JOIN USThe English department, along with the Speaker’s Forum, organised, ‘Aurora 2012’, a one-day English fest at Mount Carmel PU College recently.
Inaugurating the fest, writer Anita Nair reminisced her student days and initial days of writing.
She asked the students not to feel guilty for loving English and wanting to be able to communicate well in the language.
She said, “With the borders across nations and cultures blurring, English is the only tool that the young have, to navigate in a world, which is fast becoming a melting pot of culture and heritage.”
“Indian students need not feel reluctant about picking up the rudiments of English because they think it is a language imposed upon them by their colonial ruler.
In fact, in the manner in which Indian English has been accepted and has contributed to the English lexicon, Indian students have to approach it as one of their native languages and not as a foreign language,” she added.
The speeches were followed by a brief presentation about the history of English and the various accents and unique idiosyncratic use of English among Indians.
It briefly traced the evolution of English from a dialect spoken to its present avatar as ‘the’ de facto national language in India along with Hindi. The presentation had various types of English spoken across India.
There were also several competitions such as ‘debate’, ‘pick and speak’, ‘collage’, ‘what’s the good word?’, ‘photo captions’ and ‘cartooning’. In her valedictory address, Mary Mathew, head of department, English, Mount Carmel College stressed the need for a sportive outlook towards life if one has to emerge happy and victorious in all that one takes up.
Chaitra Sampath, a member of the English Association, said that fest has been helpful to aspiring writers, speakers and artists. Anna Thomas, a student, described the fest as a rewarding experience.
“Competing with friends and bagging the coveted prize was indeed an interesting experience,”.
According to principal Sr Sonia, “Such language fests make the students realise the importance of articulating in the more accepted and formal forms of languages in contrast to the text and tweet lingo that students usually communicate in.”
The fest concluded with a cultural extravaganza.