Juboraj Deb Barma, a young Tripura man from Sreemangal, wished he could do something to preserve his mother tongue Kokborok when he was studying anthropology at Cumilla University, bdnews24.com reports.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina did announce the introduction of primary education in a number of ethnic languages and it has also been incorporated in the education policy. But, he said, not all the schools in the neighbourhoods of ethnic minority people have launched primary education in their mother tongue.
A relative took Juboraj to Rangamati to help him get over depression after he had lost his mother during the coronavirus pandemic.
That was when he got a copy of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s ‘The Unfinished Memoirs’. He also got the idea of translating the book into his language at that time as part of his intense desire to preserve his language.
But the task was far from easy and he faced a huge hurdle: his language has no alphabet.
Juboraj found a way around it. He used the Roman script to complete the translation in nearly two years.
Kokborok is the main native language of the Indian state of Tripura. The name comes from ‘kok’ meaning "verbal" and ‘borok’ meaning "people", and is one of the ancient languages of Northeast India.
The language has words, accents, and proverbs to express. However, the oral language is becoming extinct.
Juboraj said discussions were ongoing with University Press Limited. “I believe that the book will be published with everyone's cooperation.“
Mahrukh Mohiuddin, a director of UPL, said they need the approval of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Trust to publish this translation. “We can’t say anything with a finality now. We'll let you know when we decide.“
Nazrul Islam Khan, curator of the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, said they asked Juboraj to have the translation checked by a third party who is proficient in the Kokborok language. “Once checked, we will publish it on our own.”