The Power of Word (Xobdo)
Anjal Borah*
The Old Testament of the Bible says- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Whenever I open XOBDO in my computer I think “Yes, the power of word has agitated the human conscience, united each other and spread carefulness for our environment. Because the Word is Brahma (God)”. This XOBDO creates a new message to our nation, language, culture and civilization. I feel very proud to be one of its contributors.
In June 2006, when I came to Indore to work on the Assamese language in a software company, it was necessary for me to find an online source to confirm my queries about Assamese word. At that time I was thoroughly confused with the usage of some technical terms related to computer and another English words and their translations. It always made me feel the need of an online Assamese dictionary. One day I was searching online for an Assamese dictionary, not even knowing if one really exists. Then I discovered XOBDO. But, it initially didn’t fulfill my requirement. However, when I came to know about the background of this dictionary I was very much moved by the untiring work of its members.
I was attracted by XOBDO due to my responsibility of my mother tongue.So in August 2007 I became a member and started looking for words. But I had no personal computer, and that time I was very busy in my official work. Despite all that I simply fell in love with XOBDO and so whenever I had some free time I started thinking of new Assamese words and also began contributing words to the dictionary. Recently, I was invited to be an editor of XOBDO. I am happy but at the same time I realized that editing is a challenging work. Assamese grammar at the moment lacks universality and hence various type of spelling for a particular word are found in our dictionary, magazine and news paper etc. At times it is confusing too. But I will try to contribute a correct form to this dictionary.
When I started my journey with XOBDO I wrote a letter to Prantik on it. It’s good news that I got many feedbacks from readers. But this is not for me alone, it is a big support to all those who love the Assamese language, their nation and XOBDO. I think all educated people of Assam should contribute words to this dictionary in their free time. Time for XOBDO is not a constraint for anybody if they love the language and have the zeal for the promotion of Assamese language and culture. I am very optimistic that in future the power of word will enlighten all Assamese hearts and the Assamese language will be prominent in the cyber democracy.
______________________________________________________________
*Anjal Borah hails from Kamdewal, Sonitpur and now works for Webdunia.com, Indore, M.P. He is one of the new Editors of XOBDO.
