10 Changing Life : 2

In this chapter we shall look at the The English language has been changes that have taken place in the gaining ground in India due to the process fields of language, sports, theatre and of globalisation which began after 1990. films, newspapers and television. English is becoming the language of Language : Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, livelihood, as it opens the doors to Gujarati, Kannad, Kashmiri, Malayalam, multiple job opportunities. Moreover, Marathi, Odiya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Indians are at the forefront in learning Telugu, Urdu, Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali English. However, it is necessary to ensure that this process does not endanger and Sindhi are the official languages in the very existence of regional languages. India. These Indian languages also have dialects, but their number is now on the Let us search ! decline. Timely steps should be taken to Let us gather some information nurture them, otherwise we will lose an about dialects of Maharashtra with the important part of our heritage. help of various tools. (Encyclopedia, Nevertheless, Hindi, which has reached Google, Wikipedia, research articles) everywhere through the medium of Hindi Sports : During the pre-independence movies, has served to unite the country period, only a few selected games were by language. known to people in general. Some sportspersons changed this situation. This enhanced the status of both - the sports, Do you know ? and the sportspersons. For example, Geet Given below is a list of the Sethi achieved global excellence in snooker, languages of Nagaland in 1961 and a variation of billiards. He won the national the numbers of people using them. championship of billiards for teenagers at the age of 15. Later, he went on to win Angami-33766 Sema-47439 national and international championships. Lotha-26565 Eo-55904 At the global level, he won the amateur Rengma-5786 Chakhesang-339 billiards competition thrice, and the Kheza-7295 Sangtam professional one five times. His success Sangtam-15508 Pochuri-2736 made the game popular, and newspapers Chang-11329 Konyak-46653 began to report news about billiards. Thus Yimchunger-10187 Phom-13385 he made a new field available to rising Zeliang Semi-6472 Khiamniungan-12434 sportspersons in India. Kuki-Chiru-1175 Liangmai-2969 It was in 1983, that the Indian team Tikhir-2468 Makuri-769 won the World Cup for cricket, under the captainship of Kapil Dev. It was a historic The consequence of this variety victory. Cricket instantly won great was that Kohima radio station had to popularity across the country. In the same make its broadcasts in 25 languages year, Sunil Gavaskar broke the earlier which included English, Hindi, Naga record of maximum centuries in test dialects and 16 Naga languages. cricket. In 1985, India won the ‘Benson

52 and Hedges’ World Championship of foreign languages are now translated. cricket. As a During the screening of English movies, a result, cricket short Hindi translation now appears on the came to be played screen as sub - titles. Hindi movies now in all States to a compete with ‘global’ movies as they have lesser or greater reached every nook and corner of the world. extent, but at the We see a reflection of politics, social cost of indigenous events, industry and technology in the Indian games. A movies. Movies which were 3-4 hours long few movies were Sunil Gavaskar are now of only one or one and a half also produced around the theme of cricket. hours. Moreover, the concept of one screen Live telecasts of the full five days or one and one cinema hall has given way to day of the matches also became available. multiplexes. The days of a movie running India had been participating in Asiad for 100 weeks in one cinema hall are over. and Olympic Now one movie runs in thousands of games. At the cinema halls in India and abroad Olympics of year simultaneously. This development has 2000, Karnam changed the economy of movies. Production Malleshwari won a of movies has attained the status of industry. medal for weight- The industry now employs crores of people. lifting. She was the The movie industry in regional languages first Indian woman is also thriving. Karnam Malleshwari to win a medal at Newspapers : The changing lifestyle the Olympics. India’s representation began has had its effect on newspapers and other to rise in various Olympic games such as mass-media, and they in turn have hockey, badminton, tennis, swimming, influenced individual as well as community weightlifting and archery. life. During early post-independence period, Theatre and films : Theatre and newspapers had multiple objectives. In this films are important aspects of Indian life. period, the newspapers were expected to Early plays were very long, sometimes not only give the news of daily events, but running through an entire night. Now, the also give impetus to industry and commerce form, technique, duration of plays have by printing advertisements. Newspapers all changed. People from different walks functioned with the following objectives : of life take part in the dramas. But shape public opinon, direct it towards ‘musicals’ have now declined in constructive work, at times lead the latter, importance and political and social carry on the task of public education, keep subjects have replaced the earlier a watch over the government machinery, mythological and historical themes. etc. Earlier, newspapers were black and The age of black and white movies has white. With the changing times, colour been succeeded by the age of coloured printing became common. movies. In the field of entertainment, the Earlier, newspapers were thought to be place of Hindi movies is incomparable. the mouthpieces of the taluka or district. Now movies reflect contemporary themes. Now they have to face tough competition Film shooting locales have moved abroad. from the State level newspaper chains. But So, viewers can now see many different on the whole, newspapers are now becoming places in foreign countries. Movies in more active. Their scope has enlarged to 53 include raising funds for drought affected war. At this stage the world of Indian and flood affected people, helping news channels changed completely. In meritorious students from lower income 1998, STAR (Satellite Television Asia groups to go for higher education and Region) a private media house entered organizing or sponsoring cultural India, and the uninteresting, monotonous programmes. This is how newspapers have and propagandist news telecasts of the now become on inseparable part of our early period underwent a sea change. lives. The language, the technique of Television : Television came to India presentation, studios equipped with the during the post-independence period. latest technology and the use of OB Earlier it was black and white. Now it is (outdoor broadcasting) vans have expanded coloured. Earlier it was limited to some the scope of Indian T.V. channels still selected programmes and fixed time-slots. further, and brought in transparency and Gradually its scope was enlarged to include variety. Now, every nook and corner of educational programmes, news bulletins, the country is connected. This has had a detailed reporting of the tours of the great impact on politics. In short, the President and the Prime Minister. During whole country started changing. the telelcast of Ramayana and Mahabharat, So far we have studied the history of a majority of the people used to sit glued modern India. Next year, we will study to the television set. These serials proved how to make use of this subject in the the popularity of this medium. Then in practical world. We shall see how history 1991, CNN channel showed to the entire can be a part of daily life, and not just world a live visual reporting of the Iraq a thing of the past.

Exercises

1. Choose the proper option and rewrite 3. Give reasons for the following statements. the completed sentences. (1) Cricket began to be played all over (i) India won the cricket world cup India, to a greater or smaller extent. under the captainship of . (2) The economy of movies is changing. (a) Sunil Gavaskar (b) Kapil Dev 4. Answer the following questions in 25- (c) Sayyad Kirmani (d) Sandip Patil 30 words. (ii) The language is gaining (1) Why is it necessary to keep alive the importance in India due to the process dialects of Indian languages? of globalisation. (2) Elaborate upon the changing form of (a) Punjabi (b) French newspapers. (c) English (d) Hindi (3) Which changes have taken place in the medium of television? 2. Complete the information in the following table. Projects 1. Important languages in India (1) With the help of the internet, collect information about Dadasaheb Phalke 2. Players who have won medals at and make a list of persons who have the Olympic games been honoured with the Phalke Award. 3. Childrens’ movies that you have (2) Organise an essay competition in your seen school on ‘Newspapers, the fourth pillar 4. Names of channels telecasting of Democracy’. various news bulletins 54