சிந்தனைக் கட்டுரைகள்
19 by the persistent use that is being made of them by brahmins and others who follow in their footsteps. Except amongst the rural popu- lation, in all the so-called high caste communities Tamil is giving place to a medley of speeches in which English and Sanscrit words mix up freely with Tamil. One might have observed when travel- ling in a railway carriage, how in a company of brahmins and other of their ilk, one man starts a conversation in which others also take part by introducing a subject in a few corrupt Tamil words, and another continues it immediately with a few more English words and short sentences, a little after both returning to Tamil, and using long and high sounding Sanscrit words, now jesting in Hindusthani, now taking flippantly on some political matters and so on, until the whole company disperses. However serious the observer may be the careless, indifferent, and promiscuous use of several languages in Tamil, cannot but excite in him laughter and indignation together. Yet there are some who would warmly advocate the adoption in Tamil composition of such a chaotic handling of heterogeneous el- ements!
Can the real cultivation of mind be achieved in this slipshod fashion? No, it can result only from restraining one's thoughts from wandering loosely and aimlessly from one thing to another. Thought and expression being most intimately related to each other, the pro- cess of strengthening, clarifying, and improving one's thought can be accomplished in no other way than that of concentrating one's attention on the proper, most accurate, and pleasing manner of us- ing one's own speech.
Because, the language, one has inherited through his mother, treasures up thoughts and sentiments which have been maturing for centuries in the minds of his forefathers, and which, from the time when he was in the cradle to that when he will be laid in the grave, penetrate into his being and mould it according to their laws. However great, subtle, and profound may be one's knowledge of a foreign language, he cannot rid himself of the habits of thought that were deeply ingrained in his mind by his mother tongue. It will therefore, be utterly impossible for any man to negelect the study
