“Lachit, atro agachchhatu. Griham atithayoh agoto bontoh (Come here, Lachit, we have guests),” Moumita Bar told her son as we entered the two-bedroom flat in a middle class locality in Basirhat town near the Bengal-Bangladesh border, about 75 km from Kolkata.
Before the four-and-a-half-year old boy could respond, his sister Dhriti, who is two years elder, answered, “Bhrata kridanayanen kridotih (Brother is playing with his toy car).”
Moments later, Lachit appeared from the next room riding his car. “Ahom bubhukshitoh (I’m hungry),” Lachit tells his mom, as he holds tight a doll under his arm.
“Bhojanam dodami, kinchit kalam apeksham karatuh (Food will be served, wait a while),” said the mother as she became busy greeting us.
Welcome to the Bar family, whose members only use the ancient language for conversation at home. Perhaps, the only family in Bengal that do so.
And they are doing all this to keep alive the ancient language.
Read more of this interesting story by Snigdhendu Bhattacharya published in Hindustan Times...
Also read about Mattur village in Karnataka, where all speak in Sanskrit - http://bharatmahan.in/positive-news/mattur-village-karnataka-where-all-speak-sanskrit-274
