What is Hindification?
India’s strength is its unity in diversity. Its multitude of languages, religions and cultures. But this diversity is being undermined by the excessive importance given to one language, Hindi. A misguided sense of patriotism has allowed Hindi to become the dominant language, and the Hindi-speaking culture to become the supposed “national” culture. National integration is wrongly associated with speaking Hindi and accept Hindi domination meekly. This meekness is termed as a virtue, and anyone who tries to promote his regional language is labelled as parochial, chauvinistic and anti-national. To non-Indians, Hindi is often portrayed as the de-facto lingua franca of India.
There’s a prevalent “All Indians must know Hindi” attitude which reeks of imperialism. It’s common to find Hindi-speakers living in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata or the North East without knowing the local language. They simply expect the locals to speak in Hindi. In some places like Mumbai, the locals do the Hindi-speakers a favour by conversing in Hindi. But when this happens, the Hindi-speakers start taking it for granted, and assume that it’s their divine right to be spoken to in Hindi.
The Indian Government has institutionalised Hindi imposition in the Constitution, giving it an undemocratically higher status than other languages. This blog depicts the various ways Hindi has been officially imposed in the Indian Government.
Indians who do not know Hindi are subjected to ridicule, insult and abuse. This can be seen from many comments here. A common rant is that “Hindi is the national language but you don’t know it”. In certain countries, the moment they see that we are Indians, they start speaking to us in Hindi. They treat Hindi as the de-facto link language of Indians.
To the international community, Bollywood is projected as the only film industry in India. In the International “Indian” Film Academy Awards (IIFA), there is space only for Bollywood movies, and none for regional movie industries. In several overseas universities, the Indian Associations have Bollywood Movie Screenings, but no attempts to showcase regional cinema. Only Hindi movies are known to the international community, but regional movies are not. This contributes to the dominant status of Hindi.
We need to contain the monopolistic influence of Hindi, to give due recognition and limelight to regional languages. We need to ensure that regional languages become part of the national and global culture along with Hindi.
Why is Hindification a problem?
1. Hindification gives secondary status to all the other languages of India. Other languages are becoming less important, less useful, and less relevant. Hindification will lead to the gradual marginalization and ultimate death of all the other languages of India. For example, some Marathi children in Mumbai ask their parents, “Why should we speak Marathi, now that everyone in Mumbai speaks in Hindi?” Similarly, Punjabis often speak to each other in Hindi. Evidence of these can be found in some comments here. Regional languages are simply waiting in line for their death sentences, with some being ahead in the line.
2. Hindification prevents regional languages from becoming part of the global culture. The global community is not even aware of the existence of most regional languages. They do not know that movie industries exist in those regional languages. With this lack of international recognition, it’s just a matter of time before the regional languages perish. They will become provincial languages with little relevance in the globalized world. To ensure the survival of regional languages, they need to become part of the global culture. These regional languages must ride the wave of globalization and not be drowned underneath the wave. This is what we must ensure.
3. The Hindification of India causes tensions between Hindi Indians and non-Hindi Indians. Hindi has taken root and marginalized the local language in places like Mumbai, causing resentment among the locals. This is the root cause of violence against Hindi-speakers in Maharashtra, as I have discussed here. Hindification has also caused resentment among South Indians. This is the root cause of the North-South divide, as I have discussed here. Hindification is the root cause of the now-defunct Sikh separatism. Hindification is the root cause of separatist movements in the North East, including violence against Hindi-speakers in Assam. Continued Hindification would be bad for the safety of Hindi-speakers and the communal harmony of India.
4. The status of Hindi as the dominant language is undemocratic, and against the spirit of India. In a truly secular country, all languages should be given equal importance. Just as Hindus do not impose their religion on Muslims or Sikhs, Hindi-speakers should not impose their language on Telugu-speakers or Marathi-speakers.
What we can do to stop the Hindification of India
If your native language is a regional language
1. Speak Hindi only while you’re in the Hindi-speaking region. In your home state, speak only two languages: Your mother tongue (with people who speak your mother tongue), and English (with people who do not speak your mother tongue).
2. When Hindi-speakers migrate to your state, encourage them to learn the local language.
3. If a Hindi-speaker visiting your home state speaks in Hindi, politely ask him to speak in either English or the state language. Be firm about this. Don’t be diffident. E.g. In Mumbai, ask him to speak in either English or Marathi. In Hyderabad, ask him to speak in either English or Telugu.
If your native language is Hindi
1. Speak Hindi only to other native Hindi-speakers. Speak English to someone whose mother tongue is a regional language.
2. When migrating to non Hindi-speaking states, learn the local language. Speak to the locals either in their language, or in English.
If you’re native language is a regional language, and you are living outside India
1. Tell your non-Indian friends that there are 18 official languages in India. Tell them about the regional movie industries of India. Show them some of these regional movies (with English subtitles).
2. Speak only two languages to other Indians: Your mother tongue (with those who share your mother tongue) and English (with Indians who do not share your mother tongue).
3. If an Indian speaks to you in Hindi and you understand, reply in English.
4. If an Indian speaks to you in Hindi and you don’t understand, tell him, “I’m sorry but I don’t speak Hindi, can you say that in English?” Don’t be embarrassed to say you don’t speak Hindi.
5. If an Indian speaks to you in Hindi and you understand partially, tell him, “My Hindi is not that good, can you say that in English?” Don’t be embarrassed to say your Hindi knowledge is only partial.
If you are a true Indian, and believe in Unity In Diversity
Forward this blog to as many Indians as possible. Talk to other Indians about the points here.
Tags: assam, bangalore, bollywood, english, global culture, globalization, hindi, hindi imposition, hindification, hindus, iifa, india, indian, indian government, kannada, kolkata, maharashtra, marathi, mother tongue, mumbai, muslims sikhs, national language, north east, north indian, official language, punjabi, regional language, south indian, tamil, telugu
March 10, 2008 at 3:44 am |
Hey,
I totally agree with your views… but whenever i say this to my friends or colleagues they ask me back when all nations can have a common language to communicate among themselves why can’t we take hindhi as a common language for our country now that we most of us knew it….
Well…. this most of us is only part of the educated society… so how you would you answer them ?
I’d answer that not all nations have a common language. Singapore doesn’t. Switzerland doesn’t. Belgium doesn’t.
March 10, 2008 at 3:50 am |
good woork..
i sent this type of mail to all my friends.
definetely i will send above context to my friends and grops.
வாழ்க தமிழன்னை
இந்தி அரக்கியை ஒழிப்போம்.
Thanks. Let’s spread the word.
March 10, 2008 at 4:30 am |
You can’t write clearer than this man….with all the do’s and don’ts…kudos to you. Fully agreed.
Thanks Anand. Pls spread the word.
March 10, 2008 at 5:21 am |
good
i fwd it to around 50 guyz
mail me if u need any support for this
March 10, 2008 at 6:08 am |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chgss5hnFiI
This is a band from Mizoram.
A world class musicians… ..finding similar wavelength with Linkin Park and Rage against the Machine. A band like this in English speaking country will surely be earning big time.
Hindi is not followed by many people in NE.
So u know NE is with the langauge
Ppl from NE aren’t gonna stop singing in English.
We don’t need Hindi in NE!!!!!!!!
We will, we will rock in English!!!
March 10, 2008 at 6:39 am |
i just recieved this blog from a friend …i think its quite interesting given the fact that i have suffered a lot with the Hindi…why do i need to learn something that is alien to me…i know english is not my mother tongue but i have so many opputunities with english…i can get a job with english…i can sing well with english. i already know around 3 local dialects of NE….so what the hell with the Hindi?
i love music…music is my passion…i dont need bollywood to tell me that the only way to be successful is start singing in film songs!!!
well most of the songs in Bollywood are way too crappy..!!!
we will stop hindi with our music..!!!
March 10, 2008 at 6:55 am |
Yes, if everyone is “compelled” to speak in Hindi due to cirumstances, then India wil lose its linguistic tolerance amidst diversity.
March 10, 2008 at 7:41 am |
Mikka Magizhchi ,
Neengal sollum anaithum unnmai. I am proud of this.
