One of the gifts my father gave me was my love for reading. For me even textbooks were more reading material and I used to read up all text books of my neighbors the day the books were issued at school (ok don't call me a freak and wipe the smug smile). I started reading magazines and would read most weeklies and the graduated to reading anything I could lay my hands on in the library....although now work and general tiredness have cut down on my reading ( I surely don't read as much as I did or as much as lets say Dhammo), I still do...
I can think, read and write in 3 languages - Kannada (my mother tongue and a beautiful language), English and Hindi. I can read and understand Sanskrit but I don't think in that. Can understand lil bit of a lot of other languages.....and I have read in all these languages and some words stick for the beauty and the depth of meanings that they can conjure...some that really stick in my head are : (short list across languages)
Kannada :
Daaridra Vyraagya : It literally means the renunciation felt when poor..such an awesome concept. You can renunciate when poor, when its not so much of a choice and its easy...renunciation when you have everything is what is difficult. Which is why Rahul becoming the Buddha is such a powerful act, or Ashoka quitting after Kalinga war or Bahubali giving up when he has his brother Bharata at his mercy. I read these words first when I was reading Mankuthimmana Kagga by DVG and I think I spent a day thinking about this word. By the way if you are a Kannadiga and can read, please read Mankuthimmana Kagga, its an enriching experience.
Nityotsava : literally translated means Daily celebration but can mean eternal celebration. Such a strong concept - life is an eternal celebration, to wake up every day to celebrate it. I heard this in Nissar Ahmed's Nityotsava - where he speaks of the evergreen forests being the daily celebration in honour of the motherland. Such an awesome word and concept
English:
Aeon : Maybe it is us Indians who can appreciate the depth of time and the continuum that brings with it. Wikipedia says the Indian mode of measuring time is probably the most articulate amongst. Maybe we Indians can take more crap doled out by life due to the karmic view, the length of time we understand, the cycle of life you are tuned to believe. Aeon is an indefinite period of time...
Pedantic : means to be ostentatious in ones learning. The day i heard this definition from a dictionary, I said what does ostentatious mean and then spent days thinking if one could be ostentatious in learning anything? - coming from a culture where you are expected to respect vastness to things to learn and learn humility about ones shortcomings in knowledge, I never understood this concept :)
Sanskrit:
Dwirepha : is what Kalidasa calls a bee. It literally means two "Ra kara" and is derived from the word Bramara - the two "ra karas" in the word. Its such an awesome concept to take a word and play on the word construction to create a new word
Paadapa : means a tree, means someone who drinks water from the feet - shows a brilliance of understanding the structure of the subject referred to derive the word to represent it. I also think it shows the depth of scientific understanding which existed in our culture, because I think the western world conducted experiments where plants were sequestered and fed water to the roots, shoots, leaves separately as late as a few centuries ago to conclude that it was indeed through the roots plants took in water....we had a word maybe 3000 years old to represent the same concept...
Sukhashayanpruchikka : is another word by Kalidasa from Abhigyana Shaakuntala - this world literally refers to the person who wakes you up to find out if you slept well. Its such an awesome notion I cant even voice what I feel about this word, think of it, a peaceful nights rest, to be woken up someone with a concern of how well you slept and if you were comfortable.....so different from the random noises my alarm makes bringing in thoughts of how the day would turn out to be.
Anyways, am sure there are millions of words in the many languages I know, their usage by those wordsmiths, the poets and gifted writers, which I will never learn or know....but some words stick with you...let me know a few you have spent time flipping in your mind, rolling your tongue and using to communicate a thought...
