I am very proud to say am a Kannadiga and equivalently proud to say am an Indian and a human being. Kannada being my mother tongue ( Father tongue also !!! that's a PJ) I can fluently speak , write and understand Kannada. As am staying in Bangalore, a cosmopolitan city with a vibrant mix of people from different regions, color and caste, it makes me really proud to say we are so open, co operative and respect other cultures and languages. Otherwise Bangalore would not have been a 'Second Home' to many. (many have forgotten their first home and are enjoying this stay. Most welcome to do so.)
Quite often, i hear things from people like " Why should I learn kannada ? Why don't you speak English or Hindi " Also some of the claims that roads are bad, auto is expensive. I have some of the answers for that and thought I should speak out my mind on that.
1. First of all, if you learn Kannada ( or any local language of the place where you are staying), you will be the one who will be benefited as you can easily communicate in Govt offices, local markets, make local friends, understand the local history, enjoy local festivals.
2. It will be very easy to communicate and get the work done by your maid, driver or gardener. I think its so stupid to expect them to talk Hindi or English as most of them will be school drop outs or illiterates. When you can't learn a language why should they learn ? Do you think they are more capable than you with respect to learning a new language ? A bit of common sense.
3. You will be able to ask for directions or help when needed.
4. it will be easy to help your kid with his/her home work.
5.You can bargain big time. if you don't know the language then it will be hard to convince the other party.
6. If you speak to the auto or taxi guy in local language, you will have less chance of getting cheated by paying extra.
7. If you make friends with your neighbors and local people, you will always feel the presence of a local support system Who knows one day you might need help or you can help someone.
8. By speaking the language of the space, you will be paying respect to the place which is giving you food, water & shelter.
In spite of all these, if you still don't want to learn, communicate and respect the local language it's your ignorance and you end up being the loser. We don't have a Goonda raj here, which forces you to do things. And please mind that no one is stopping you to go back to your native and live, enjoy and have a nice life. it's always better than staying here, enjoying the benefits and keep cribbing. My message is crisp and clear, when you are here , have a good time, mingle with locals, build relationship, make friends. End of the day, we are all Indians, and we all have equal rights to live anywhere we want. But the question is about - Living Right.
Some of the Facts of this land.
(Source : http://www.kannadaaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9024)
Kannada is one of the major Dravidian languages of India, spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas, number roughly 35 million, making it the 27th most spoken language in the world. It is one of the official languages of India and the official and administrative language of the state of Karnataka.
1] Kannada is the third oldest language of India.(After ... Sanskrit & Tamil)
2] kannada is as old as 2000 years.
3] Kannada is 99.99% perfect - logically and scientifically.
4] We got 7 Gnana peetha awards. Look at other languages ... Hindi - 6, Telugu - 2, Malayalam - 3, Tamil - 2 (Second one during 2005)
5]Shri VINOBA BHAVE has called kannada script as QUEEN OF WORLD SCRIPTS - "Vishwa lipigaLa RaaNi - kannada"
6] So called international language - English does not have its own Script. English is written in "ROMAN"
7] So called national Language - hindi does not have its own script. Hindi is written in "Devanagari"
8] Though Tamil has a script, logically it is imperfect - as common letters are used for many pronunciations.
9] Government of India officially recognized Kannada as a classical language.
Jai Karnataka....
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ReplyDeleteJai Karnataka... Rags the blog is just great.
You have listed very valid and sensible points out there.
We Indians should first realize and feel that we are Indians; feel India is ONE land, OUR land. If this can be achieved I guess most of our disputes would not have emerged in the first place.
An open mind willing to adapt to different places & culture can make our life more exiting. This does not mean we have to give up or forget our culture it only means become one with the place we live in.
Historically Indians are known to be people who have shown great tolerance and acceptance to various cultures. We should remember that many outsiders have attacked us but never have we attacked any culture or any country. None of these attacks had any effect on our rich culture; on the contrary our country has influenced the intellectuals across the world.
Most important – we have to be thankful to the land that is providing us with job, food, water & shelter.
Definitely agree with the fact that knowing a local language of wherever you are residing is a a huge plus point.
ReplyDeleteAnd I would definitely love to learn Kannada. I have my reasons for it:
One, I would have added another language to my bucket of languages I know.
Two, I would love to learn a South Indian language, and, Kannada has so much of distinctness in it.