We all tamils should be proud of onething. Tamilnadu still remains the state where you cant survive without tamil.
30% of chennai can speak Hindi if a northie comes and talks hindi to us…but madurai,tirunelveli,tiruchy all these place you are not replied if you talk in Hindi.. This creates agitation for Hindi speakers about tamil nadu…but who cares… we should keep doing our good work of saving tamil…
Am pleased with your article.
Sathya ; You have asked about a common language query . Wehn other countries developed they all developed either as a christian nation , muslim nation etc..India is a nation of mixed culture…can we say this is only a Hindu Nation ? No way.
Let Us go by their way .. We shall accept Hindi as only language of India… Can they accept my Tamil culture and traditions as Only culture of India ? Deal ?
Tamil Azhiyaadhu adhai naam azhiya vida koodaadhu…Indha thudipu ovvoru tamizhanin manadhil nirka vendum.
TAMIZHAN ENDRU SOLLADA…THALAI NIMARNDHU NILLADHA…
HINDI ENDRA MOZHI ILLADHA PODHU PULAVARGALUM NAM TAMILZHIL VAAZHDHIRUKIRAARGAL ?
Sethaalum Menmakkal Menmakkale…adhu TAMIZHANE !!!!!
March 10, 2008 at 8:35 am |
wonderful piece of info !!
March 10, 2008 at 11:54 am |
With or without reading this…. i’ve always made it a point to communicate in English when people speak to me in Hindi…A greater part of this blog is pretty much true …
The problem to a large extent is when an outsider tries speaking in the regional language.. it is assumed as a joke and u shower them with praises for it really sounds funny,everyone has a good time and after a while life goes on due to which there’s no effort put to learn,whereas when we start speaking hindi bits&pieces it is viewed as “not knowing the language” (or one who can’t speak hindi at all).In some cases we’re ridiculed…
THE PROBLEM IS WITH OURSELVES…basically !!!! Give it a damn… and move on with what you are good at.
Cheers,
Karthik.
March 10, 2008 at 5:02 pm |
what i don’t understand is…..why is there so much of misunderstanding and confusion regarding the official languages and national languages of our country ??
I felt really embarassed when me, my north-indian friend and an american colleague of mine were in conversation, and I was trying to explain that India had no national language and my friend kept saying that hindi is the national language…….the american was laughing at us…….god.
March 11, 2008 at 5:25 am |
Wonderful!
Deadly.
I really agree with you.
March 11, 2008 at 7:01 am |
This Guy is fucking racist
go and suck white cocks that what
you need pur all 26 english alphabets in your Ass.
Thanks for your hatred. Glad you didn’t insult my intelligence by agreeing with me.
March 11, 2008 at 8:23 am |
Vasanth,
I am different from the person who posted the previous comment.
This is a superb post and blog !
I agree with you completely !
The greatest danger to the unity and integrity of India comes from the attitude of some people who are not aware of the facts about our country !
March 11, 2008 at 8:51 am |
what i don’t understand is…..why is there so much of misunderstanding and confusion regarding the official languages and national languages of our country ??
I felt really embarassed when me, my north-indian friend and an american colleague of mine were in conversation, and I was trying to explain that India had no national language and my friend kept saying that hindi is the national language…….the american was laughing at us…….god.
u can read this blog, it will tell a lot about the language also..
http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-language-problem/
I go through Nita’s blog quite often. It’s a great blog.
March 11, 2008 at 10:46 am |
Vasanth,
Oh,so some uncivilised people have put in an appearance here as well.Only shows their low character to the whole world.
Of course,I meant to say that my comment was different from the previous person named Raj who posted a comment.I have nothing to do with people of low character who post filthy comments !
Yeah, I know that’s what you meant.
March 11, 2008 at 1:11 pm |
Go and leak the ass of white people
So proudly you are saying that you
can reply in english first try to respect
our own languages.Doesnt matter it is
Hindi or other languages and stop shitting on
the blog.This smells awful
This is the same person who earlier commented using the name “Sid”. He’s making it appear as if a lot of people oppose my line of thinking. Shows cheapness and primitivity. Plus some choice words like ‘ass’ and ’shit’. Reflects your lack of breeding.
March 11, 2008 at 3:43 pm |
With this blog the anti-Indian attitude of you people has been reflected. If someone is in non-hindi state it’s ok to learn the local dialect, but why should one learn english. I’m learning french and i’ll answer in French while in pondicherry. Better to use one Indian language(Hindi) as the common language than learning a foreign language despite being ruled by Britain for more than 200 years like dogs.
If Indians want to be treated equally in Europe and USa and other respectful countries then they must use their language(Hindi) as the common language OTHERWISE BETTER CALL BACK THE BRITISH TO RULE YOU PEOPLE.
It is NOT an anti-Indian attitude. This is only against the entity called Hindified India. The India into whose definition one permits an undemocratically higher status to one language and its speakers from North India called Hindi, an India which is stuck up with the task of synthesizing unity by way of Hindification, an India struggling to iron out diversity as opposed to celebrating it.
Just wondering: Are you the same Rohit who cursed Tamil Nadu in an Orkut forum saying you pray every day for the tsunami to come back and wash away TN?
March 11, 2008 at 6:41 pm |
Hindification is at anytime better than Anglification of india .. alas the Maucalay putras wont understand ..
[i]1. Speak Hindi only to other native Hindi-speakers. Speak English to someone whose mother tongue is a regional language.
3. If a Hindi-speaker visiting your home state speaks in Hindi, politely ask him to speak in either English or the state language. Be firm about this.
[/i]
yes … we agree to lick the boots of mighty Britishers than respect the languages of India… Where is Hindi being imposed sire ? is is like Russiafication in Tsarist Russia and USSR.. If Hindi is growing, its just an organic growth not a forced one.. just a matter of convenience… When I pass through Kanchipuram, there is a place where the Signboard for Kanchipuram stands on the NH. The English name is there, the Tamil name is there but the Hindi name is painted with black! Then who is being Jingoist ?
I you treat me badly, why do you expect me to respect you?
Hindification is not better than Anglification. English belongs equally to every part of India. Hindi doesn’t.
Try having Tamil signboards all over India. I can guarantee that they will be blacked out in UP, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan.
March 12, 2008 at 5:35 am |
Yes i am the same person and i agree with Puenendu and Arun
And i think you have lack of breeding cause you are a asshole
why to speak a foriegn language in our country and even though i am a south
indian i can say most of the sounth indians are racist and most of the Indians
they can never unite first they were fighting on the name of religion and
now the languages.The people are jealous cause Hindi is spoken more worldwide now even in UK they have agreed to teach Hindi and bengali in schools.Tamil is 4th language in Singapore. I am not against any langauge
every language is having its own importance but it doesnt mean that we should start speaking foreign language and if you have something in your brains then you can understand that probably 20 percent of Indians can read and write and spesk in english not everyone.Try to use your brain also along with the keyboard
You should not comment on my breeding, considering that you have used the words ‘ass’, ‘asshole’, ‘fucking’ and ’shit’ in your comments. I’m not even going to start addressing your points, because they were made with venom and callowness.
March 12, 2008 at 1:53 pm |
It is pointless why people say it is better to learn Hindi than English. English is required in any field to fetch you jobs as well as manage to stay in many parts of the world. So, obviously one has to learn English, but there is nothing of that sort with Hindi.[ This has nothing to do with bootlicking the Britishers] When we realize English is the link language not only for one country but for the world, we can keep it as a link language in India too. As it is rightly pointed out Why have a smaller door for a smaller dog when you already have a big door for a bigger dog nearby.?
If it be pointed out that we still support the britishers if we learn english, it is equally applicable to hindi learning, due to which we let down each own’s unique identity and be servile to a group of people who dominate due to sheer numbers.
March 12, 2008 at 5:07 pm |
This blog looks quite pointless to me when it comes to suggesting and directing people what to do when you are in hindi or non-hindi speaking state. It says quite easily to learn the local language – If my friend, learning a language was that easy then atleast 50% of the world population would have learnt atleast 50% of the languages that exist or that they come accross.
