Saturday, September 29, 2007

പറക്കുന്ന പാഠപുസ്തകങ്ങള്‍

പറക്കുന്ന പാഠപുസ്തകങ്ങള്‍
Written by കാളിയന്‍
http://kaaliyan25.blogspot.com/

നൂലുപോലെഴുകുന്ന സ്കൂള്‍ പൈപ്പിലെ വെളളം അവളുടെ കൈക്കുമ്പിളിലൂടെ നിറഞ്ഞൊഴുകുന്നത് അവള്‍ അറിഞ്ഞില്ല. ഉച്ചഭക്ഷണം ആര്‍ത്തിയോടെ വാരിയുണ്ണുന്ന കുട്ടികളെ അവള്‍ ആവേശത്തോടെ നോക്കിനിന്നു‍. വരണ്ട വിളറിയ കണ്ണില്‍ തലകീഴായി പതിക്കുന്ന ആ ദൃശ്യങ്ങളെ അവളുടെ മസ്തിഷ്ക്കം മനസിലാക്കാന്‍ ശ്രമിക്കുകയായിരുന്നു.
ഒരിക്കലും കൂട്ടിച്ചേര്‍ക്കാന്‍ കഴിയാത്തെ ഛിന്നിച്ചിതറിയ ദര്‍പ്പണം പോലെയായിരുന്നു എല്ലാം. കുട്ടികളുടെ മുഷ്ടിക്കുള്ളില്‍ ഞെങ്ങിയമരുകയും, പിന്നെ ചെറുചെറു ഉരുളകളായി, പല്ലുകള്‍ക്കിടയില്‍ അരഞ്ഞില്ലാതാവാന്‍ എറിയപ്പെടുകയും ചെയ്യുന്ന ഭക്ഷണകണമെങ്കിലും ആവാന്‍ അവള്‍ കൊതിച്ചു, ഒരു നിമിഷം!കൈകളിലൂടെ നിറഞ്ഞൊഴുകുന്ന ക്ലോറിന്‍ വെള്ളത്തില്‍ പ്രതിഫലിച്ച സൂര്യപ്രകാശത്തിന് പോലും അവളുടെ മുഖത്തെ മ്ലാനത മാറ്റാന്‍ കഴിഞ്ഞില്ല. ഉച്ചനീചത്വങ്ങള്‍ക്കു നടുവില്‍ വെയിലേറ്റു നില്‍ക്കുമ്പോള്‍ തോന്നുന്ന പൊള്ളല്‍ അടിമനസില്‍ പിടിച്ചപ്പോള്‍ അവള്‍ ആര്‍ത്തിയോടെ വെള്ളം കുടിക്കാന്‍ തുടങ്ങി, പിടിവിട്ടു പുറത്തുവന്ന ഒരു ചെറിയ ഗദ്ഗദത്തോടെ!
അന്നനാളത്തിലൂടെ കുത്തിയൊഴുകിയ പൈപ്പുവെള്ളത്തിലെ ക്ലോറിന്‍ മണത്തില്‍ വെറിപൂണ്ട ആമാശയ കോശങ്ങള്‍ മുകളിലേക്ക് നോക്കി പ്രാകാന്‍ തുടങ്ങി. വിശന്നു മരവിച്ച അവളുടെ മസ്തിഷ്കം അവയൊന്നും ഗൌനിച്ചതേയില്ല.പായല്‍ പിടിച്ച പൈപ്പിന്‍ ചുവട്ടില്‍ കുട്ടികള്‍ ചുരുട്ടിയെറിഞ്ഞ ഭക്ഷണപ്പൊതികളും, ചിന്നിച്ചിതറിയ ചോറുമണികളും‍, അവിയലും സാമ്പാളും മുട്ടയും കൂടിക്കലര്‍ന്ന വാസനയും അവളുടെ പഞ്ചേന്ദ്രിയങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് ഉച്ചഭക്ഷണം വിളമ്പി. അനാഥമായി കിടക്കുന്ന ആ ഭക്ഷണപൊതികള്‍ കണ്ട് അവളുടെ കണ്ണുനിറഞ്ഞു.
അനാഥത്വത്തിന്‍റെ വേദനകള്‍ വലിച്ചെറിയപ്പെട്ട ഭക്ഷണപൊതികളില്‍ നിന്ന് വമിക്കുന്നുണ്ടായിരുന്നു.എച്ചില്‍ചാലിലൂടെ തത്തിത്തത്തിയൊഴുകുന്ന ചോറുമണികളും, അവയെ വഴിയില്‍ തടഞ്ഞ് നിര്‍ത്തി ചട്ടമ്പിത്തരം കാണിക്കുന്ന മുരിങ്ങാ ചണ്ടിയും, ഞെക്കി നിറം പോയ നാരങ്ങയും അവളില്‍ ഏറെ കൌതുകമുണര്‍ത്തി.
