India, Oct. 6 -- There is humour, subversion and feminism, in the songs of the Angika language. Many were written for, and are sung by, women.
Amrit Sufi grew up hearing them, and only began to realise how unique they are when she had almost lost touch with her language entirely.
Born in Bihar, she had swapped Angika for Hindi by the time she started school. Her parents, an advocate and an English professor, were proud of this, and even prouder of her English.
It was her grandmother who kept her love for Angika alive. She spoke to her in the language, sung her songs and told her stories.
When Sufi started to teach post-colonial literature as a guest lecturer at Doon University, Dehradun, she began to wonder why she had turned her back o...