Category: Santhali

Trying: The Secret Of The Universe

What is the secret of the universe that moves mountains, that accomplishes the impossible, that gives power to the good people, that makes truth win, that echoes through eternity the truth that cannot be denied?

I say it is in trying. Tenacity, trying, persistence, sticking with it.

This is the secret of the universe. It is in trying that we find success, even if we fail.

There are no shortcuts and even if there is, unless you try the eleventh time after failing 10 times, you will not succeed.

A few days ago I was very anxious of going outside my house. And I was laying in bed thinking why was I not able to study or do something consistently. And I laying in bed and saying to myself,”I am unable to go.”

But something happened. My mother asked me to get up and get ready to go. Even though I repeated my mantra “I am unable to go.” , my mother force me to get up by playing some music on the TV.

Now it is a smart TV and the controls are advanced. But my mother tried again and again to figure it out and what I saw in that moment was a mother’s unending love and tenacity for her child. She eventually figured it out and played some Santhali songs.

And I got up and we went outside as planned.

What I want to say through this anecdote is that love moves mountains. Tenacity, trying, persistence are the qualities in a person who can move mountains.

By moving mountains, I mean doing what seems impossible. It is truly inspiring.

This is why trying matters. Trying matters because it is an act of faith. You don’t know whether you will succeed or not. But you are giving your best to it despite all possibilities of failure.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I am grateful for you reading this post. Please answer this question in the comments section- On a scale of 1 to 10 how much do you agree that “trying” is the secret of the universe?

8 Reasons Why I Need To Learn Santhali (My Mother Tongue)

In this blog post, I will write about why it’s important that I learn and know Santhali, my mother tongue.

I am a Santhal, from the Santali community. We are one of the biggest Adivasi communities in India and we have our own language, our own script, our own religion and everything else.

Growing up I didn’t get the opportunity to be surrounded by people from my Santhali community. And so I don’t know how to speak my mother tongue fluently.

My grandparents came to the city from their village for jobs. My parents know Santhali but I face problems with that.

So you might think, why is this guy writing a blog post on learning his mother tongue? Isn’t knowing English and Hindi enough to live a good life in India?

My answer is “No”.

Knowing my mother tongue is important for many reasons-

  1. Survival of our identity as Santhals
  2. Survival of our culture
  3. Empowering our people to live self-actualised lives
  4. Contributing to the larger society through sharing the wisdom and lessons from our culture
  5. Celebrating the sacrifices of our leaders
  6. Creating Santhali literature in our own Ol Chiki script
  7. Feeling unity and pride for our community
  8. Upholding our religious and spiritual practices and traditions

I am sure there are more reasons but these came to my mind at the moment.

So currently I am learning Santhali and Ol Chiki script on my own. I would love some guidance but even if I don’t get the guidance, I believe I will be able to learn them very quickly with conscious effort if I am focused.

I am listening to the Santhali Akhra radio show on AIR Kolkata Geetanjali Akashwani radio station almost every day and I am asking my family members to speak to me in Santhali. I also listen to Santhali songs and I especially love Singrai Soren’s “Sekej Sekej” song.

Sometimes I feel demotivated due to my slow progress but I need to have faith in myself and a little patience to learn the language and the script.

So this was my blog post on why it’s important for me to learn Santhali. Please comment- What is your mother tongue and do you know it well?