Posted on February 27, 2019
Today is the birthday of Vishnu Vāman Shirwādkar. Sure, you may not have heard of him - but what about his pen name?:
Still no recognition? Yeah, me neither.
However, this Indian writer (born on this date in 1912) is very famous in India. He wrote:
16 volumes of poetry
3 novels
8 volumes of short stories
7 volumes of essays
18 plays
6 one-act plays
He won lots of awards - but the most important thing about this writer may be that he inspired his generation into the Indian freedom movement!
Because this writer was so important to India and Indians, the language in which he wrote, Marathi, is celebrated on his birthday in the Indian states of Goa and Maharashtra.
From one source, I read that there are 22 major languages spoken in India. And this fact makes me shudder: the various languages use 13 different scripts (alphabets / lettering systems). Yikes! There are more than 720 dialects.
But from another source, I read that there are 122 major languages and 1,599 other, less-spoken languages! Yikes-ety!
Of course, facts about languages so much depend on the definitions of "major language" and "dialect."
Even though there is no one national language of India, the language spoken by the most people (about 420 million speakers), Hindi, is the official language. Also, because of the colonial history of India, English is widely spoken in India, mostly as a second language, and it has become a "subsidiary official" language.
Here's a bit of knowledge about the Indian states of Maharashtra and Goa:
Maharashtra is the wealthiest state, the second-most populous, and the third largest in size.
For comparison, it's not quite as large as New Mexico, in the U.S., but it has about a third of the population of the entire United States! So...that's a difference of 950 people per square mile in Maharashtra and 17 people per square mile in New Mexico!!!
Maharashtra's capital, Mumbai, is the largest city in India.
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| Mumbai is filled with many wonderful sights, like the Maharaj Terminus, above; but there is a lot of inequality in the city (see below) |
Goa is the smallest state in India - smaller, even, than Rhode Island in the U.S. Even though it isn't as wealthy or industrial as the much larger state of Maharashtra, it seems to be the top in the "per capita" (per person) category, and it is the Indian state with the "best quality of life" ranking.
Goa is known as a biodiversity hotspot, a tourist destination, and a place with UNESCO World-Heritage-level architecture.
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| The first Europeans to settle in Goa (which of course was already settled with many Indian people!) were Portuguese. |
By the way, in case you were wondering, India has 29 states plus 7 union territories.
Also on this date:
(Last Wednesday of February)
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