JOURNAJUNKIE

     For the love of their mother language some young students in the capital are spending their winter vacation learning Limboo language. These kids did not know anything about their language before they joined the Limboo language speaking class and now they seem to enjoy it. In Limboo Bhawan in DPH Area, Gangtok these kids are learning what their forefathers used to speak. The children are not only learning to speak but also getting their knowledge in Limboo alphabets, writings, and grammars.

      From December 1^st last year the Sukhim Yakthung Sapsok Songihambho, a limbo literary society started this winter program. Monday to Saturday, the classes are taken from 11 am to 1 pm. All the students are from Gangtok itself and studying in local government and private schools. The winter program will run till the early February and after their school session starts, the class will be taken on Sundays.The weekly tests are also conducted along with viva-voice and some are doing well.

      Shravan Limboo, a 9^th grader at Daffodil’s Homes, who did not have any knowledge about the language, is now interacting with his friends in Limboo language and he is doing the exercises as well. “I go to private school and fluently speak English but I never knew about my own language. And now after joining this class I am have learned many things and I will keep learning. “I had always wanted to learn limbo language”, said Holy Cross School’s 9^th standard student Namshiri Limboo. Currently, there are nine students taking this winter class and none of them had known anything about the language before.

        Limboo is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Nepal, Sikkim, Kashmir (both Indian and Pakistani Kashmir) and Darjeeling by the Hindu community. It has four main dialects; Panthere, Phedape, Chatthare and Tambar Khole. Panthare dialect is the standard dialect Limboo language whereas Phedape is spoken and understood by most. It has its own unique Tibetan writing system, the Limboo script. Far more Limboos are more literate in Nepali than Limboo and so many Limboo publications are accompanied by a Nepali version and Limboo is also written Devnagari.