കുട്ടികള്‍ തിരിച്ചുപോകുന്നതും കാത്ത് കോങ്കണ്ണിലൂടെ സമയമെണ്ണിയിരിക്കുന്ന കാക്കകളുടെ മുറുമുറുപ്പും, റഫ്രിയുടെ വിസില്‍ കേള്‍ക്കാന്‍ കാത്തിരിക്കുന്ന ഓട്ടക്കാരെപ്പോലെ കാക്കകള്‍ കാണിക്കുന്ന തയാറെടുപ്പുകളും കണ്ട് അവള്‍ക്ക് ചിരിവന്നു. ഇത്തരം ചിരികള്‍ അവള്‍ക്ക് പതിവായിരുന്നു. ചങ്കിലൂടെയും, പിന്നെ ഇടനെഞ്ചിലൂടെയും യാഥാര്‍ത്ഥ്യങ്ങള്‍ ഇടിവാള്‍ അടിച്ചുകയറ്റുമ്പോഴും ചെറുതേ ചിരിക്കുക, അതും അപ്രധാനമായ സന്ദര്‍ഭങ്ങളില്‍...!!
നിസാരമായ കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ പോലും തമാശയായി അനുഭവപ്പെട്ടേക്കാം, അത് ഓര്‍ത്തോര്‍ത്ത് വീണ്ടും വീണ്ടും ചിരിച്ചേക്കാം! ക്ഷണികമായ ആ സ്വപ്ന സീമകള്‍ക്കൊടുവില്‍ സ്വന്തം നിഴലുകള്‍ തന്നെ കാണേണ്ടി വരുമ്പോള്‍, ഞരമ്പുകള്‍ വലിഞ്ഞ് മുറുകുന്നതുവരെ കീഴ്ച്ചുണ്ട് കടിച്ചമര്‍ത്തി നിന്നുപോകാറുണ്ട്... തനിയേ! അവള്‍ കാക്കകളെത്തന്നെ നോക്കി നിന്നു.ഒരു കാക്കയായിരുന്നെങ്കില്‍...!
യഥാര്‍ത്ഥ്യങ്ങളില്‍ നിന്ന് താല്‍ക്കാലികമായിട്ടെങ്കിലും രക്ഷപ്പെടാന്‍ ആവിഷ്കരിക്കാവുന്ന സ്വപ്നങ്ങളെ അവള്‍ ഏറെ ഇഷ്ടപ്പെട്ടിരുന്നു. ഒരിക്കലും സാധിക്കാത്ത സ്വപ്നങ്ങള്‍ കാണാന്‍ ആരുടെയും അനുവാദം വേണ്ടല്ലോ! അനന്തമായ വിഹായസില്‍ പറവയെപ്പോലെ പറക്കാന്‍ ശ്രമിച്ചു നോക്കുന്നതു തന്നെ എത്ര മനോഹരമാണ്... ഞാന്‍ എന്ന ബോധമില്ലാത്ത വാനമേഘങ്ങളിലൂടെ തെന്നിക്കളിക്കണം... പിന്നെ ചിറകുകള്‍ തളര്‍ത്തി അസ്ത്രം പോലെ ഭൂമിയിലേക്ക് തിരികെ പതിക്കണം...
നിലം മുട്ടാറാവുമ്പോള്‍ സര്‍വ്വശക്തിയുമെടുത്ത് വീണ്ടും പറന്നുയരണം... ഗാഢനിദ്രയുടെ അബോധാവസ്ഥയില്‍ വിരിയുന്ന സ്വപ്നങ്ങളില്‍ പോലും വേഷപ്പകര്‍ച്ചകള്‍ ഒന്നുമില്ലാതെ “അവളായ്” തന്നെ അഭിനയിക്കേണ്ടി വരുന്ന ഭീകരതയെ അവള്‍ ഭയപ്പെട്ടിരുന്നു.
ബോധപൂര്‍വ്വം സ്വപ്നം കാണാന്‍ അവള്‍ കൊതിച്ചു, തനിക്കിഷ്ടപ്പെട്ട വേഷങ്ങള്‍ കെട്ടാന്‍!ഭക്ഷണപ്പൊതികള്‍ ചിക്കിച്ചിതറുന്ന കാക്കകള്‍ക്കിടയില്‍ അവള്‍ ചെന്നിരുന്നു. കൈകള്‍ ചുരുട്ടി മുതിര്‍ന്ന കാക്കകളെ അവള്‍ വിരട്ടിലോടിച്ചു. പിന്നെ ആരോ വലിച്ചെറിഞ്ഞ ഭക്ഷണപ്പൊതി കൊത്തിയെടുത്ത് ചിറകുകള്‍ വിരിച്ച് അവള്‍ പറന്നുയര്‍ന്നു... അങ്ങ് ദൂരെ... ഏതോ മരക്കൊമ്പില്‍ സ്വസ്ഥമായിരുന്നു പൊതിയഴിക്കാന്‍... പിന്നെ വിശപ്പടങ്ങുന്നതുവരെ ഭക്ഷണ ശകലങ്ങള്‍ കൊത്തിപ്പറിക്കാന്‍...!!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Nice picture

