The way we speak here in Manipur, we don't lose the word for *thum* — that fierce, sticky smell when the bamboo shoots are fermenting just right. My granddaughter in Delhi calls it "rotten," and I tell her, no, the old Meitei word holds the feeling of earth and patience, a thing that saves a meal. The *fascinating* (that English word she uses) truth is these local sayings carry a kind of justice — they were made by people who had to make much from little. And the state's proper tongue, that *fuksi* (formal Meitei), is good for paperwork, but it cannot name the herbs in my garden. You can write a hundred laws in perfect Arabic, but if the child still has no clean water, the word has failed.
#language#arabic
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