I agree with you that hindification of India hurts the sentiments of non-hindi speaking states, because its like forcing them to learn something out of their culture. Hindification is killing or going to kill other languages – Dear, where do you get this from? If knowing more than 1 language kills your brain to process the other language that you know then how come you in favour of learning English but against learning Hindi?
What is Language for? Is it not about communication and ease or convenience of it. If you go to China, quite suddenly at a notice of a week probably – would you be prepared to talk to them? Are you sure you will not face problems because you know the global language “English”. If you know the stats – which I am assuming you do, then Chinese is the largest spoken language amongst the full world population – not English, And people in China are very poor English speakers.
The point is when you meet a person and want to communicate with him/her, you use language – if not spoken then sign. You are opposing Hindi as if its not a language but a virus, which will spread to your barricated areas of brain if you use it to communicate. Will it infect you with Hiduism if you use it or is it something else that you are scared of?
You gave an example of Punjabis and marathis using hindi which is leading to the downfall of their language – where did you hear this now? Do you know that Hindi (or Sanskrit) is the base of many languages and the reason Punjabis and Marathis and Gujaratis are conversant in Hindi is because of this very reason. Do you also know that in the world of hindi speaking people and that you mentioned “Bollywood” there are more Punjabi or Marathi words and slangs which are intricate part of spoken Hindi than of any other language? Why so? Why is Tamil not making it into Hindi?
People learn multiple languages and encourage their children to do so, in order for them to interact with more and more and more people but it hurts my soul when I read comments which so proudly advocate the use of only Tamil in Tamil Nadu. I have observed this behaviour in many Tamilians – not to respond or to shove off if asked a question in Hindi even when they very well understood the question and even when they can respond in Hindi, they will prefer to walk on or pose to not have heard. The problem here is the mental block created by politicians in that state against that very language and the people who speak it.
Your blog dear is not in any way promoting – what you call it – “Unity in Diversity” – but instead it is showing your this sense of hatred created for Hindi.”If an Indian speaks to you in Hindi and you understand, reply in English.” – This statement in your blog is proof enough of your hatred towards Hindi. Doesn’t it direct people to neglect this language explicitly even if you know and understand it and can reply back in it? Doesn’t it depict hatred against hindi speaking people – to teach them a lesson when they try to speak to you in Hindi? Why? Why to hate one language more than the other? Why love and respect english but not a language part of your own nation? Is it because Hindi was chosen to be the national language against the will of SOuth Indian politicians who then started advocating the usage of only their local dialect and boycott “Hindi”?
Languages were created within small communities at their own discretion – of what they all commonly accepted and understood, later these communities grew and expanded and the language expanded with them. The problems started arising when people started migrating and they realised that not every one uses the same convention. At that point people realised that may be learning the other dialect or using signs are the best options at hand. Indian government realised this same kind of need and proposed Hindi to be that one common language which can bind all communities and states. They evaluated their options – the statistics said (Please refer to link for stats “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:South_Asian_Language_Families.jpg”) – Indo-Aryan Languages occupied over 60% of Indian subconitinent and less than 40 were covered by Dravidian languages – which included Tamil, telugu, kanada, and malyalam. The decision was simple – the base for Indo-Aryan languages was Hindi and hence it was to be choosen the one language which will help communicate people when they travel or diversify. Now is this simple stat so difficult for you to practicalise? Is it so wrong of government to choose Hindi as the national language? And my freind please do refer to your history book if you debate on whether or not Hindi is the national language of our country!
If not Hindi, then which Indian language do you propose should be nationalized? Tamil – spoken in one state, Telugu – spoken in one state, Kanada -spoken in one state, or malyalam – one state and one uinon territory?? Nationalization does not mean supersiding or dividing other languages it simply means creating standards.
Why are we Indians so against following standards laid by someone other than either our own local community leaders or white foreigners? We can follow standards laid by foreigners because they are white and hence always right! But we are totally against them when our Tamil/Telugu/Kanada leaders tell us that they are wrong standards because they were laid down by some stupid north-indian who wants to rule us by making my people learn his language – so he can directly convince them. Now the last part ofcourse is the hidden truth not outspoken reality by the politician.
Anyways…The point here is – I don’t see a problem with Hindification (as you call it) of India. Learning another language or more languages never hurts anybody – it just enables you more and makes you more capable of learning other things – whether people, culture or anything else. Learning more languages also does not make you respect your own mother tongue less or makes you forget it. Its just an individual’s choice which language he starts enjoying more or is more fluent with – nobody not even your parents can force it on you. Eventually you keep taht with yourself what you wanna keep. If you learned hindi in school days – because government forced it on you, it did not make you forget Tamil and if you would have chosen to keep that skill set with you just like you so dearly keep English or French as souvenirs and mention them in your resume, you would not have written this blog!
Now the thing about ridiculing people when they don’t know Hindi – that’s something I don’t appreciate by north indians if they do it and when they do it – but think of it this way – its those illiterate or unaware humans who ridicule others – who themselves have no idea that Hindi is not the only language in India. Now, this may be also the side effect of Hindi being the national language that people around the world expect that all Indians know this language atleast and that’s why the literate individuals who don’t know Hindi are ridiculed – “You are literate, you went to school and still you don’t know Hindi, I thought Indian Government set it as a national standard?” – might be one of the ridiculing argument but I think people can handle it. Those who did not learn it at school because of a mental block created by society around them will find it difficult to handle such a remark but other than those everyone else will pretty much have a reason of not knowing Hindi!
That might be one of the side effect of nationalizing Hindi but other that I don’t see it as a catastrophe.
Are you building bridges or walls – Please rethink and re-evaluate your post. May be you just reflect the ideas of some other influential politician around you!
Nidhi, you have spewed out a catalog of fallacies. Let me debunk them one by one.
You said learning Hindi will not affect our ability to learn other languages. I agree. BUT, if the whole of Andhra Pradesh learns Hindi, there’s no longer any incentive to learn Telugu while in Andhra Pradesh. Everyone will start communicating in Hindi to everyone else. Due to the lack of incentive in learning Telugu, fewer people will learn it, there will be less literature being written in Telugu, and in a few generations time, Telugu will become extinct. The same applies for every language.
>>You gave an example of Punjabis and marathis using hindi which is leading to the downfall of their language – where did you hear this now?
I heard this from Punjabis and Marathis themselves
>>Why is Tamil not making it into Hindi?
Why should it?
>>The problem here is the mental block created by politicians in that state against that very language and the people who speak it.
Tamilians pay very little attention to politicians. E.g. although most politicians in TN are atheist, Tamils are one of the most pious people. Similarly, our stand of opposing Hindi imposition is not because of politicians. I’ve lived outside India most of my life and had very little contact with TN politicians, but I still oppose Hindi imposition.
>>If not Hindi, then which Indian language do you propose should be nationalized?
None. Why should any language be nationalized?
>>I don’t see a problem with Hindification (as you call it) of India.
You may not see a problem. You don’t have to. As long as the majority of my readers see the problem, that suits me fine.
>>If you learned hindi in school days – because government forced it on you, it did not make you forget Tamil and if you would have chosen to keep that skill set with you just like you so dearly keep English or French as souvenirs and mention them in your resume, you would not have written this blog!
Omg, I feel like rolling over in laughter when I read this. You simply assume I’ve not learnt Hindi in school. I’ve indeed learnt Hindi, and I mention it in my resume, along with five other languages. Learning a language is one thing, accepting its domination is another. I’ve done the former, but I’ll never do the latter.
>>That might be one of the side effect of nationalizing Hindi but other that I don’t see it as a catastrophe
I’ve given four reasons why Hindification is a problem. You haven’t convincingly rebutted any of them.
>>May be you just reflect the ideas of some other influential politician around you!
There are no Indian politicians around me. I’ve lived most of my life outside India.
In short, you’ve not understood what I’ve written, but you’ve decided to disagree with me. Your points range from naive to laughable.
March 12, 2008 at 5:41 pm |
Dear Vasant,
I have to congratulate you on extremely well-written, thoughtful and analytically rich posts. You seem to reach out and feel the pulse of the simmering hatred and resentment that has spread throughout India and is causing the so-called “regional divide”.