Nice Picture



A Chronology of the English Language

A Chronology of the English Language

449
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain begins
450-480
Earliest Old English inscriptions date from this period
597
St. Augustine arrives in Britain. Beginning of Christian conversion
731
The Venerable Bede publishes The Ecclesiastical History of the English People in Latin
792
Viking raids and settlements begin
871
Alfred becomes king of Wessex. He has Latin works translated into English and begins practice of English prose. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is begun
911
Charles II of France grants Normandy to the Viking chief Hrolf the Ganger. The beginning of Norman French
c. 1000
The oldest surviving manuscript of Beowulf dates from this period
1066
The Norman conquest
c. 1150
The oldest surviving manuscripts of Middle English date from this period
1171
Henry II conquers Ireland
1204
King John loses the province of Normandy to France
1348
English replaces Latin as the medium of instruction in schools, other than Oxford and Cambridge which retain Latin
1362
The Statute of Pleading replaces French with English as the language of law. Records continue to be kept in Latin. English is used in Parliament for the first time
1384
Wyclif publishes his English translation of the Bible
c. 1388
Chaucer begins The Canterbury Tales
1476
William Caxton establishes the first English printing press
1492
Columbus discovers the New World
1549
First version of The Book of Common Prayer
1604
Robert Cawdrey publishes the first English dictionary, Table Alphabeticall
1607
Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World, established
1611
The Authorized, or King James Version, of the Bible is published
1702
Publication of the first daily, English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, in London
1755
Samuel Johnson publishes his dictionary
1770
Cook discovers Australia
1928
The Oxford English Dictionary is published

Origins of English Language

What are the origins of the English Language?

