system, and knew good quality English. They were bilingual, and they knew the cunningness inherent in Malayalam, which was not known to Varuna and Ashwina. They were learning many Malayalam arts, including that of dance and other things. Varuna and Ashwina couldn’t go in for all that, for it would then compromise their communication stance. As to N & S, it was not a problem for them, for they were born into such negative communication statures, that they had not means of going lower than what they already were. They had only one possibility and that was to improve.

It was like the issue of Asians going on improving to the levels of English people, while the English people have no more places to elevate into. 

The father of N & S recently admitted to me that due to their association with Varuna and Ashwina, they had improved tremendously in every aspect of life, including English, communication standards, physical stature and computer skills. However, would N & S understand this? Well, for them their perspective is limited to what they grow into. They wouldn’t be able to visualise the growth of their own stature from a very low one to the ambience of a free mental ambience. As for their parents, beneath the thin veneer of pragmatic affability, there was a thin streak of un-conceal-able jealousy, and competitive spirit to come on top.

Here I need to place something on record. For, in this book, I will be speaking on the generic effects of feudal languages on human emotions. I will need to be brutally frank. However, it is about people who I know that I am speaking. They are not bad or am I good. There is no intention to categories them as bad or evil.

The father of N & S is a close supporter of mine. Yet, he lives in a social area where the feudal language Malayalam in in the everyday ambiance. It does affect him and his relationship with me. 

Speaking about the father of N & S, he came to me in the year around 2003 to learn English speaking. I had just arrived in the small village area from a metropolitan city. Sensing that he was the one of the few persons who admitted me as their mentor, certain persons in my family called him and gave the new house that had been built in our compound. His house was in a very remote area at that time. After bringing him to the new house, he was slowly given the input that he was the bigger person, and I the lesser person. For, I was at that time living in the dilapidated house in the compound, trying to keep away from the barging groups of persons who were reprogrammed to be inimical to me from my own house side. Very fast, he got converted to an idea that he was a superior, when in fact he literally used gimmicks to prop up his individuality.  

From my position of mentor, I was avar to him. However, in his position as a companion to my family members, wherein I was placed below him, I was avan to him. Naturally, he would feel more cosy in the position wherein I am just an avan [lower indicant HIM]. In fact, I could clearly see an oscillating behaviour in him, as he moved up and down relatively in the virtual code arena. Acting in subservience and then moving to domineering. Yet, he was one of my most enduring supporters over the years.

Soon he was in a cosy terms with the other side. In fact, he seemed to be in a position to play a balancing game between the two groups. 

However, since it was not my temperament to compete with persons whom I perceived as from a different social context, it was the endeavour on our part to impart as much English qualities on to his family members, including his wife, his wife and him. Over the years, I had done many things for him for which actually he should have been very much financially indebted to me. At the same time, he was helpful to me at least with regard to his professional capacities. In fact, I am indebted to him, much in this regard. However in this book on social and mental spurrings based on language codes, I need to go into finer areas. 

Then there was this quite peculiar situation in which his support had to be derived as a very powerful prompt. When the local Marxist committee gave a complaint to various governmental departments that I was not admitting my children to school, and thus was harassing them. At least a few of the family members on my side was also part of this conspiracy.  It was to generate a few departments’ enquiry.  At least one of them came to him and very directly asked him if I was having mental problems. Meaning if I was mentally sick. For, that was the word that was given to them by the other side. His words stood as a very powerful deciding factor. He told me that he had informed them that as far as he knew, there was no such thing. He told me that if he had simply made a reverse comment, things would have gone very bad for me. I was quite simply amazed at the power of the location. A person who I would position as my trainee is in a position to pass powerful judgements which would come to have statutory power. He was living in a better house, and I in a weaker looking premises.  