A related comment about the same, which I felt pointedly in the whole Raj Thackeray fiasco. Along with the north Indian imperialism in politics, language and movies, another arena which is dominated and abused by the Hindi chauvinists is media. Look at all the 24 hour news channels like Aaj Tak, babbling inanities like, “Jabalpur mein rang badal raha hai baccha” [Trans: Kid changes color in Jabalpur]. Look at all the Hindi or Hindi-speaking population dominated newspapers that manage to reach a lot of readers in non-Hindi speaking states. Their stance, their focus portrays any affiliation to a regional identity as divisive and anti-patriotic. This onslaught of the media on unsuspecting minds has to stop! Your blog comments and readers’ comments here goes a long way helping Maharashtrian people from feeling alienated and projected as evil crusaders in their own state and country. Once again, good job.
Thanks! I’m flattered that you say I’m able to reach out and feel the pulse, because I’ve lived most of my life outside India. I agree with you that the media is also dominated by Hindi chauvinists. As you rightly said, they believe any affiliation to a regional identity is divisive and unpatriotic. During the Maharashtra ruckus, I was saddened that nobody in the English-language media gave the other side of the story. I’ve made a post on it here.
March 13, 2008 at 5:45 am |
I am an Odiya. I feel it is a must for me to do conversation with other Odiyas in Odiya. What if someone who comes across me who does not know Odiya? Will I expect him to learn Odiya? Or we will talk in the language we both understand? Ofcourse it is the common language that we both understand, and most often it is Hindi. So there is no point in talking about avoiding Hindi. In India percentage wise you will find maximum number of people speak Hindi. Almost entire north India speaks Hindi as it is their mother tongue and most of Indians understand it and can do conversation in Hindi. One should not feel insecure due to hindi. Local language has its own importance and no one can ignore his mother tongue. But at the same time we must understand to strengthen unity in diversity attribute of India there should be a common language that everyone can understand. And that is hindi. All other languages are spoken inside their respective states but Hindi is spoken across different states.
There are logical flaws in what you say. You say the common language we both understand is most often Hindi. I must disagree with you on this. The common language we understand is most often English, not Hindi. Go to the South, Bengal and Northeast if you want evidence of this.
If you are educated enough to come to the internet, read a blog and post a comment, I’d suppose you know English, and the other Indians in your circle would also know English. So why the need for Hindi to communicate? Why not English? Why the elevated status for Hindi?
You said there should be a common language in order to strengthen unity in diversity. You don’t seem to know what is unity in diversity. For your kind information, unity in diversity can only be achieved if each language has equal status, not if one language has an undemocratically higher status.
March 13, 2008 at 8:18 am |
Hi Vasanth,
I appreciate your english language skills seems that you have raised in singapore and you are tamilian for sure.But unfortunately i dont agree with any of your points here .
I dont want to talk about any language
here for me every language has equal importance but nobody is imposing
there culture and language on anybody.I live in Northen europe but i am not raised here i just moved here 2 years back to work and i feel happy with this people they never asked me or told me to speak there mother tongue till now.
And they try to communicate with in english cause english is the business language for me and i hope it is for everybody in India its not my mother tongue and why should in India we should speak english and if we can understand the other language and if we know why not to reply
in the same language.
This shows that you are racist and egoistic from inside even though you know you dont want to tell beacuse you feel that if i speak your language then i am showing that my language and culture is better and i dont think by culture and language thing you feel proud. Indians are so much racist everyone knows this thing but when we say this to our people then are angry cause nobody wants to hear the truth and about south indians they are very racist i have lot of bad experience here with south indian people.
They will not talk here to the people of same races but they will love to leak the ass of white people cause they want to live here and they feel ashamed to say that HINDI is the national language of india because they cannot speak it why to feel ashamed if you cannot speak. In India its not compulsary to speak hindi. If a south indian goes to north india he dont speak hindi cause he dont know the langauge and if a North Indian goes to South he cannot speak Tamil or telgu or kannada reason is the same.I thought Indian people have same culture but here people are talking My culture what the hell is my culture?.
Without fire there is no smoke you ignited the fire and kudos to you
for doing such a good piece of work by writing this blog to divide Indians
on the basis of languages. As for me Languages are just for communication not for spreading hatred in between people.
I would like to know how many languages you speak and i need the anwser for this question and which part of India you belongs too?
Oh my goodness, Siddharth, you’ve vomited out enough bile to digest a herd of elephants. You wrote with very little logic, very little reasoning ability, and your sentences had 3148 words each. I’m not even going to qualify this verbal diarrhoea with a reply. I allowed this comment just to show the level of reasoning some people have.
BY THE WAY, THIS IS THE EXACT SAME PERSON WHO EARLIER COMMENTED UNDER THE NAMES OF SID AND SANDY. THIS TIME HE POSTED THIS COMMENT FROM A DIFFERENT EMAIL ACCOUNT. BUT THE SAME SPELLING MISTAKES WERE MADE IN ALL THESE POSTS. THAT’S A DEAD GIVEAWAY.
March 13, 2008 at 8:41 am |
I am not a english speaker and i am not good in english i agree with that
i dont feel ashamed to say that and i want that people should read whatever
i have written. Doesnt matter about my english if people understands thats enough for me.
And why you dont want to reply to me and dont delete my posts that will definately going to shpw your hatred for Hindi language yendarascalas- what rascals this is what is written in your link for this blog and you never replied to anyone that they should agree with you because you dont want to agree with them them and if you do then you are Zero but you want to be hero heheh
Oh dear, this is hilarious! I don’t even understand what you’re saying. Especially the second paragraph. It’s a classic!
March 13, 2008 at 8:56 am |
You will not understand it because you are a big asshole
Angrez ki naazayaz aulad heh tu- that is in Hindi you will not understand that
Angrez chi naazayaz mugal aaheh tu- that was in marathi you will even dont understand that.
ni vellakaran mahan – This is in tamil this also you will not understand.
Angrez di naazayaz aulad hoh tusi- that was in punjabi diffcult for you to understand.
You are son of a Bitch- This you will definatley understand
and if you want i can write many different languages spoked around the word and in India also
This shows what sort of person you are. Stop polluting the cyberworld and get a life.
March 13, 2008 at 9:54 am |
And that you have wrote here
hat shows what kind or person you are
Fucking racist why dont you tell all of us
from which part of India you belong to and how
many languages you speak.
Alright. I’m from Tamil Nadu. I speak English, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Chinese, Malay and Indonesian. I can partially understand Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu. Not bad, eh?
Now that I’ve answered your burning question, stop polluting this blog.
March 13, 2008 at 10:22 am |
What If person don’t know English ? I think 70% population of India donot speak , write or understand English ….. So first and Foremost come back to India and live with indians .. understand them rather than making some assumptions from outside world…. Then I think u will try make indian unit rather than divide them … There are always better way to everything ….
You mean 70% of the population of India speaks, writes and understands Hindi?
March 13, 2008 at 10:58 am |
Hey Vasanth,
I dont know if hindification will happen at any point of time. But the efforts on hindification will definitely have its ill-effects and a big barrier to building national integrity.
As far as impostion of hindi is concerned its a totally needless thing.Totally baseless idea.
As far as i know ppl come up with reasons like ‘the national language’ – Riduculous..Then is cricket the national game..why have those ppl not come up with promoting ‘hockey’ .
All that has been said is the ridiculousness of this hindification concept..
Atleast your blog will let everyone know that its a bad thing to impose something just for its sake, against a nation which in integrated with its diversity.
Cheers on your efforts man. Very good job by you…
FOR READERS, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO HATRED ON THE LANGUAGE IN THE MIND OF THE AUTHOR .Although its left to ur choice to decide it
Thanks Calitz. I knew this is the kind of blog people would either love or hate. You belong to the 80% who love it. Your compliments vindicate my intentions of writing this blog.
I know there’s no hatred on Hindi in my mind, and thanks for making it even more clear to the other readers. There’s basically just ONE person here who is accusing me of racism and hatred. He peppers his comments with multiple profanities, indicating a lack of breeding.
