Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Document for rejuvenating Malayalam to be released

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Oct. 27. After a year-long exercise during which inputs were gathered from writers and academicians, the Malayala Manorama will be presenting to the State Government a document listing 10 suggestions for rejuvenating the Malayalam language on November 1, the `Kerala Piravi Day'.

At a press conference here today, the Executive Editor and Director of Malayala Manorama, Jacob Mathew, said almost all the Malayalam writers were involved in the exercise of identifying how to sustain the purity of the language in the face of certain undesirable recent trends. Discussions were held in four centres in the State and in New Delhi during the course of the `Ente Malayalam' (My Malayalam) programme, which was formally launched by the newspaper on November 1 last year.

A panel consisting four eminent writers, S. Guptan Nair, Sukumar Azhikode, O.N.V. Kurup and M.T. Vasudevan Nair, went through all the suggestions gathered at these discussions. They selected 10 of these suggestions to prepare a `Bhasha Raksha Rekha' (Document for the Protection of the Language).

Mr. Mathew said the document would be presented to the Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, at a function being organised by the Malayala Manorama at the University Senate Hall here on November 1. It would be followed by a stage-cum-movie presentation, `Kadhayattam', by actor Mohanlal. This presentation would depict 10 unforgettable characters and situations selected from Malayalam literature.

``Kadhayattam is Mohanlal's offering to `Ente Malayalam', our great language. The presentation, which is a fusion of stage acting, movie expression, sound and lighting techniques and music, has been conceived by film director, T.K. Rajeev Kumar,'' he said.

For the last one year, Malayala Manorama had been running daily and weekly columns nourishing the language. One column, `Bhashakkoru Vakku' (A Word for the Language), was for the readers to respond daily with suggestions on new words with true Malayalam flavour as alternatives for English words popularly used in the language.

``We got hundreds of responses each day and some of the words are already getting imbibed into the vocabulary of our language'' Mr. Mathew said.

He said almost all the eminent writers in the language contributed their articles to the other column, a weekly one, discussing how to bring Malayalam language and literature back into the lives of the Keralites.

``We do not mean to say that the language is in danger. It is a vibrant language that is flourishing despite certain bad trends. The circulation of all major publications in the language is going up with each passing day. This, in itself, is proof enough that Malayalam is continuing to flourish'' he said.

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