Humpty Dumpty is an Evil Imperialist

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humpty dumpty.jpg No, not Dubya — actually the real Humpty Dumpty, who has been banned from government schools in the state of Madhya Pradesh. According to the BBC:

The Madhya Pradesh government has banned the teaching of English nursery rhymes in primary schools to “reduce Western influence” on children.

Indian rhymes will now replace their popular English counterparts.

“There is no need for English rhymes when there are Indian rhymes to infuse patriotism in children,” says state education minister Narrotam Mishra.

He has asked government primary schools from now on to teach Indian rhymes and tales from the life of Ahilya Bai, the legendary ruler credited with building a number of leading temples in India. (link)

Because obviously, Humpty Dumpty is the Trojan Horse of cultural imperialism. Just think of the infamous lines: “All the king’s horses/ and all the king’s men/ couldn’t put Humpty together again.” They seem to suggest the monarchy is incompetent — making the seemingly innocent nursery rhyme into subversive Leftist agit-prop that criticizes the government.

Incidentally, I wonder why Education Minister Narrotam Mishra didn’t cite the fact that Mr. Dumpty is an egg in his decision to ban the him from schools in MP. Isn’t an egg a feminine entity, and isn’t Humpty Dumpty therefore a female in drag — and consequently in probable violation of sections 294 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code?

(Just kidding, yaar. Still, anyone interested in translating ‘Humpty Dumpty’ into Hindi or other South Asian languages for us? Or even in English: can we desi-fy him so perhaps Mr. Mishra might consider reinstating him? If we get some good ones, I will email them to the MP government. (Hint: Start with “Hum pati / dum pati”)

78 thoughts on “Humpty Dumpty is an Evil Imperialist”

  1. Hmm, another interesting question. On the one hand, I am sympathetic to serious efforts to return to regional languages as in Ngugi wa Thiongo’s Decolonizing the Mind in which he presents a manifesto of why it is important to write in and disseminate precolonial regional languages if you want them to grow, develop and stay alive. On the other, it seems reductive to impose one thing over another in a polyglot, multilingual society like India. At least a couple of decades ago, all of us grew up fluent in at least three languages. People of my father’s generation (b. 1934) started out learning Urdu, then Hindi and Sanskrit, then Panjabi, and English of course as the language of instruction in elite schools and colleges. Along the way, he also studied in ‘hindi medium’ schools. Now he writes stories in Hindi, did his official work in English and Panjabi, and can recite Urdu couplets from memory! If this is possible, why do we have to ignore and erase the history that brought us English in order to learn other languages? What’s wrong with setting the bar higher than the monolingual models of European cultures (mandatory three-language requirement in schools and colleges for e.g). The fact that the upper classes sneer at Indian languages as Amitabh has said in a few posts, is a function of cultural values, elitism, class snobbery. THAT needs to be addressed first I would think. Learning English by itself doesn’t cause a failure to learn other languages.

  2. Sleepy: 🙂

    Speedy: loved your post!

    I remember my school days (in India) as placing pretty much an equal emphasis on “Western” things (English, western nursery rhymes etc) as well as Indian things (Indian nursery rhymes, Hindi till the 12th grade, Sanskrit for 5 years)– and am enormously grateful for this balance. So, I know and love Indian poems like “Jhansi ki rani,” and am equally familiar with Humpty Dumpty etc…which has given me pride and love for Indian culture AS WELL AS allowed me to be comfortable in an international western culture.

    Why can’t we continue to allow our children in India to value and be comfortable with both? Both their ‘own’ heritage (and defining that is complicated enough) and the western heritage that, like it or not, is now equally their own?

    I love the syncretic Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) we speak in Delhi AND the English we are so comfortable with. What a wonderful rich cocktail we have 🙂 and what a pity it would be to throw out the Humpathi baby with the Dumpathy bathwater. Whatever that last means: I liked the sound of it :).

    In any case, I am deeply suspicious of too much of any kind of nationalism and the sorts of policies it dictates.

  3. Poet Aur-he-ate and other creative/translative spirits: these are great. What a fun idea, Amardeep!

  4. No one remembers the hindi “aksharmala” (ka kha gha) once they’re through grade 2-3

    Not true. Anyone who wants to consult a Hindi dictionary and use Hindi in even a half-way literate way remembers their aksharmala.

  5. Chandi,

    An answer to your questions can be found here

    It is a long article, so I will quote excerpts that I particularly liked:

    1. Ambient language. The culture of Tamil in Tamil Nadu assures that a “bath” or all-encompassing environment of Tamil will always surround people, and that bath will provide much passive understanding of Tamil, and support for Tamil. In Singapore there is no Tamil “bath”; the ambient language is English, and that is crowding Tamil out of its traditional domains, leaving it only with the home and religious domains.
    Much is made in Singapore of how policies are egalitarian, especially the ethnicity policy. But an example from the literature on North America, French in Canada, may be apt. In French Canada (and in adjacent parts of New England) the French language is spoken by a minority of about 5 million, surrounded by a sea of 270 million English speakers. In that situation, the Québécois express the feeling (LaPonce, 1987) that legal egalitarianism is simply not enough, and have attempted to legally restrict and diminish the domains of English within the French-speaking territory. Though this enrages many English Canadians, who feel that egalitarianism is what the law requires, and is inherently fair, the francophones, however, contend that egalitarianism is not equal, because it does not lead to equal outcomes, but in the case of Canada, to English dominance. In this situation, the only way to guarantee equal outcomes, that is, that French speakers will be French-dominant bilinguals, is to create a “safe haven,” a reserved space for French, so that the overwhelming dominance of English can be kept at bay. Similarly in Singapore, the egalitarianism seems to exist only on paper; the outcome of the policy has not led to the strengthening of Tamil, and the housing policy has guaranteed that no territory for Tamil will exist. In the final analysis, egalitarianism is not equality if one group is ten times the size of the other, whether in North America or in Singapore
  7. I doubt if the French or the Dutch or the Chinese teach Humpty Dumpty to their children, let alone teaching them in a non-mother toungue medium

    But the French generally all speak…French, which can’t be said for polyglot India. English is the one language which is common to all of India, North or South. I do think it’s important to learn “your” language and teaching children nursery rhymes from both traditions seems like an easy solution.

  8. I’m guessing of those here who attended school in India, none attended a government school. Despite the fact that English is widely spoken in India, there is still exclusive access to a good education in English.

    Like it or not, English is an Indian language. Insisting on still referring to it as a foreign language would be about as productive as referring to tomatoes as a foreign fruit. That’s right rasam lovers, when do you think the tomato made its way to the subcontinent?

    Talking about holding on to one’s regional language and making sure that people continue to speak it requires an enormous amount of economic privilege. Tamil, for example, is in no danger of dying out because the vast majority of Tamils in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka speak Tamil as their primary language. When we all express our dismay that we’re losing our linguistic skills and abilities, let’s remember that we’re in the ELITE minority.

    The exact opposite is true of most people who attend government schools, who are vastly underprivileged relative to those few who are lucky enough to attend private schools. English is a tool of economic empowerment, and control over its learning and teaching is a means of maintaining already existing class structures within society.

    I teach English in Madurai to products of the government school system. They know that they’ve had terrible English up to this point, and they are eager to learn English because it’s common sense that it opens doors to getting better jobs, therefore they are willing and eager students.

  9. i’m not clear on what is being banned. is it nursery rhymes IN English or English-subject nursery rhymes? are these nursery rhymes going to be replaced with Indian language ones or with English language ones with more Indian subject matter?

    banning things is generally not a good route down which to go, but when it comes to protecting what are considered indigenous languages, this is not the first time that an Indian has called for banning English-language nursery rhymes:

    “The government should ensure that our children be exposed to Punjabi nursery rhymes instead of other languages. The government should ban the teaching of nursery rhymes in other languages in schools.” – Dr. Rama Rattan, writer.

    balance, as ms. fink-nottle and others have pointed out, is needed. english/english culture is part of india’s history too. but as amitabh pointed out, there is a growing imbalance, and the attitudes held by some who see English/westernized culture as the only ideal can result in some strange manifestations.

    a few years ago, Sting was in India, in Bangalore, i think, and when interviewed by the local press, he said one of the things that he found odd was that all the music being piped through his posh hotel was western and in english. there was another incident, also in Bangalore, i think, in which a well-respected, powerful and known citizen of the city went to a gentleman’s club or something like that. however, because he was wearing what was considered indian dress, he was refused entry. likewise there was a bollywood movie about some college-going kids. like all other kids they wore jeans, t-shirts etc., except for the annual “India Culture Day” or something like that where they would dress up in indian-style clothing, play indian music etc. to me this seemed more appropriate for the indian diaspora not for a story set in india. there’s nothing wrong with wearing jeans etc. but when your own culture in your own country is relegated to a specific day, it seems odd (to me at least). i guess it just reflects the reality of some urban indians.

  10. there was another incident, also in Bangalore, i think, in which a well-respected, powerful and known citizen of the city went to a gentleman’s club or something like that. however, because he was wearing what was considered indian dress, he was refused entry.

    This happened to some people I know in Delhi. They were refused entry into a club (disco) because they were wearing Indian clothes.

    I think English should be a compulsory language in schools but should by no means be the primary language. English as a primary language has ended up creating a definite class barrier throughout the country with the English speakers being privileged on one hand and bearing the colonial shame to a greater extent on the other.

  11. So the question — does anyone know a good resource – or know themselves — a few native nursery rhymes they’d like to share? Personally, I can only remember “anne buntu” from my youth, and since I don’t speak Kannada, will probably screw up:

    Anna buntu, anne yarra kura anne illi yuka buntu. . . @#$(*&^ ai duthi ninda makala kayli. . . heck.

    BUGGER. I thought I knew it. Hmm. . . I’ll call my mum. Anyone else know this or other regional nursery rhymes?

  12. So the question — does anyone know a good resource – or know themselves — a few native nursery rhymes they’d like to share?