March 13, 2008 at 12:45 pm |
hey ppl..great thoughts..
-we are not a hindi speaking nation
-we are great ppl in that we readily accept a foreign language like english to be the lingua franca but do not accept hindi…
is that what u ppl try to preach…accept others language but come out on the roads to protest every time it cmes to accepting our very own national language…
-what else do u ppl suggest next..india is not a single country…tamilnadu is a country in itself,cutoff from rest of india…is it cmin nxt?
give me a break guys …i mean am from orissa and am very proud of my mother tongue…but that did not stop me from learning telugu and tamil…ofcourse hindi is smething that u donot go out and learn ,u pick it up alongwith ur mothertongue….then in the list cmes this foreign language english that u a are so proud to claim as ur own….why do u go about separating india into sections…i love amitabh movies,but that doesntstopme from whistling whenever thalaivar says andava solra,arunachalam munikira…or when chiru dances on screen….why do we need to argueoverthis….but all said and done even if u dont learn hindi…atleast give it the damn respect that u ppl more than willingly give to english…
March 13, 2008 at 1:10 pm |
Listen dude like many people dont understand Hindi, many people too dont understand english. In India even if people in some parts dont like hindi still they do understand hindi. Speaking in Hindi does not make other languages inferior. Regarding unity in diversity you did not consider the word strengthen. Unity in diversity is there. But a common language will be a supplimentary tool that will help in improving it, also people can understand each other better. Regarding use of English instead of Hindi, while talking with an Indian who knows both language, I will prefer to use Hindi unless the communication is an official communication. Again you skipped my last line, use of Hindi is spans accross many states and people of all other states know that language, where as all other languages are confined to the states where they are spoken.
>>Speaking in Hindi does not make other languages inferior.
But it makes other languages unimportant.
>>a common language will be a supplimentary tool that will help in improving it
I don’t think so. The successful Bangladeshi separatism, the ongoing Baluchistan separatism, the now-defunct Sikh separatism and the ongoing Sri Lankan Tamil separatism were all caused by attempts to impose a common language.
>>use of Hindi is spans accross many states and people of all other states know that language, where as all other languages are confined to the states where they are spoken
That doesn’t justify giving Hindi an undemocratically higher status.
March 13, 2008 at 1:55 pm |
NO I’M NOT THAT PERSON WHO WISHED FOR ANOTHER TSUNAMI.
Some people are advocating English, but if we go by the conclusion of the person who writes Hindi will eat up Telugu, then don’t you think that one day English will eat up all the Indian languages. Southies support English just to oppose Hindi. This is ridiculous. Will they(Americans, Britishers) treat you equally if you support their language. And this is a myth that English is a global language. You will under any circumstance have to to learn French if you want to live in France. Same for Germany, Japan, Korea, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Quebec(Canada).
>>but if we go by the conclusion of the person who writes Hindi will eat up Telugu, then don’t you think that one day English will eat up all the Indian languages
Glad you asked this question. It gives me an opportunity to explain. Enlgish has entirely different qualities from any Indian language. It has only 26 letters which are used in infinite permutations and combinations. This makes it very different from Indian languages. There’s no way English can replace Telugu or Bengali, because the way sentences are formed, the way analogies are drawn, everything is different. But Hindi’s sentence structures are similar to other Indian languages (even South Indian languages). As for Hindi and other North Indian languages, even the vocabulary is similar, so they are even more under threat.
March 13, 2008 at 6:13 pm |
I just want to ask one thing. Why do people fight over which language to speak in ? After all languages are just a mean of communication. As long as the ideas are conveyed effectively it doesnt matter whether you speak Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi. Punjabi, French, German or Chinese or whichever is your mother tongue. And have you ever thought that there are other languages too to communicate like Sign Language
why not use one of them to communicate (although each language has its own restrictions which prevents a single language from becoming a common medium of communication)? By the way I love all languages. Why not try to speak whatever language the other person is comfortable in 
. It isnt necessary to communicate entirely in one language. Most of the people today use a medley of langauges with words from other languages. Take for example: Hinglish 
. My language for instance is peppered with words from Telugu and Japanese (me being an avid fan of Telugu movies and Japanes anime). Language is simple an end to the means of conveying ur feelings and thoughts. Lets not argue over it 
The problem arises only when one language is IMPOSED. Imposition of a language has caused tensions and even separatist movements in Spain, Yugoslavia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Imposition is naturally detested. It’s the principle of “Your freedom ends where my nose begins”.
March 14, 2008 at 6:05 am |
I was knowing that you are from Tamil nadu
fucking racist people.Your people had spoiled the name and reputations of Indians all around the world now i am going to write about many tamil and telugu people i have met in europe and in India.
1) Most of them are having ego problem.
.
ooouuu so smelly all the time.
Will never accepts any other suggestions and opinions like what you are doing now 
.
2) They prefer to speak English and even when they understand they dont want to speak any other language but they will definately speak english reason for that is they love to leak ass of english men and love to suck there dicks cause they want the citizenship.
3) Very very jealous people i have ever met they are jealous of everything .
4) Most of them are fucking racist.
5) They never help there own people also
6) Will never appreciate anyone for there good work.
7) Live like pigs
What the Nation can expect from such kind of peoples
.
Wow, wow, wow! This is an amazing opportunity to document all the venom you have. I’m not going to remove this.
This is not the only place in the cyberworld where atrocious things are said about South Indians. Seriously wondering, is there a mafia of you guys working together to abuse South Indians in the cyberworld?
Now that we all know the material you are made of, we don’t need any more demonstrations. THIS IS THE LAST COMMENT OF YOURS I’LL PUBLISH HERE. Adios, Arrivederci, Sayonara!
March 14, 2008 at 7:02 am |
Siddharth what the hell do you mean by “leak” ass of english men????
March 14, 2008 at 1:20 pm |
hehe..(rolling on the floor laughing )
March 14, 2008 at 4:43 pm |
Vanakam,
Tamizahrgala Naam ovuram ennaidu tamzahi vazahvaipoom
Translation please. Most of our readers don’t understand Tamil.
Alright, this time I’ll help you translate:
“We Tamils must unite and make Tamil live”
I need to disagree with you on this. This is not a Tamil vs Hindi thing. Pls don’t promote the misconception that it’s a Tamil vs Hindi thing. This is about preserving ALL regional languages in the face of consistent Hindification.
March 15, 2008 at 3:59 pm |
Japanese language has about 3,000 different characters, and one needs to learn all these to be fluent in the language, I mean it’s the second most toughest language in the world after Chinese. Same for Korean. But tamils can’t survive in Japan, China,and Korea without learning their language and with knowledge of English only.
It doesn’t matter that how many characters are there in a language. What matters is the level of nationalism in the people. Japan never came under foreign rule despite being about 1/10th in size of the present day India. But tamils and Indians are under foreign rule from the last 1,000 years. From the Moughals to the Persians to the Turks to the French to the Portuguese to the British and noe the Americans.
You tamils must keep in mind that the British ruled you not the north Indians.
And those who are saying all languages are means of communication must go to France like countries and tell this to them and they will tell you. And even if all languages are the same then why do you Indians take pride in speaking English, north and south both.
March 15, 2008 at 4:24 pm |
Indian hockey team is now out of race and they won’t play in the Beijing Olympics. And one by one each and every sport will die in India because of unfair attention toward cricket. As this idiotic game has eaten up all other sports in India, similarly English will also eat up all the Indian languages.
The game of cricket and the English language both originated in Britain and Indians have passion for both of them.
Ban cricket save other sports. Ban english save Indian languages(Hindi). But mindless tamils will never learn anything from history. They just have to oppose Hindi and they will go to any extent to do this.
cricket has eaten up other sports, but have you ever heard that Kushti or kho-kho have eaten up bull fighting of tamil nadu, or navratri has eaten up onam. No.
Similarly Hindi is not a threat but a complemntary language.
Hockey is India’s national sport and Hindi is India’s national language(de facto). Both are at the verge of extinction.
Sometimes don’t you people think that anything which has got national status in India is neglected poorly.
Please change your attitude and the world will change it’s, the way they look at India and Indians.