In between, I should mention that all departments gave very good report. The court verdict was in my favour. GIVE COURT VERDICT COPY HERE 

Here I need to mention certain things which are quite sensitive. However, I need to discuss them in the context of Asians arriving in English nations and taking up a very ambivalent stance. On one side, after the stabilse their citizenship, they start putting up a superior-than-the-locals attitude. They speak with pride and attachment to their native land glory, to the extent of insinuating that their native land was superior to their land of domicile. . However, if at any time, there is a possibility that they have to go back to their native land, they show their real terror of their native land and the natives who live there. 

After living for around six years in that house, paying a miniscule amount as rent, he was finally asked to vacate. For, I had decided to take a less belligerent stance in my family relationship. For, the other side had also gone through woeful experiences. I was to occupy the house that he had occupied for this much time. 

It was then that they started vacillating. The father, my close supporter wouldn’t budge. He went on asking for time. Ultimately after around another one year, he was given one year time to move. That is seven years totally.  When this time was also getting over, he asked for more time. This time, it was refused. At last, he moved to another rented house, cosy enough, but devoid of any link to English communication standards. This house was quite near to our house. The remarkable thing here was that none of them, including his children, wanted to move back to their traditional house, which had always been connected to superior social ancestry in most talks.

He used to speak about his grand heritage, family connections and links to various powerful bureaucrats through various family links, direct or by marriages. He would drop names, on almost all occasions. Yet, when he faced the real prospect of going back to his family links, grand heritage and ancestral properties and legacies, the reality of his repulsion for being back to that platform was quite evident. In fact, there is the sharp reality that he used to mention that he was ready to vacate our house at one month’s notice at any time. For, he had enough places to move to. Yet, when he was actually asked to move, he took it as a act of belligerence and treachery. For, he wanted to remain within our proximity. At least for the sake of his children having access to quality English communication.There was an attitude on my part to impart as much positive qualities to his family members as possible. Even my children did the same. Yet, he was occupying a better house, while I was in the dilapidated house. The mental definition of ‘Thrash’ would naturally encode in his mind and others’ mind with regard to our family. 

When, at the end of the day, he has to go back to his native links, the he was terribly distressed. He came to my house and in the midst of other talk, spoke in a terrible manner, ‘You are getting a nice house. What is my position?’ It was quite funny. The situation was that he was radiating a feeling that he was also part of our family’s heritage, antiquity, legacies and such things. 

The funny fact was that he was an outsider and this house was just part of our family property. The problem for N & S was that they are continuously brought into the lower indicant levels incessantly by their family members and other connected persons. I had noticed that both Varuna as well as Ashwina did not have the usual innate mentality seen among the feudal language speaking persons to speak sarcastically as a means to level out the level differences that indicant codes create. But then, when they continuously become the target of such words which are natural in feudal languages, they are forced to react to them. That simply means that they also use such words. I have at times seen them reacting like that on odd occasion. I tell them of what it means and what provokes such words. They need to powerfully remain above such cravings; to react in the same manner.

The dangerous theme of equalisation 

Now, the question is, are the ‘guys’ in Great Britain of the same level as of the ‘clerks’ in India? Well, this question of equalisation is a very dangerous one. For, one should not equate oneself with any other human being without knowing fully with what one is equating oneself. In ‘India’ no one of stature would like to be equated with lower level persons. For, each equation means a definite level of right to articulation, right to dignity, right to stature and right to refined postures. Getting forcefully equated to lower level persons who cannot even stand in front of a local constable with a pose of dignity can lower oneself to that level. It is a deed that can bring down the whole of the English nations to the levels of shi*. It can atrophy the nation. It is essentially a case of being addressed as Nee, not only by the IAS officer, but also by his menial servant. The effect is of terrible possibilities when the bringing down is done by the menial servant. 

