By Nivedita Saini

Punjabi is one of the most spoken languages in the world. Aeronautically speaking, an afterburner has been engaged to augment the thrust to make Punjabi an official language due to the increase in the South Asian population. British Columbia has reinforced its economic ties with India’s Punjabi territory by offering Punjabi classes in numerous public schools due to the growing necessity of the working class to have a fair knowledge of the language.

Even politicians are struggling to learn this antediluvian Indo-Aryan form of verbal communication. So forceful is the need of this language and so highly occupied are the British Provinces by the Punjabi community that, the Mayor of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan, articulated his desire to pick up the threads of this language before his Mayoral elections to swell his vote banks.

He appointed a tutor by the name of Gian Singh Kotli to do the needful. Kotli has been in British Columbia for last seventeen years. He is a certified translator with the Society of Translators and Interpreters in British Columbia and is also working as a freelance journalist with a regional Indo-Canadian weekly newspaper. Ever since, Kotli and the Mayor have spent a considerable time in each others' company.

Canada has close to four lakh Punjabis and Punjabi has off late become the fourth largest spoken language out there. Even though Canada conducts most of its trade with south of India where Punjabi has no correlation, still the passionate historic immigration association has created a very strong bond. What's more, a local MLA of British Columbia has time and again expressed his longing to start direct flights between his constituency and Amritsar, India in order to further strengthen the ties.

According to Sadhu Binning, a professor of Punjabi at the University of B.C., Punjabis live in 125 countries around the world and have a lot of economic supremacy. In B.C., Punjabi has been regarded as an official second language since 1994, along with French, Spanish, German, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese.

Currently, in Surrey there are about thousand students taking Punjabi classes. It is mandatory for students from grades V to VIII to take a second language other than French. Students here are even given economic incentives for picking Punjabi.

In order to place itself for the fiscal grandeur that lies ahead, even the Canadian government should seriously consider making Punjabi an official language. Currently, it only recognizes English and French as its two official languages.

With the increase in the Punjabi population, the consumer ‘bazaar’ has now started looking for bilingual workforce. The knowledge of Punjabi has become an asset. Putting it in a very candid way, a worker with knowledge of Punjabi will get employment right away in contrast to one acquainted with French.

Punjabi has off late become a status symbol, with everyone including students, businessmen and even politicians wanting to make an impression by displaying their mastery at the language. People have started using their spare time to practice and study this verbal skill. The feeling is that learning this language begets admiration.
In a special request to his tutor Kotli, the Mayor Sullivan, had asked that he be given a translation of the Holy Guru Granth Sahib to enable him to learn more about the Punjabi culture.

The Punjabi “dhakka” is very compelling and vigorous. Watch it! The Punjabis may soon lead humanity.