One evening as I was enjoying an evening roadside Chai in Delhi, a young man in mid-twenties started speaking to me. On learning that I was from Bangalore, he said he lived in Bangalore for five months and then left the city because he was fed up with the 'attitude' of the people and dur to language problem. He waxed eloquent about one India and how he was appaled to see the North India - South India divide in a cosmopolitan city like Bangalore. He narrate instances when he was treated badly by localites becuse he spoke in Hindi to them.
I am sorry that a guy coming to my city had to face this and that he carries such an impression about my fellow "localites" from Bangalore. But please let me say the below in defence of my city and my people -
The main cause for such frictions is the language. Not that we hate Hindi or other languages but simply that we dont understand the language. Our North Indian friends are baffled when they hear that we South Indians cannot speak Hindi - the "National Language"!! But what they fail to realise is that they cannot stuff down a language down the throat of the minority just because an arguable majority speaks it. It is grossly unfair to expect that the minority should learn the language of the majority - by that logic many religious nation states could impose the national religion on the minority.
What they fail to realise is that millions of people cannot learn a new foreign language just because someone in Delhi declared it to be the National Language. To better explain my point - Imagine China occupies us tomorrow (Devil Forbid) and a new nation is born with Mandarin as the National Language. Can all Indians then start speaking Chinese. It doesn't happen that way right.
So without understanding this simple logic, if my North Indian friends pose the ridiculous "Aapko Hindi Nahin Aati!!!??!" (You cant speak Hindi !!!??), to hapless South Indians, you are bound to have unpleasan experiences. Every person would like to express him/herself. And we all know that we express ourselves best in the language closest to our hearts which is mostly the mother tongue.
It is sad that in India, language is often used as a tool to exhibit chauvinism.
(I too am a culprit of the same. I am very proud of Kannada Literature winning seven Jnanapita Awards (nation's highest literary prize), even though I haven't read a single one of them!)
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4 comments:
hey that was a interesting thought to defend the non-hindi speakers..
u enjoying with loads of interesting experiences...
exams going on... i like the way u write incidents in a very catchy manner...so will surely come to read the rest of them soon...
enjoy ur journey !!!
Sirigannadam gelge!!!
hey im sorry, but i think this city (Bangalore) and its people are guilty of language-racism as well... its everywhere - all over india. Each city has a predominant language and most tourists are subject to some degree of hostility due to a lack of knowing it..! The "young man in his mid-twenties" was wrong if he based his opinion of Bangalore and Bangaloreans on his unfortunate experience, but he [and you :)] should know this exists everywhere....
For north indians the common lament is a surprised "Hindi Nahin Aati??" - National Language!
And for south indians it an equally shocked lament of "You don't know English??" - Internationally accepted Language!!
Hi Leela - I agree with you. I mentioned about it in the line "It is sad that in India, language is often used as a tool to exhibit chauvinism." and also about my chauvinism with the Jnanapit awards. Ofcourse it is not just in India but literally everywhere.
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