Actually, during my English training programmes, I do tell my trainees to avoid watching Malayalam films. The films can be quite enjoyable and captivating. However that was the problem. The films act as trainers. They train the common man about the various obsequious attitudes that have to be borne by them. This it does in a mood of hilarious comedy. However, the scenes have power. One would slowly visualise how one would stand and speak thus in front of a government official. It would train the boss to act with more truculent and comical wretchedness to his subordinate. And teach the subordinate to take it in his stride. 

Also teach the subordinate class to use sly manoeuvres to overtake the upper guys. To work behind the scenes and to avoid a direct approach. To wait for a slip on the upper guy’s part, to sabotage him at the right moment. 

INSERT MALAYALAM FILM CLIP DEPICTING SUBSERVIENCE 

Powerless to exert right to dignified existence 

There was one incident when Ashwina accompanied me when I went with N & S’ father to a carpenter’s house. We were inside their house. That means Ashwina was within their premises. Verbal attacks that they could not do till that time could be inflicted. They did not waste time. Even though she was quite preoccupied with her own thoughts, they went on trying to prise the word Nee on her. However, since she had no understanding in Malayalam, their efforts were of no avail. The word Nee was used in the guise of being affectionate. They knew that she did not know Malayalam, yet they tried hard to breach the fortress of English-sans-Malayalam. They turned to me and started asking me about her, with the word ‘Oal’ (Aval). I simply disregarded the questioning. For, I found it as unacceptable as a government clerk would feel if a senior IAS officer female of young age being referred to as Aval. At least, he could say, ‘She (Oar, Avar) is an IAS officer’, if the speaking people were willing to acknowledge the superiority of an IAS officer. In the case of Ashwina, there was no aim to promote superiority, but simply claim dignified existence that was not willing to concede to degradation.

 Perching greatness 

Since the theme of acknowledging superiority has been mentioned, I need to speak thus: All superiority of personages in a feudal language social system is connected to introduction. For example, if Gandhi were walking around the street with his later age signature dress of a loincloth, he would simply be seen as a nonentity, at best a slight crank. However, the powerful indoctrination that comes everyday through textbooks, newspapers, TVs etc. make him a ‘mahatma’. Without this introduction, he is not a grand personage, who can create certain emotions in people who are made to idolise him.

I remember an incident, when Varuna had been forcefully admitted to the local village English medium school. A well-known Malayalam film actor came to the school for some function. All the students were crooning and in a very elated mood. However, Varuna came and told me that evening that she couldn’t understand what was so great about him. ‘He looked like a very ordinary person, with some paint on his face’, she said. This is the great fact about greatness of persons in feudal language situations. It is not like in English. Even in English there should be information that a man is great. It can be a personal understanding that a person’s knowledge, calibre, civility, culture and such things are of a great quality. However, in feudal languages, these kinds of information and sensing do not have much value other than a personal feeling of empathy. For the other kind of ‘respect’ that is quite active and powerful, there is need for proper information feeding otherwise called indoctrination to powerfully bring upon changes in the indicant words. 

Apartheid

Even though it may seem that Varuna and Ashwina had no social contacts, actually the opposite was the truth. For, they had a number of

persons who acknowledged them as trainers. [I speak here about their local contacts. It was a pertinent point in the complaint to the Social Welfare Department that they were cut off from local society and moved only among a particular section of proficient-in-English outsiders}. However, since they were all on first-name basis, the feeling of a cordoning off was not felt by the trainees. In fact, it was an association with a lot of youngsters of varying ages, both younger as well as elder that was maintained. However, there was this truth. The vast majority of persons around had a problem. They couldn’t get the feeling that these two kids were in their native language (Malayalam) domain of addressing. That was a terrible cordoning off. It was essentially a vibrant quality of apartheid that was practised on them. However, there were no separate places for Varuna and Ashwina. Every place including the river was common. However, some belligerent youngsters who took offense that they couldn’t address them with a Nee, from their position of subordination under lower indicant words, used to butt in to speak and poke in unnecessary questions and queries. However, the powerful frontier of no-Malayalam knowledge was too powerful to be breached. 

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