Quote:
Originally posted by DesiTiger
Jughead, English is a legacy of the British raj, Hindi is a legacy of India's glorious pre-British invasion era.
The problem with India today is the fragmentations in its people - We think Tamil, Punjabi, Gujrati, Telugu more than we think "Indian".
Take countries like US and Canada where a multitude of religions thrive, with a single Unified language(or two for Canada). That is what India needs.
I agree with you. I'm not a great supporter of a 'national' identity...be it Canadian or Indian. The state needs to have a 'cause' inorder to exist and the abstract notion of a 'national' identity is a useful propoganda tool. To me the boundaries are artificial. ***However****, in the real world language is an important factor in forging such an identity. That India itself exists, inspite of the vast regional differences(e.g: Punjab and Kerala), is a marvel.
I differ from previous posts when I think all people refer to themselves as 'Indian' first, unlike even say in Canada where the Quebecors are likely to refer to themselves as Quebecors first and 'Canadians' maybe not at all.
Yes Indians do all cling to regional biases and within that to social/professional/family ones....but that is normal human condition...like a texan relating to another texan.
Did the whole nation not come together during Kargil? What about during the Tsunami?
Any attempt to impose a language on people will likely result in exploitation of seperatist tendencies like in Quebec. To what end? That they call themselves 'Indian' first? I think that 'cause' has already been achieved inspite of the pettinies that is sometimes shown. That happens between members of the same family too.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Big Vee
The issues at the mall or the consulate or the grocery are just stupid people congregating to form a critical mass greater than the average.
BV
These are the same people who'll follow all the rules when in a non-Indian environment. I don't think its stupidity, the mentality when we come together as a group of strangers is "Let's see what I can get away with!!"
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Are you there?
Location: Mississauga/ Toronto, Can
Posted on: 30-06-06 13:20:57
Well observed and a well written post.
While on this topic, I will say I (and many others), it would be nice if the staff at the consulate would be more polite (be at least indifferent if you cannot be nice, not rude) to their "customers".
Trinity
thought it was about peeping Toms !
Recently we had a security guard caught at one of the girls' hostel in M.S. University, Baroda. He was peeping thro' the keyhole while a female student was having a bath.
Rgds.
Rajan.
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Let's make India a better place !
I agree with desitiger. Situation is bad in south india where you will hardly find anyone speaking in Hindi. I have been to south india (AP,TN,Kerala,Karnataka) twice and on both occasions I faced problems in conversing in hindi with the locals. Situation is worst in TN where they will just not accept hindi and dont encourage it be learned by the kids in school. I maybe wrong but this is what I observed during my short visit. Maybe TK can add something to this or clarify.
I am not against regional languages...infact they should be encouraged as they add to the regional flavour but not at the cost of the national language. Being an Indian, Hindi should be our first language. Its another matter what language we prefer to speak in but atleast we should all know hot to read, write and speak in hindi. Just my 2 cents.......
One of the first things I did when I returned to India in Jan’05 was to learn Hindi. This again like the latter one on Mahatma Gandhi, was a short, concise and very useful 6 months course on spoken Hindi conducted by State Bank of India Officers Association.
Having lived in Chennai itself for the last 40 years, did not feel the necessity to learn Hindi, which I think was a big mistake. Likewise North Indians also lack general knowledge about the South. For example, in KBC I remember there was a question on the State in which Kanyakumari was located. Another question in a different episode was the linguistic majority of South India. Prior to that, the contestants seemed to be reasonably well informed, having answered about 6 questions correctly. In both cases wrong answers were given, for not only the contestant, but Amiji’s audience poll (comprising mostly of people from North) went wrong. The wrong answers were Kerala and Tamil respectively (Tamil Nadu and Telugu are the right answers). Telugus are 2nd majority even in the whole of India. Their population runs to more than a crore even in Tamil Nadu.
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My parents were from Kerala (Malayalam) but we spoke Konkani as MT at home. That too not all of us siblings knew it well. We only understand Malayalam, not speak. All three of us have lived in MP (I was born) and now Chattisgarh, and spoke Hindi all our lives. Our parents never insisted we speak Konkani or Malayalam exclusively. In fact, I understand Bangla, Marathi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Telegu, Tamil, and Gujarati, because we have lived or studied in several states and have several friends who spoke these languages. I find it easy to get along and make friends if you try to speak their language. That’s the icebreaker. Despite all this, whenever I call my sisters or mother, we speak in Hindi all the time. We are proud to know Hindi which binds us. I still count in Hindi. My wife, who grew up in Kolkata, speaks good Bangla. But we both talk to each other most of the time in Hindi apart from Konkani. My son, who only speaks English here, understands Hindi, apart from Konkani. THIS IS BECAUSE MY PARENTS DID NOT FORCE US TO SPEAK ONLY ONE LANGUAGE, OR FOR THAT MATTER ONLY KONKANI. Hindi is the language which binds us, even though we are Keralite Konkani.
Ok, Since South Indians are not learning Hindi. What should we do so we to make them learn Hindi? Also as ask Why should they learn Hindi? Just because it our national language it they should learn Hindi? wha bai wha Kya reason hai.
here we are taking about a majority of population who are struggling to make a living and don’t know how to write their own MT and some one is suggesting that they should learn and know Hindi.
I guess all south Indians can learn Hindi. Not a problem at all. Just provide them with two meals a day and daily Hindi class. I guess majority of them will know Hindi within six months even if they don’t know their MT.
