THAT FORGOTTEN FAT FRIEND

Remember that heavy, fat book that used to be a constant in every household back in the 90s? The book that was the most difficult thing to carry if anyone at the house wanted to know the correct spelling of a word? Yes, I am referring to the house of huge no. of words “Dictionary” or “Obhidhaan”! Some assamese households even had the linguistic version of it, referred as “Hemkosh”, after the legendary Hem Baruah. Searching for new words and their meanings in an alphabetical order used to be such an exciting job then. With the passage of time, dictionaries started becoming compact and started to being available in pocket sizes; the first of its kind being provided by the Oxford house. English literature was incomplete without the use of dictionary, especially for poetry. In fact, there used to be a question for lower classes as “Write the meanings of the following words” – something that used to inculcate the habit of turning the pages of this fat book at a young age. Even writers of the 90s and early 2000 used to cross check the correct meaning and spelling of their literary works in a dictionary before publishing. Oxford even decided to introduce the word “Muggle” in its dictionary that was launched in 2002 because of the growing popularity and normalizing everyone with this term, and not just Harry Potter fans!

As internet started to emerge and Microsoft Office gained popularity, dictionary started fading out as the software was prequipped with an “Autocorrect” or spelling suggestions. So no longer did people feel the necessity to carry around the baggage of a big dictionary. And now, we are at an era where words, meanings, spellings, parts of speech, usage and others are just available at our fingertips – all thanks to our technologically advanced and friendlier than a fat dictionary – GOOGLE! From nouns to adjectives and adverbs, from an English meaning to any vernacular expression – all you just need now is to google. And you don’t even need to type out anything anymore – “Ok Google” understands what you speak; as Gajraj Rao says “Bolne se sab hoga!”

Back in the 90s, searching for a new word or meaning in the dictionary used to be like a competition – “Who can come out with the correct meaning first.”; the competition still exists but under a different name – “Who can type/speak first” or rather “Who has the fastest net connectivity?” Back in the 1980-1990s, knowledgeable people could be easily identified by their talks regarding books, usage of words in their speech, and eloquence, but not anymore because everyone knows to Google. I still remember how fascinated I was in my sixth standard when I came to know that Anandoraam Borooah, the first IAS of Assam, had memorized an entire Obhidhaan at a very tender age. But can we expect young people of the present generation to have such an excitement for a dictionary?

In fact, it is not just dictionaries that young people are losing attachment to – it is literally books. We don’t find very ardent readers at the present time – everyone wants things to be done at a fast pace – so no one has the patience to complete and relish the hidden troves of a book when they can learn the same thing visually from YouTube within a much shorter duration. The pandemic and online classes have even contributed to this in a big way – classrooms became available on smartphones within the comforts of home. New things and skills were acquired from Google – so no more were teachers and books required, isn’t it?

Technology has enormous benefits and so does Google and YouTube but because of this, we are somehow losing valuable and treasured qualities that were inculcated in us in our schools and homes. Not just young people, but even adults have stopped turning the pages of a dictionary. Probably every household still has a dictionary but it is only gathering dust and cobwebs on a shelf or even in the dark corners of a storeroom. As parents, nurturers and mentors what is required from us is that we too start reviving our relationship with our forgotten, fat friend – The Dictionary – so that our future generations can observe and get habituated to picking up a dictionary. It may not be too far the dictionary will no longer be published and lose its existence, I fear, just like Telegram!