Inside the mind of Toba Tek Singh
The recent discovery of a type of brain damage which makes people involuntary switch between speaking in multiple languages…
… an area of your brain called the left caudate… could be what enables you to follow the lyrics as they switch from English to French… The left caudate’s role in language processing is further backed up by the case of a trilingual woman with a damaged caudate region, who involuntarily switched between three different languages while speaking… [Link]
… reminds me of the classic Partition tale ‘Toba Tek Singh’ by Sadat Hasan Manto:
One Sikh had been an inmate for fifteen years. He spoke a strange language of his own, constantly repeating this nonsensical phrase: “Upri gur gur di annexe di be-dhiyan o mung di daal of di lalteen.” … whenever there was discussion of India, Pakistan and the forthcoming lunatic exchange… he would reply with great seriousness: “Upri gur gur di annexe di be-dhiyana di mung di daal of di Pakistan gornament.” [Link]
on Saturday, June 10th, 2006, 4:23 am in Health, Literature › 
Email this
› 
Facebook this
› 
Reddit this
› Link
› Reader links
very interesting article Manish thanks for sharing…
I read in scientific american issue some ten years back that left side of brain is also supposed to be the creative linguistic side of the brain and more developed in women while right side of the brain associated with mathematical skills is more developed in men…
they also say that children under age of five can learn as many languages as u teach them while their brain is developing while adults cannot do that once the brain develops…
Neurobiology and working of brain is very interesting.
Heard in the plug for CBC’s quirks and quarks on 06/10… (somewhat paraphrased)
We may agree to that Osama Bin laden is creepy, and so is Fidel Castro, … and George W. Bush and Tom Cruise. So what makes them tick, and what do they all have in common so that they want to take over the world. … give up… they all have in common that they are left handed. Think there is a pattern. .. check out the show to discover if this is a genetic trait and why has society kept a steady 10% of lefties since the stone age.