Thursday, January 25, 2007

The 35 countries of India..

It was only during my college days, that i got a chance to explore the real world. Until then my world was
confined to a small colony where i live. I got to meet a large number of people bearing different opinions with great differences.
Every thing was at a higher magnitude than i had ever witnessed. At my work place i met a person who eventually
become a very good friend of mine. He is a big time devotee of the language KANNADA. For him Kannada is
more than a language. He feels its a way Kannadiggas live. This true lover of Kannada, requites it by calling it his mother.
I dint know a language could be this adorable to the people. Ironically, this person who respects a language so much,
hates all other languages (of INDIA ??). As i have known him, he does a good analysis of things before he comments or makes a
decision about anything. I am wondering "what could be the reason??". What makes him think this way ?

"Unity in Diversity.. Secularity.. Sovereignty..Culture with high degree of syncretism.. A Land of all seasons"
these are some of the adjectives which decorate our INDIA. Wow, what a country is this? One country with so
many languages and culture. You can find people of all variates here.. from rich to poor.. tall to short..
black to white.. fat to thin.. ugly to beautiful.. what a spectrum of humankind on one piece of land? Thats
INDIA for you (really??). This is true at the skin level, but as you start moving a bit closer towards the contour
of those thin lines separating people in the name of states.. the voices become eminent.. you would hear anguish
voices bringing disgrace to the nation's decorum. Yes, its the voices of those people fighting in the name of languages..
Sometimes our dear politicians trigger such conflicts, in an attempt to rediscover the bad formula "Divide and Rule".
People faithfully make it a grand success by not listening to what their conscience is struggling to tell them.
What happened to those precious traits derived from a rich culture that your country gave you? Did your culture preach you to
disrespect other cultures ? Did your language say its the only supreme language on earth ?
Great!! How did you manage to stifle your common sense ?? Language is a mere tool which human beings invented to
communicate with each other. Its a medium to represent your thoughts and ideas in the form of writing or speech.
Why have a race of language and its evolution ? You speak any language that you wish to.. let your friend do which ever he prefers to..
Language lovers try to show you a strong illusive bonding of language to the land where it was born. Which stop people
from using an INDIAN language in INDIA. A Kannadiga is most likely to have the wrath of a Tamilian in Tamil Nadu for speaking in
Kannada and the vice versa is equally true. Kannadiga complaints of domination by Tamil speakers in karnataka
and a Tamil speaker complaints of no water in the state because the kannadigas refused to give. At times this stupid quarrel gets
so violent that it costs many innocent lives. Is Language really thicker than blood ?
How could some one interleave language with lack of water ? Did we forget that language has nothing to do with lack of water?
How many of us accept Hindi as our national language. I have a friend who still doesn't agree to it even after our debate pushed
me to show him the verses of INDIAN CONSTITUTION. Is this a land of 28 states and 7 union territories or 35 countries ?

Its a shame to know that a Language can be a potential source of conflict for the people. There are hundreds of genuine
problems to be addressed, if at all we want to really work for the progress of our country and show some gratitude.
I don't know how much we mean when we say "India is a secular country, rich in culture. We show unity in diversity."
Enough of all these show-off words. Do we really understand the words Secularity, Sovereignty...Culture etc.

We shouldn't forget that Respecting each other is more important than respecting our own inventions.
Its good to remind ourselves that there is just one SUN and one EARTH... there is just one specie called HUMAN BEINGS
who can understand all this!!!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey!

I take this opportunity to answer it from your friends' point of view as i support him!

You say that he is a good analyser and takes decisions appropriately! In that case there should be a strong reason for his liking towards his language! He really adores his language and will not stand any dis-respect to it no matter what happens!

You say that he hates other languages! Being in Bangalore, Karnataka, I know whats the plight of Kannadigas in Bangalore! They are 30% of Kannadigas in Bangalore and they are ill-treated by the outsiders! Even you might know this fact that majority of kannadigas tolerate anything and they respect all languages! There do exist some people like your friend n me who get furious if their language is degraded in their presence!

If you take a closer look at yo friend and his behaviour, you should have noticed that he respects all languages, until and unless that language( language, here represents the community that speak that language) tries to have an edge on it! Imagine yourself in a situation where you are dominated by somebody in a field of your interest, where he doesnt let you express your own thought! Say that you are the creator of the field and if he is ignoring your views on it, would you feel happy abt it??

Its the same scenario here! It might be the same case in all metropolitan cities but i am concerned abt Bangalore coz i have never been to any other cities! Other language people ( Not only tamilians, even the guntus, amllus, the northies, specially the marwaadis) try to dominate over the native Kannadigas! Might be your friend has seen lots of such things n he is tryin to hate others! ( These are my views! He might have a different view! )

I dont think your friend stops anyone to speak any other language! He only interferes if they are speaking something wrong abt Kannada!

On the whole, it boils down to something like you are loving something and somebody is trying to snatch that thing from you! would you allow it?? (I might have given redundant info in the previous paragraph! Coz its 2:30 am n i am feeling a bit sleepy! Sorry for that)

When it comes to language, its not just the language that comes into picture but the people, the culture they follow! Its a blow to culture if someone is trying to dominate!

Hope you understand!

And regarding the national language issue, I again support your friend! Nowhere in the Constitution of India, its written that Hindi is the national Language! I dont mind accepting it as the national language but there is no proof that we have a national language is what i mean to convey here!

Come up with a solid proof n i agree that Hindi is my national Language!

Finally i would like to say one thing! India will remain 28 states and 7 union territories only if there is a mutual understanding between the neighboring states! That comes when everybody tries to respect others feelings and expect the same! If this is not the case, its always 35 countries! Its in the mutual understanding that is lacking!

KbHbEjTi said...

I would like to hear about some incidents which have degraded (really?) the language kannada!!

Sandesh said...

I can give you many!

Asking a Kannadiga in Karnataka that "Hey! You dont know to speak < < my language > >??" (You can substitute any language you want)
Mind you, this is a common question asked by a non-Kannadiga coming to Karnataka.

"Dont you see movies of this language??"

Tell me how fair is this?? Dont you think this is illtreatment to Kannada??

I can give you another famous example in Oxford Dictionary! If you go find the meaning of the word Kannada in oxford dictionary, It says that its a language similar to Telugu! ( You might know that Kannada came into existance way long before Telugu! Its Telugu thats derived from Kannada and they are using the child to recognize the parent!( Improper invocation)

What else?? you want more proof??

FirstRayM said...

Hey you brought out really a good point one thing which i want to remember from the post is
"Its nice to love something but yout love towards the thing should not turn as hatread towards others".
This will never qualify for true love. Just i want to draw an
anology. You can love your mother but you should not hate others for the reason that they love their mother too.

Dewdrop said...

I agree with the following thing sandesh said:

Imagine yourself in a situation where you are dominated by somebody in a field of your interest, where he doesnt let you express your own thought! Say that you are the creator of the field and if he is ignoring your views on it, would you feel happy abt it??

I think KbHbEjTi can understand that also :)

But i dont find it a reason enough to hate other languages. Anyways good post.

Publius said...

Sadly, the majority of Americans are frozen in the comforts of English, and have no desire to learn another tongue. Furthermore, they doggedly expect everyone in America to speak fluent English, or at least make an attempt. They figure it is the responsibility of the non-English speaker to assimilate themselves into American life, when in Truth, it is the other way around.

Anonymous said...

Nice post ...