>>Hockey is India’s national sport and Hindi is India’s national language(de facto). Both are at the verge of extinction.
Did you REALLY say Hindi is on the verge of extinction?????????
March 15, 2008 at 9:36 pm |
Nice article.. although I do not fully agree with it.
Hindification is dangerous, in fact any right wing centrist policy does not work in Multicultural India. I would like to add another point. After living in the US and traveling to different countries I have realized that Indians and Europeans are smart and more capable of adapting because we respect and appreciate multiculturalism and we are multilingual, while Americans /Chinese etc are “stupid” and monolingual. My apologies for using the work stupid .. but I will call a quantum physicist “stupid” if he does not know who Gandhi was or that Israel is not in Europe
Having said that I believe that ALL Indians MUST at least understand and speak basic Hindi. I feel stupid when I have to communicate with my south Indian roommate in a strange mixture of Tamil and Spanish. Also, I will never use English with somebody from say MP, or Maharshtra who is struggles in English but more fluent in Hindi.
I absolutely agree with the need for learning local language. I take pride in the fact that I speak better Telugu or Kannada than many ppl living in those states for generations.
Let language be a matter of personal choice and comfort level .. let it be a symbol of our diversity . and lets not IMPOSE ANY language.. be it Hindi, English or Tamil.
March 15, 2008 at 9:50 pm |
No way to edit posts..so corrections
** I have to speak Tamil+spanish when I don’t want Americans to understand our conversation (My roommate is Malayalee with zero knowledge of Hindi)
** Hindi may not be as developed a language as , say English or Bengali, but it is a “convenient” language , some times I am able to express myself better in Hindi, because I can do a direct word to word translation from my language Assamese to Hindi , a convenience that a foreign language can never give.
March 16, 2008 at 2:46 pm |
Wonderfull thoughts reflecting a good Tamilian……obviously a good indian too respecting the diverse nature of India……
I have observed your very cultured postings at orkut…….it’s realy good to have people like you with the right spirit in the TAMIL COMMUNITY.
Thanks for your compliments. I do try to be a good Tamilian and good Indian to the best of my abilities.
March 17, 2008 at 12:02 am |
Hi
The article was just too good But the only point is that why would ask people to talk a foreigh language (english) rather than our own national language.I dont erally emphasise on learning hindi but do u feel its is ok to talk a forigh language leaving our own languages.I accept we cannot expect a north indian to talk trtamil when he is in tamilnadu but that is why thers a natoinal language and i dont really understand wht would be the probelm when talking in hindi.
Ms Nita Kulkarni has answered your question here. She says, “When we replace our mother tongue with Hindi we don’t feel guilty, as Hindi is also an Indian language. The minute English starts to replace our mother tongue we feel guilty and try hard to learn our mother tongue. Hindi will slowly destroy all Indian languages, but never English. English will always be considered a foreign language and everyone who speaks English will try hard to know his mother tongue.”
March 17, 2008 at 8:53 am |
Hi. stumbled onto this blog through a friend’s reference. I agree with you on all your points, but i still feel there are certain discrepancies (which’ve probably already been discussed in the above comments). Nonetheless, let me put them across,
A. your blog does tend to heighten ENGLISHFICATION (which probably may result in its own share of ‘debates’).
B. Probably you could highlight more about how Hindi was chosen as our national language. You could also give out some stats to prove that indeed the number of Hindi-speakers in India is very less. This might help convince us skeptics.
C. I love learning new languages (inspired by my friend, who was the one who showed me this blog). So am all for learning the regional language, but if Hindi helps me along the way, I shall not hesitate to use it (btw, my mother tongue is Tamil).
D. I lived in both Mumbai and Pune, and I’m yet to come across children/adults saying that they no longer need to learn Marathi because they’ve Hindi to communicate with.
End word: We should work on people’s mindset to appreciate their culture, language and help them to learn more languages and be tolerant towards all castes, languages, religions etc.
this is not possible by crusading against one language (i.e. Hindi here)…
Good Luck,
Reshmi
March 20, 2008 at 8:06 pm |
I like this topic and is allways at the back of my mind. I have another questions (applogies to any specific communities). My experience tels me that in certain place of our country when a question is asked in Hindi I get a reply in ENGLISH “I dont understand your language”, boy if you dont like HINDI then why are you liking English. The influence of English (because of the obvious commecial usage) is to such an extent that we are ready to kick on our own native languge to adopt it. I dont think so this makes sense.
As a diversified country we need to come to a common agreement for a common language…which needs to be….Sankrit.
1. Oldest language.
2. Scientifically proven to be phonetically unique
3. Computer friendly.
4. Mother of all languages.
March 21, 2008 at 4:41 pm |
Hi
I could see this is very valid reasoning about right of speaking languages in India. For me major concerns i could see in my professional & personal life as described below…i hope this is the same with many of the non-hindi speaking people.
1. When I speak in my mother tongue with a colleague of my same language in front of some hindi speaking people, i could hear laughing/criticize on our speech, pronunciation which we never did with hindi originated people. By godbless, this is not the case if we talk same way infront of foreigners or south indian ethnics. Unfortunately at very minimum at level of criticism i could find from Punjabi / north east people too but I guess this is due the impact from Hindi origins on these communities.
2. If my boss is hindi originated, I am screwed if I talk with my family in phone in my language…But I have not seen any non-hindi boss treating like this with hindi originated people if they speak in their language with their famililes.
3. I keep travelling through out world alot, and I could see, every country is composed of different ethnics each speaks their own language, but no where they have criticism on our language what we speak. on top of that, i have seen them respecting us and helping us in communicating to other in those regions comfortably with in their scope.
4. I dont deny the fact that, we lost our freedom during british, french, dutch whoever came to invade us long time back. But we can see since few decades in history, it never caused in impose/impact in usage of local language and its importance with in its region. Ofcourse, people chosen to learn english/french/dutch to enable them to be strong in administrative wings of those invaders. But, now, I never find any problem in using my language at office in front of british/norwagian/french/russian on top of that i use to feel happy when they wish me in the morning in my mother tongue language which the learnt from me. This I couldnt find any of our Indian originated people.
5. I strongly feel that, language is some thing like birth mark same as our race ‘Indians’ which descriminates us from other races like east-asians, arabs, whites/europeans & blacks/africans basically in identity of the person. If a african wants to introduce me to a white/european person, then he will surely use my identify as Indian in addition to my name. So, similarly, Language should be considered as one of the major identify of a person.
6. Speaking more than one language is not obviously a crime, but however we need to understand why we learn other language. I know two of my friends, one knows german & hindi in addition to my mother tongue. and other knows german & hindi (is is his mother tongue). As usual, they dont speak in german event though both of them know german. they stick to hindi only which is very unfortunate situation.
7. I hope, Indian doesnt mean that hindi speaking national. So, why should it be required to be imposed to learn as compulsory. If a hindi person wants to settle in South India, fairly he doesnt need to learn local language. Still he can survive by speaking english. But, for a non-hindi person wants to settle in Northern part of india, without knowledge of hindi, most of the times, it is proven nightmare for them. So, they will be forced to learn hindi to survive their living status in that region. I am afraid to say, most of my relatives settled in bihar, are no more speaks my mother tongues. But same time spent by few of UP originated friends in my native place in south india, surviving since 30 years without speaking local language.
Like above incidents or reasonings I can provide many examples but of no use if one doesnt understand the significance of their own language and other languages too.
Lets hope for the best.
if anybody wants to share more write me to ‘tg25cg@yahoo.co.in’
TG
March 21, 2008 at 5:27 pm |
This opinion for Ranjit specially,
My dear friend ranjit, You said, sanskrit to be the common language, let us have a small review on it what u said
Sanskrit is not merely the mother of all languages, as it is just an opinion or historical hypothesis of few people. On the other hand, hebrew is one of the oldest language as sanskrit. Let us come to Indian languages, Tamil is also one of the oldest language merely older than sanskrit. and the language Tamil literature derived from almost 1600 dravidian tribal languages and unified in to complete language which undergone in to very long term transformation through thousands of years and became tamil currently used. Some People say that, telugu, malayalam, kannada are born from Tamil, but this is some thing like egg is before or chick before? The truth is all southindian literatures derived similarly from various dravidian tribal groups languages. Unfortunately, you can no more see these tribal languages in exist as they vanished due to unifying process of the languages.
