On 27 February 2021, on the occasion of ‘Marathi Rajbhasha Din’, ‘Maay Marathi Mandal’ of IISER Pune organised a talk titled ‘Mahati Maay Marathichi’, delivered by Dr Aravind Natu. Dr Natu is a visiting faculty at the Chemistry Department at IISER Pune. His research interests include organic chemistry, bioorganic chemistry and combinatorial chemistry.
Vidisha Hate, a 2nd-year BS-MS student at IISER Pune, hosted the programme. At the beginning of the programme, Vinayak Pendse, a 2nd-year BS-MS student, recited the poem ‘Kana’, written by Kusumagraj, after whom ‘Marathi Din’ is celebrated. Following this, Darshini Poola, a 2nd-year student, described the translation of the poem.
Then, Dr Natu began his talk. The talk was held in English because it mainly aimed to make non-Marathi people aware of the Marathi language and culture. Dr Natu started by reciting the lines of the song ‘Laabhale Aamhas Bhaagya’ written by Marathi poet Suresh Bhat. He explained the meaning of the lines and what the poet wants to convey through this. He told a few facts about the Marathi language and its position in the world. He talked about the rich tradition of Marathi Literature, which dates back from Dnyaneshwari to modern times. Dr Natu spoke about the works of several Marathi litterateurs and poets. He talked about Marathi Drama Theatre and its old and unique culture. He mentioned the music in Marathi Culture, including ‘Bhaavgeet’ and ‘Naatyageet’, which are unique to Marathi Traditions.
Then, Dr Natu moved the focus of the talk to the fact that currently, efforts are needed to spread the Marathi language because of its diminishing use. He tried to address the reasons for this and approaches one can adopt to make people aware of the Marathi Language. One important reason, according to him, is the lack of awareness about Marathi literature among the common masses and the lack of translated versions of Marathi literary works. Another reason he stated is that cities like Pune, which have been important centres of Marathi cultures, are becoming cosmopolitan, which is reducing the proportion of Marathi speakers in these cities. Moreover, parents are more inclined towards sending their children to English medium schools, which leaves them unaware of the Marathi language. He opined that students should receive at least some part of their education in their mother tongue. Besides this, Marathi is a difficult language to learn for non-Marathi speakers, partly because of its complex vocabulary. Dr Natu mentioned that Swatantryaveer V.D. Sawarkar gave many simple Marathi alternative words to English words, which are still widely used today.
Further, Dr Natu narrated some incidents about languages, the problems caused by ignorance of languages and the inferiority complex about language, which some people may have. He mentioned the importance given to vernacular languages in European countries and talked about the need to do the same. He encouraged everyone to learn the Marathi language. He appreciated the initiative of Marathi Classes started by ‘Maay Marathi Mandal’.
Dr Natu ended the talk on the note of hoping to celebrate the next ‘Marathi Din’ in Marathi language itself.