Election features

A heartening feature was the President’s fervent appeal to the people to exercise their franchise without fear and turn out in large numbers because, as he aptly put it, ‘‘In a democracy, an important principle is the equality of every citizen. Elections are an occasion when this can be demonstrated visibly. This is an opportunity for all of you, who are eligible to vote, to go to the booths and exercise your franchise.’’ The President rightly stressed that the right to vote is a sacred right and entails an onerous responsibility on the people to cast their vote and ‘‘be a proud contributor to the success of the spirit of democracy of the largest and dynamic democracy of all democracies’’.

In some countries, exercise of franchise is compulsory and failure to do so is penalised. We need not go that far. Our Supreme Court has ruled that the right to vote is a statutory right, it is not a common law right nor a fundamental right. But surely it can be regarded as a fundamental duty of every citizen to exercise his or her franchise in a country where democracy is a basic feature of the Constitution. People who refuse to vote are really shirking their responsibility of bringing about the changes they vociferously seek.

Article 51-A of our Constitution lists certain fundamental duties for citizens. The duty to exercise one’s franchise may well be added to that list.

Indianised English

The distinguished Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Harry Woolf, firmly believes that English language should be made simple and intelligible to the average litigant. He has banished from court proceedings the use of Latin phrases like prima facie, sine die, in terrorem and frowns upon the use of Latin maxims like res ipse loquitor (the thing speaks for itself) and audi alteram partem (no man shall be condemned unheard) and the high-sounding lot. Our judges and lawyers love to make liberal use of Latin expressions to give a flavour of erudition to their judgments and arguments.

The compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary have different ideas. They favour the inclusion of Hindi words in the dictionary. The explanation is that English is a mongrel language and if new words are used enough, they will end up in the dictionary. According to them ‘‘with our increasingly multicultural society, in 50 years, English would have adopted a mass of words from all different cultures living on the island’’.

Some Hindi words which have already found their way into the dictionary are: badmash, hartal, agrez, aloo, desi, arre, jungli, achha, chuddy, Bollywood. Purists amongst us, who are more English than the English, are deeply disturbed because they believe that Britain’s culture and the English language which has enriched civilisation will be ruined. Bernard Shaw had also bitterly complained about the infiltration of American words and slang into the English language. That historic fact has now been accepted. Some believe that Americanised English has made the English language less dull and more lively.

Certain expressions in a particular language convey ideas which are peculiar to it in an inimitable manner. For example, chamcha is a fine mix for a sycophant and a flatterer. Again, chalu encompasses a comprehensive concept ranging from a trickster to a woman of flexible virtue. These words merit inclusion.

The lexicographers should look beyond Hindi words. Marathi expressions like bhayankar (terrible), tras (nuisance) and nehmi (always) would be welcome additions. If English language needs spice and colour, inclusion of certain Parsi bawaji Gujarati expressions is a must. For example, faragat, which expresses the feeling of complete relaxation when you have slipped into your pyjamas after a hard day’s work and a good hearty dinner; tiri-duri, which signifies manipulation and manoeuvring; and for pungency, it would be difficult to surpass nara no dhilo, which means that the man cannot keep his pants up and in course of time can include a woman who finds it difficult to keep her shirt down.