The history of English is conventionally, if perhaps too neatly, divided into three periods usually called Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English. The earliest period begins with the migration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A.D., though no records of their language survive from before the seventh century, and it continues until the end of the eleventh century or a bit later. By that time Latin, Old Norse (the language of the Viking invaders), and especially the Anglo-Norman French of the dominant class after the Norman Conquest in 1066 had begun to have a substantial impact on the lexicon, and the well-developed inflectional system that typifies the grammar of Old English had begun to break down.

The following brief sample of Old English prose illustrates several of the significant ways in which change has so transformed English that we must look carefully to find points of resemblance between the language of the tenth century and our own. It is taken from Aelfric's "Homily on St. Gregory the Great" and concerns the famous story of how that pope came to send missionaries to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity after seeing Anglo-Saxon boys for sale as slaves in Rome:

Eft he axode, hu ðære ðeode nama wære þe hi of comon. Him wæs geandwyrd, þæt hi Angle genemnode wæron. Þa cwæð he, "Rihtlice hi sind Angle gehatene, for ðan ðe hi engla wlite habbað, and swilcum gedafenað þæt hi on heofonum engla geferan beon."
A few of these words will be recognized as identical in spelling with their modern equivalents—he, of, him, for, and, on—and the resemblance of a few others to familiar words may be guessed—nama to name, comon to come, wære to were, wæs to was—but only those who have made a special study of Old English will be able to read the passage with understanding. The sense of it is as follows:

Again he [St. Gregory] asked what might be the name of the people from which they came. It was answered to him that they were named Angles. Then he said, "Rightly are they called Angles because they have the beauty of angels, and it is fitting that such as they should be angels' companions in heaven."

Some of the words in the original have survived in altered form, including axode (asked), hu (how), rihtlice (rightly), engla (angels), habbað (have), swilcum (such), heofonum (heaven), and beon (be). Others, however, have vanished from our lexicon, mostly without a trace, including several that were quite common words in Old English: eft "again," ðeode "people, nation," cwæð "said, spoke," gehatene "called, named," wlite "appearance, beauty," and geferan "companions." Recognition of some words is naturally hindered by the presence of two special characters, þ, called "thorn," and ð, called "edh," which served in Old English to represent the sounds now spelled with th.

Other points worth noting include the fact that the pronoun system did not yet, in the late tenth century, include the third person plural forms beginning with th-: hi appears where we would use they. Several aspects of word order will also strike the reader as oddly unlike ours. Subject and verb are inverted after an adverb—þa cwæð he "Then said he"—a phenomenon not unknown in Modern English but now restricted to a few adverbs such as never and requiring the presence of an auxiliary verb like do or have. In subordinate clauses the main verb must be last, and so an object or a preposition may precede it in a way no longer natural: þe hi of comon "which they from came," for ðan ðe hi engla wlite habbað "because they angels' beauty have."

Perhaps the most distinctive difference between Old and Modern English reflected in Aelfric's sentences is the elaborate system of inflections, of which we now have only remnants. Nouns, adjectives, and even the definite article are inflected for gender, case, and number: ðære ðeode "(of) the people" is feminine, genitive, and singular, Angle "Angles" is masculine, accusative, and plural, and swilcum "such" is masculine, dative, and plural. The system of inflections for verbs was also more elaborate than ours: for example, habbað "have" ends with the -að suffix characteristic of plural present indicative verbs. In addition, there were two imperative forms, four subjunctive forms (two for the present tense and two for the preterit, or past, tense), and several others which we no longer have. Even where Modern English retains a particular category of inflection, the form has often changed. Old English present participles ended in -ende not -ing, and past participles bore a prefix ge- (as geandwyrd "answered" above).

The period of Middle English extends roughly from the twelfth century through the fifteenth. The influence of French (and Latin, often by way of French) upon the lexicon continued throughout this period, the loss of some inflections and the reduction of others (often to a final unstressed vowel spelled -e) accelerated, and many changes took place within the phonological and grammatical systems of the language. A typical prose passage, especially one from the later part of the period, will not have such a foreign look to us as Aelfric's prose has; but it will not be mistaken for contemporary writing either. The following brief passage is drawn from a work of the late fourteenth century called Mandeville's Travels. It is fiction in the guise of travel literature, and, though it purports to be from the pen of an English knight, it was originally written in French and later translated into Latin and English. In this extract Mandeville describes the land of Bactria, apparently not an altogether inviting place, as it is inhabited by "full yuele [evil] folk and full cruell."