Now, if we consider Sanskrit in full, I agree it is one of the most unified language like tamil, and it is derived from ethnic/tribal groups from North-East part of India(Mangolia, North China & Current Afghani landscapes) where Aryans are originated. Before, sanskrit came in to exist, already sindhi exist in northern india, so we should say sindhi is older than sanskrit. What people know about sanskrit is very unfortunate information which is derived from non-indians. for example letus consider what you wrote above in your opinion
1. Oldest language.(Germans believe that, as an Indian why should I worry about the age of my language, if i really takes care of it currently)
2. Scientifically proven to be phonetically unique (Germans theosis, for which they declared patented in germany it self, this is some thing like, declaring our property registering on others name)
3. Computer friendly.(This also germans belief, but till today no computer language written in sanskrit, indeed most powerful programs(high sensitive analysis related programs) written in japanese language than english)
4. Mother of all languages. (I guess, i have already answered this, so consider this no more mother)
But, what a south indian have a belief on sanskrit about their religious rituals that is as Daiva Bhasha (God’s Language), this is due to
1. Most of the spiritually enlightened people who was speaking sanskrit effected southindian community for ritual followings where, they are treated as similar as gods.
2. Most of the religious teachings for Hinduism (which is unified form of multiple disciplines/methods of beliefs with in Indian origin) are taught in Sanskrit, as these so called gods couldnt speak in any other language except sanskrit. So, obviously, followers forced to learn sanskrit as a religious requirement.
Despite of whatever reason, people in all parts of india accepted sanskrit form of language to hold their religious uniformity as hindu. But, same time, they never disgraded their mothertongue eventhough they accepted religious language is sanskrit. In clear, they respected sanskrit as their highness, but, sanskrit speaking religious leaders never gave any historical respect to the local languages/ethnics, because for them they thought, it is not necessary.
So, Ranjit, now your are clear with our indian history of languages upto some extent.
March 22, 2008 at 8:13 am |
One of the minor aspect of the problem is the so called “cultural” differences between people from different parts of India. People who say that India is an entity (and not a nation) composed of various “different” cultures, are either naive, that is they do not know what they are speaking, or are dangerous traitors who pose a threat to our unified national existence. INDIA IS ONE NATION, ONE RACE OND ONE CULTURE. IT HAS BEEN SO ETERNALLY AND WILL REMAIN SO FOR ETERNITY.
What appear to be “different cultures” are in fact branches, which spring from a common monolithic central core. India is like a huge, old banyan tree, whose branches have grown so much that they appear to be independent trees. We are so very ancient as a civilization and nation that the branches have grown far and wide, but still are one and the same tree.
These are minor differences which can never cause a problem on their own, but can increase the intensity of a conflict when there is one. The problem is not Hindi vs. Marathi, (any Indian language cannot be pitted against any other Indian language, for that matter) but it may complicate an already existing problem. If there is discontent over migration, where the language of migrants tends to replace the local language, it adds fuel to fire.
I would like to compare the following situations with respect of language conflict along with the current situation in Maharashtra.
1) Anti Hindi riots in Assam (instigated by ULFA).
2) Anti Hindi agitation in Tamilnadu (As a part of Dravidian movement).
These two situations essentially had a separatist and hence anti-national agenda. ULFA is a terrorist organization which demands separation of Assam from India. The Dravidian Movement was formed to counter the hypothetical Aryan aggression on behalf of a hypothetical Dravidian race. These two situations utilized the perceived threat of Hindi to the local language and forwarded their anti national agenda.
In Maharashtra, the situation is totally different. Due to linguistic closeness of Hindi and Marathi, and Hindi knowing population being the superset of Marathi speaking population (Since practically every Marathi speaking person can at least understand Hindi, which may not be the case in Assam or Tamilnadu ) Hindi is fast replacing Marathi as the default language in public arena, in major cities of Maharashtra. People living in cities such Pune, Mumbai cannot dispute this fact. Everyone loves her/his mother tongue, and hence Marathi speaking populace is pained to see their language retreating in its own land.
The problem is the perception that Hindi being the “national language” should enjoy precedence over any other language. Every language in India recognized by the constitution is a national language (or “Official language” to use the precise term from the constitution) and there is no reason why any language should enjoy precedence over others. Moreover, numerical superiority should never be the reason for such precedence.
Rather one should consider every language in India as one’s own language and try to learn it, which again depends on the region one lives in. This is what principles of nationalism dictate. If I visit Tamilnadu and have to live there for a while, I should use that opportunity to learn Tamil as it is my own language. Hindi should definitely be preferred as a medium of communication between people having different mother tongues, since it is our own language, instead of English. But in Maharashtra, I see no reason, why people should talk in Hindi in general.
March 22, 2008 at 8:25 am |
Tamil and Sanskrit are like two pillars over which the huge mansion of Indian culture stands. Every Indian should be proud of our great heritage of the Vedas and Thirukkurral.
Pitting Tamil against Sanskrit is an anti national and divisive act.
And Hindi is not the sole inheritor of Sanskrit. Marathi is better suited. Marathi has been better protected from corruption from foreign languages like Persian and Arabic. It has a history of more than 2000 years as a dominant prakrit.
After Pali and ardhamagadhi, Marathi is the purest offspring of Sanskrit.
And in case of dravidian languages, kannada occupies the space that Marathi occupies in Prakrits.
There is no scope of oneupmanship in case of Sanskrit and Tamil .Both are part of our common heritage, ancient languages whose roots go deep in our soils and times.
And there has been deep interaction between them. Not only the contemporary tamil has many Sanskrit words,but there are many Dravidian words in the RigVeda itself!!
March 22, 2008 at 8:51 am |
I think that we should prefer hindi as a medium of interaction between two people without a common mother tongue. Practically speaking, it is better suited only for the sake of convinience. And hindi is our own language, as against english, which is a foriegn language. But it should only serve that purpose, and that too only on national level. This should be done only as a matter of convinience, since hindi speakers are numerically more.
This would have been the case, but for the arrogance of the hindi zealots the migrants from hindi speaking states, who showed utter contempt to the regional languages. They refuse to learn other languages and expect others to adopt hindi. This is sheer arrogance. They glorify the “Rashtra Bhasha”, and conviniently forget, or are ignorant, that every Indian language is a Rashtra Bhasha.
The best example of hindi arrogance is the proposal that hindi replace marathi as the official language of the Mumbai municipal corporation. That proposal was thankfully defeated.
In states who have an official language different from hindi, the regional language should enjoy complete preference. There is a need to stress that every language is equal according to the constitution.
Why do hindi speaking people refuse to learn the language of the state they go to? In Maharashtra, they say that there is no need.
Is it really that one cannot learn the language of the land where they live.
Is it inablility? No, not at all. It is arrogance.
I offered help for learning marathi to some of my friends from uttar pradesh and bihar living in mumbai, but they flatly declined. That was out of sheer arrogance. If someone wants to talk with me let him use hindi, it was that sort of an attitude.
They have a superiority complex, that my language is the “national language”.
Maharashtrians share some blame in disgracing their own mother tongue. I have seen two marathi people, speaking in hindi, and they both know that the other person is a marathi speaking person!!! This generally takes place at colleges and offices, especially tech companies, where the person who speaks in marathi is considered to be backward, a rustic,boorish churl. I suppose even people in bangalore would have seen similar treatment being meted out to kannada.
I think there should languages academies opened in every state, which would teach the local language to any migrant coming to that state. This would help create a large population well versed in many Indian languages.
After all if one wishes, one can learn all indian languages very well. There are many people who have done this. After all every language is our own language and we should feel affinity towards every indian language.
March 23, 2008 at 11:37 am |
Dear Mr. Vasanth,
I agree with you totally. I would like to add one thing to your staements well put. I read a few people defending the national language saying English is a foreign language and so INDIANS should kick English out of this country. They are also questioning the suggession “Please do speak in English to those who don’t speak Hindi”.