    Ok, I’ll try.. (in tamil)

    amma inge vaa vaa aasai mutham thaa thaa ilaiyil soru pottu eeyai thooram ottu unnai ponra nallaar ooril yaavar ullaar ennal unakku thollai ethum inge illai

    … roughly translates into

    Mommy please come here shower me with a dear kiss share me some rice in the leaf shoo away the house fly is there anyone so good like you in this village of ours i can vouch no trouble for you not anymore in the future..

    …

    It goes like this..

    The beauty of this nursery rhyme is that it portrays a kid trying to cajole his/her mom plus it teaches the kid the order of tamil vowels.. each starting letter in the rhyme starts with a vowel of Tamil.. The rhyme gets the native culture through the references of eating rice in a plantain leaf, (also the presence of houseflies.. 🙂 ) etc..

    It will beat any “Humpty Dumpty” hands down.. (Not that I don’t like Humpty..)

  13. “English is a tool of economic empowerment, and control over its learning and teaching is a means of maintaining already existing class structures within society”

    Vivek, great point. When I last went to India, my (private school educated) friends would always ask me to speak in English rather than Hindi or Punjabi so that they could practice their English and pick up on things like the accent and words like cool or yeah. I remember my roommate who had just recently come from India asking me to explain pronunciations of different words in great detail so that she could “be more successful with patients.” It was a little strange because she was a doctor already (pretty high up there education wise) and she was asking my barely out of college self on success tips. So the same stuff that goes on there has transferred itself here. You don’t just have to speak English, you have to speak “American.”

  14. Hindi nursery rhyme –

    machli jal ki rani hai jeevan uska paani hai haath lagaoge to darr jaayegi bahar nikaloge to marr jaayegi.

  16. Very great translations, sorry to say that my Marathi is not up to par…

    No one remembers the hindi “aksharmala” (ka kha gha) once they’re through grade 2-3 apparently including yourself =p. Ka kha ga gha (kna). There was an linguist I wanted to mention, but I can’t remember or find his name. I’ll try and post it later. He’s done a lot of work into the Hindi/Urdu divide and the emergence in present-day India of Sanskritized Hindi.

  17. Yup, I don’t remember it. 🙁 But I’ll re-learn it tonite..thats for sure.

  18. I’ll take back my last comment. I made a little effort ..and now I remember the complete aksharmala.

  19. johnny jhonny in hindi::

    johnny jhonny haan papa ladoon khaaya na papa jhooth na bolo , na papa mooh to kholo , ha ha ha .

  20. Aane bantondaane Yaavuru aane Bijapurada aane Illige yaake bantu Daari tappi bantu Haadi tappi bantu Hittalige hoyitu Heeregida noditu Uyyale kattitu Juy-Juy aaditu

  21. Okay, one more from me. I speak Hindi fairly well but it’s not my mothertongue, so my apologies in advance for any grammatical/linguistic errors in the following:

    Humpty Dumpty baitha deewar pe Soch raha tha ande ke funde Zindagi ki naseeb mein faida kya rohne Girna aur tootna, hum sab kudrat ke bande.

  23. OK, I should be clear–what I meant was would the Tamilians explain what this means, what’s the debate about:

    Maitri: nice. But of course any Tamil pullavar who was going to put “Umtee Dumtee” into a textbook would insist on it being written in Sentamizh, no?

  24. Jai, I second very nice indeed (a couple of words missing, and not sure about zindagi ka naseeb). And, it’s not a straight translation either, very philosophical. I don’t think there were many straight up translations. Everyone had a field day with the re-creations.

  25. Chandi:

    Maitri: nice. But of course any Tamil pullavar who was going to put “Umtee Dumtee” into a textbook would insist on it being written in Sentamizh, no?

    `Tamil pullavar’ means Tamil pundit.

    Sentamizh' is harder to explain. Tamil is diglossic, i.e., the Tamil that people use for day-to-day conversation is different from the Tamil they would write in an examination.Sentamizh’ is the Tamil that people would write in an examination. Search this URL for `digloss’.

  26. Thanks PGW. I had heard that about Tamil–the vast difference between spoken and written. Makes sense now.

  27. Amitabh & Chandi,

    Thank you both very much for your kind words re: post #71.

    I wasn’t sure about “zindagi ki naseeb” either (hopefully you get the general idea of what I was trying to say), and I took a little poetic licence in omitting a couple of words (mainly “hai”, as in “hum sab hai kudrat ke bande”) in order to make the rhythm “fit”.

    I have a feeling that if I’d been born a couple of centuries ago, I’d probably be spouting Urdu/Persian couplets all the time 😉

  28. well I sing it like this to my baby…this is usually sung when the baby is 2-12 months old… spread ur legs together and keep the baby on the knees. and keep one hand on her back/neck and one in the front and rock the baby with this song

    aani bantu aani ya ooru aani bijapurad aani,ilige yakke bantu haadi tappi bantu aa darige ondu doodu, ee darige ondu doodu, erudu sherkondu, sher khobbare thandu yellargu kottu, kuusin baayag battu

    For non kannadigas, Elphant comes elephant comes, from which land did he come? Frm the land of bijapur, why did he come here? he forgot the way so.. he found one paissa this lane he found another on this lane he took them both and bought coconut he broke it latalatlata distributed it to all kids and the baby puts finger in the mouth…