Gujarati Dialects

I woke up feeling extremely exhausted today and slept through most of the afternoon. I think I caught something, have zero energy in me.

I met up with with my niece's friend's friend's father yesterday, he's a Gujarati journalist. He gave me the contacts of some of his colleagues working in electronic media, they may be able to help get my foot into the Indian media industry he said. Let's see. He was a bit envious of my English media background, he too wants to start working in English news, as Gujarati paper readership is going down. But he's been told by some that he's too old to make the transition now, he's forty-five. So not having started off in English journalism is one of his biggest regrets, but he's going to keep at it.

A lot of elders here feel threatened by the English language, youngsters are picking it up so quickly through school and media. English is being incorporated in Hindi movies so freely now, and yet there aren't English to Hindi subtitles available on screen for those who don't understand the language. One of my Uncle's said he has no respect for a language that degenerated the word "Father" to "Dad." I love the English language but didn't argue with him about it, he was way too passionate about his cause.

Each one of India's 20-plus states is struggling to preserve its native language. With all the commotion that's just being stirred in Canada over the French and English debate, I can't even begin to fathom how much underlying friction there is here. It's amazing how people get along for the most part despite these issues.


Because I've been spending so much time in Ahmedabad, I'm learning a lot about my mother tongue; it's actually a Surati dialect of Gujarati, my cousin jokingly claims it's the dirtiest version of Gujarati imaginable. Most people in this city speak soodh (or "proper") Gujarati; the dialect my parents taught me is more of a slang version. For some reason, I can understand soodh Gujarati quite well, but most of its speakers can't understand my Surati whatsoever. We have a rougher way of speaking and incorporate a lot of slang terminology, whereas the proper version's more eloquent. *Kushboo's kindly been my stand-by interpretor whenever she's free (yes, otherwise, the lack of comprehension is simply that low); and when she's unavailable, I normally resort to speaking in English or even Hindi with my fellow Gujarati neighbours!