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Kannada is my identity, says Ananthamurthy

`I write in my mother tongue as a way of rejecting English' `I write in my mother tongue as a way of rejecting English'

U.R. Ananthamurthy

Neemrana (Rajasthan): Kannada writer U.R. Ananthamurthy has said he ``consciously'' writes in Kannada as he sees this as a way of rejecting the English language.

Addressing the "Africa Asia Literary Conference" here, in which writers from the two continents are participating, he said: ``Kannada is thousands of years old, and great writers such as Pampa and Basava have greatly influenced me. I am influenced by English and world literature but Kannada is my identity,'' he said.

Preferred language

Speeches by Dr. Ananthamurthy and others showed that the mother tongue is still a preferred language for writers in both continents. They are comfortable writing in English and translating their own works into the language, but they prefer to write in their mother tongue.

Dogri writer Padma Sachdeva agreed with the views of Dr. Ananthamurthy and said her ``greatest identity is the language of her writing''. ``I found all the things that I wanted to find in my own language, so why would I want to explore something that is alien to me?''

Pavan K. Varma, Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, said: ``An Indian speaks and lives many tongues — the home tongue, the street tongue and the upstairs or the English tongue,'' but for these writers the upstairs tongue is their mother tongue.

`The greatest gift'

Malayalam writer K. Satchidanandan said: ``My mother tongue is the greatest gift bestowed upon me and, as a writer, I owe to it that I write in it. Moreover, all my childhood memories and thoughts are associated with Malayalam. The dwindling audiences for regional language literature is a concern but it in no way affects my inspiration to write in Malayalam.'' Ghanaian poet Kofi Anyidoho said he writes in English but gets the greatest thrill in writing in his native language. — PTI

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