[Reader-list] Languages and Spaces - 5th Post

[Renee Lulam]

Many many apologies for the delay...once more. Our July posting.... Renee
and Jules

Bah Mount, who retired from the state transport service, looks at
'cosmopolitan' in terms of the self. 'Cosmopolitan' only can be when one
goes out and mixes. Through allowing one's self to step out of the comfort
zone of familiarity, learning a new language and thereby, a new culture;
internalizing new cultures and mixing within the community/ communities on
an equal footing. Communicating and conversing at a level and in the
language that the communities speak. Understanding the lifestyle and
expressions, sharing in them. Without these, no place, no one, no community
is really cosmopolitan. Once the 'otherness in one's self' has been worked
out, the cosmopolitan can begin.

Bah A. Lyngdoh, the headman of Laban and friend of Bah Mount, on the other
hand is of the opinion that cosmopolitan is about different people coming to
a place and being accepted by the indigenous community. To extend one's
space for another, and allow space for those cultures. Even if the exchanges
among them remain superficial.
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