In þat lond ben trees þat beren wolle, as þogh it were of scheep; whereof men maken clothes, and all þing þat may ben made of wolle. In þat contree ben many ipotaynes, þat dwellen som tyme in the water, and somtyme on the lond: and þei ben half man and half hors, as I haue seyd before; and þei eten men, whan þei may take hem. And þere ben ryueres and watres þat ben fulle byttere, þree sithes more þan is the water of the see. In þat contré ben many griffounes, more plentee þan in ony other contree. Sum men seyn þat þei han the body vpward as an egle, and benethe as a lyoun: and treuly þei seyn soth þat þei ben of þat schapp. But o griffoun hath the body more gret, and is more strong, þanne eight lyouns, of suche lyouns as ben o this half; and more gret and strongere þan an hundred egles, suche as we han amonges vs. For o griffoun þere wil bere fleynge to his nest a gret hors, 3if he may fynde him at the poynt, or two oxen 3oked togidere, as þei gon at the plowgh.

The spelling is often peculiar by modern standards and even inconsistent within these few sentences (contré and contree, o [griffoun] and a [gret hors], þanne and þan, for example). Moreover, in the original text, there is in addition to thorn another old character 3, called "yogh," to make difficulty. It can represent several sounds but here may be thought of as equivalent to y. Even the older spellings (including those where u stands for v or vice versa) are recognizable, however, and there are only a few words like ipotaynes "hippopotamuses" and sithes "times" that have dropped out of the language altogether.

We may notice a few words and phrases that have meanings no longer common such as byttere "salty," o this half "on this side of the world," and at the poynt "to hand," and the effect of the centuries-long dominance of French on the vocabulary is evident in many familiar words which could not have occurred in Aelfric's writing even if his subject had allowed them, words like contree, ryueres, plentee, egle, and lyoun.

In general word order is now very close to that of our time, though we notice constructions like hath the body more gret and three sithes more þan is the water of the see. We also notice that present tense verbs still receive a plural inflection as in beren, dwellen, han, and ben and that while nominative þei has replaced Aelfric's hi in the third person plural, the form for objects is still hem.

All the same, the number of inflections for nouns, adjectives, and verbs has been greatly reduced, and in most respects Mandeville is closer to Modern than to Old English.
The period of Modern English extends from the sixteenth century to our own day. The early part of this period saw the completion of a revolution in the phonology of English that had begun in late Middle English and that effectively redistributed the occurrence of the vowel phonemes to something approximating their present pattern. (Mandeville's English would have sounded even less familiar to us than it looks.)

Other important early developments include the stabilizing effect on spelling of the printing press and the beginning of the direct influence of Latin and, to a lesser extent, Greek on the lexicon. Later, as English came into contact with other cultures around the world and distinctive dialects of English developed in the many areas which Britain had colonized, numerous other languages made small but interesting contributions to our word-stock.

The historical aspect of English really encompasses more than the three stages of development just under consideration. English has what might be called a prehistory as well. As we have seen, our language did not simply spring into existence; it was brought from the Continent by Germanic tribes who had no form of writing and hence left no records. Philologists know that they must have spoken a dialect of a language that can be called West Germanic and that other dialects of this unknown language must have included the ancestors of such languages as German, Dutch, Low German, and Frisian. They know this because of certain systematic similarities which these languages share with each other but do not share with, say, Danish. However, they have had somehow to reconstruct what that language was like in its lexicon, phonology, grammar, and semantics as best they can through sophisticated techniques of comparison developed chiefly during the last century.

Similarly, because ancient and modern languages like Old Norse and Gothic or Icelandic and Norwegian have points in common with Old English and Old High German or Dutch and English that they do not share with French or Russian, it is clear that there was an earlier unrecorded language that can be called simply Germanic and that must be reconstructed in the same way. Still earlier, Germanic was just a dialect (the ancestors of Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit were three other such dialects) of a language conventionally designated Indo-European, and thus English is just one relatively young member of an ancient family of languages whose descendants cover a fair portion of the globe.

Tommorrow can be too late.!!


If you're mad with someone and nobody's there to fix the situation... You fix it.
Maybe today, that person still wants to be your friend.
And if you don't, tomorrow can be too late.

If you're in love with somebody, but that person doesn't know... tell her/him.
Maybe today, that person is also in love with you.
And if you don't say it, tomorrow can be too late.

If you really want to kiss somebody... kiss her/him.
Maybe that person wants a kiss from you, too.
And if you don't kiss her/him today, tomorrow can be too late.

If you still love a person that you think has forgotten you... tell her/him.
Maybe that person has always loved you.
And if you don't tell her/him today, tomorrow can be too late.

If you need a hug of a friend... ask her/him for it.
Maybe they need it more than you do.
And if you don't ask for it today, tomorrow can be too late.

If you really have friends who you appreciate... tell them.
Maybe they appreciate you as well.
That if you don't and they leave or go far away today, tomorrow can be too late.

If you love your parents, and never had the chance to show them... do it.
Maybe you have them there to show them how you feel.
That if you don't and they leave today, then tomorrow can be too late.

Send this mail to every person you care about, including the one who sent it to you.
You'll see how you're going to know that there are people who care about you, that you didn't know.

Forward it today... Tomorrow can be too late.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Dead People and Credit Cards

Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die. This is so priceless, and so easy to see happening, customer service being what it is today.

A lady died this past January, and The Bank billed her for February March for their annual service charges on her credit card, added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance of $0, is now somewhere around $60. A Family Member placed a call to The Bank.

Here is the exchange:

Family Member: “I am calling to tell you she died in January.”
The Bank: “The account was never closed, and the late fees charges still apply.”
Family Member: “Maybe you should turn it over to collections.”
The Bank: “Since it is 2 months past due, it already has been.”
Family Member: So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?”
The Bank: “Either report her account to frauds division or report her to the credit bureau. Maybe both !”
Family Member: “Do you think God will be mad at her?” (I really liked this part !!!!)
The Bank: “Excuse me?”
Family Member: “Did you just get what I was telling you? The part about her being dead?”The Bank: “Sir, you’ll have to speak to my supervisor.” !
(Supervisor gets on the phone)
Family Member: “I’m calling to tell you she died in January.”
The Bank: “The account was never closed, so the late fees and charges still apply.” (This must be a phrase taught by The Bank!)
Family Member: “Do you mean you want to collect from her estate?”
The Bank: (stammering) “Are you her lawyer?”
Family Member: “No, I’m her great-nephew.”
The Bank: “Could you fax us a certificate of death?”
Family Member: “Sure.” (fax number is given)
After they get the fax:The Bank: “Our system just isn’t set up for death. I don’t know what more I can do to help.”
Family Member: “Well, if you figure it out, great ! If not, you could just keep billing her. I really don’t think she will care.”
The Bank: “Well, the late fees charges do still apply.”(What is wrong with these people??!!)Family Member: “Would you like her new billing address?”
The Bank: “Yes, that will help.”
Family Member: ” Odessa Memorial Cemetery, Highway 129, Plot Number 69.”
The Bank: “Sir, that is a cemetery!”
Family Member: “What do you do with dead people on YOUR planet?!!

ENGLISH IS A FUNNY LANGUAGE..!!

If you thought, you were really good at English, especially in your pronunciations, then how about giving this a shot?

The bandage was wound around the wound.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse .
We must polish the Polish furniture.
He could lead if he would get the lead out.
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
I did not object to the object.
Insurance was invalid for the invalid.
There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
They were too close to the door to close it.
The buck does funny things when the does are present.
A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

So, were they all perfect?