Reason 1: Sanskrit and Urdu are the parent languages of almost all the languages in north and central India. So they are related to each oother. The sounds are similar, scripts are also related. But it is not the same with the languages of the south. Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam are related to Tamil, which has it’s own identity and not at all related to sanskrit and Urdu. So it is easier for the south indians to learn the languages of south than any other language of north and central India. But a person from Oriya or Marathi origin can learn Hindi easily, because they are somewhat related to Hindi. It will be difficult for these people to south Indian languages. If they have difficulty in understanding or learning south Indian languages, how can they expect the people of south or north-east to learn hindi easily? This is one controversy.
Reason 2: We were used to English for the past 200 years after colonizing and it has the impact on us even now. Without English we cannot survive in the globalized world. How can we say we need global products in the domestic market without English. Don’t compare it with China. India is performing well because of China’s lack of English. Chinese don’t have multiple languages, maybe dialects are different, but their native language is chinese, so indian scenario is not comparable to China.
Those who need Hindi to survive can learn Hindi, others need not. If I have to live in North, I can learn at that time. But it does not mean that I like reading Hindi in school books. Hindi, when it was made the national language did not have the 51% majority speaking it. It was an undemocratic measure to make a newly formed nation uniform. Imposing it everywhere from railway stations to application forms to text books cannot be accepted. If it is provided as an option and let to be selected by freewill, it is acceptable. Hence it is not accepted in south.
Ok. I’ll raise a controversial question here. Sanskrit is regarded as a great classical language. Recently Tamil was also recognized as a classical language. But how much the govt is spending for promotion of sanskrit in schools and by other means compared to the other classical language can reveal how much importance non-sanskritized languages (I mean not related to sanskrit) get in India. Moreover the labels that are given to people speaking such languages are horrible like “Anti- Nationalists (Somewhat less than terrorists), separatists, linguistic fanatics etc”.
It will be fair for the south Indians to accept Hindi………when devotional lyrics in native languages are recited in temples……..democratically replacing Sanskrit. This is just an example of how domestic languages are deprived of spaces when an oppressive language comes in. Every language has contributed to the religion. But Sanskrit has the sole authority in temples. So the space for the native language is not there. Similarly, if Hindi comes in the people would take loan words from Hindi, eliminating the originality of the language. Slowly, Hindi will eat up all the spaces of the native language. That’s why Hindi should be resisted.
This blog is really nice. The only thing bothering is the comments of a few people who defend an oppressive language in an oppressive way.
-Reformer
March 24, 2008 at 11:23 am |
I strongly object to the above post relating urdu and Sanskrit. Scripts of Urdu and Sanskrit are similar? May be you do not know both. Sanskrit script is devanagari, which is derived from Bramhi. Bramhi is parent of all Indian scripts, be it Tamil or Sanskrit. Yes, all the scripts in India are derived from Bramhi, be it so called Sankritic langauge scripts(devanagari, gujarati, bengali, Oriya, assamiya) or so called dravidian languages( Tamil, kannada , telugu, malyalam). Please refer to wikipedia entry for bramhi.
Urdu is formed out corruption of the North Indian Prakrit from foreign languages like arabic and persian.
So calling Sanskrit and Urdu as related undermines the status of Sanskrit as a great classical language, and one of the cheif sources of our national heritage and pride.
We all agree on the ill effects of imposition of hindi. But that should not be used to create a wedge between Sanskrit and Tamil. This should not be used as a tool to reignite the dead aryan dravidiian controversy. That would definitely amount to an anti national act.
Even Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati speakers are concerned about the spread of hindi, even though they are all derivatives of prakrits and ulimately Sanskrit. Hence this particular question should not be misused to create the “dravidian seperatist” monster again.
March 25, 2008 at 3:16 am |
Just ‘coz someone talks about Dravidian languages, does not mean they are talking about “Dravida Nadu”.
It is a well known, well accepted fact that there are two major classes of langauge – Indo-European and Dravidian languages. Period.
Apart from this, there is also Austro-Asiatic language in NE.
Tamil and Sanskrit are linguistically DIFFERENT and belong to different language families.
March 27, 2008 at 3:36 am |
Sure, not everyone is a Dravidian nationalist. I didn’t mean that. Yes Tamil and Sanskrit represent two different language families. And there is Munda or the austro-asiatic group of languages.
But the need is to accept that all these languages are essentially Indian. Portraying any language as more Indian than others creates problems like the Dravidistan demand or seperatist movements in the north east.
All these languages are our own and represent our common national heritage.
March 27, 2008 at 3:02 pm |
This is creativity of a narrow minded person..
In INDIA everyone is free let the people speak what they want to and do not try to teach them..
Actually you seem to be the narrow minded person here. You think language is just a mode of communication, so anyone can speak anything they want. You fail to see that language is the embodiment of culture. I’ve clearly explained in my blog how non-usage of a regional language can kill it.
March 28, 2008 at 5:54 pm |
Dear Mr. Nikhil,
I think I need to clarify what I mentioned. I said Hindi is a mixture of Urdu and sanskrit by sounds and meanings and Hindi is based on the devnagari script. I apologize for your misunderstanding Mr. Nikhil. Whatever But please don’t be too judgemental regarding my knowledge on the Brahmi scripts, internet is not the only source. I’m doing research on it, don’t try to teach me.
Firstly, You say that Sanskrit is a symbol of our culture and Urdu is a corrupt mixture. But remember that Hindi has equal number of loan words from Urdu as compared to Sanskrit. If you are placing Sansrit at the centre of our culture and Urdu as an impure language, where do you place Hindi which has loann words from both? Secondly, Urdu is spoken by a religious minority group and you are not respecting their language and tradition, which means, you are neither respecting our unity in diversity nor the secular nature of our country.
I am not a separationist or linguistic fanatic. But I strongly condemn your statement “Portraying any language as more Indian than others creates problems like the Dravidistan demand or seperatist movements in the north east.” Have you read anything on Dravidian Movement and the reforms? How can you see things in black and white? The movement has liberated millions of OBCs and Dalits from the bondage of social hierarchy. Would you suddenly accept to adapt a new language in place of the language you are accustomed to? Say, would you accept any language in Temples other than Sanskrit? You won’t because there is a threat of the extinction of the language, then how can you enforce Hindi on their textbooks and applications. If their language is introduced on compulsion(note that Tamil is also a classical language as pure as Sanskrit) in the school text books all over the country, won’t you oppose?
Who said north east people are problematic? Who started calling them “Cheen ki” first? Those who alienated them through such labels saying they are chinese look-alikes; those who did not accept them in the mainstream development of this country, cannot claim that it is the north east people who created problems by asking for separate identity and nation. It is we who denied them the identity first.
Of course, separatism is not at all healthy for the country. But the root cause lies in ourselves, our statements, our actions that create identity crisis, the things we thrust and dictate on others to follow, forgetting to ask if they like it or not, ignoring the damage of their indigenous culture and language. So if you are really concerned about the oneness of our nation, please do address the root cause.
But you can’t jump into the conclusion that it is “problematic”. So if you want to make some judgements please read on the issues completely first.
March 30, 2008 at 12:13 pm |
Hello,
First of All
Many Many thanks to you !!
For once someone understands the problem and has been able to articulate it in near perfect words in a intelligent and mature way.
I am a resident of Maharashtra,and a marathi speaking person (apparently we have to mention that nowadays) and I think my feelings have been well expressed thanks to your blog.Yes as u said,it was/is very difficult to find a blog which shows the other side of the story(the current story in Maharashtra)-yours is the first one I found-the rest i could only find in highly emotional comments written below newspieces.So much so that I had/have decided to write one myself.I am pushing ahead with that,currently gathering all data and will try to make a objective point about the entire issue as objectively as possible.Feel free to contact me anytime.heartfelt thanks !
Great to see you’re planning to write your own insights. Looking forward to it.
March 30, 2008 at 12:16 pm |
an oh yes..I am off to read your other articles…
Thanks. You may be interested in the one called “Violence in Maharashtra: The root cause”
March 30, 2008 at 2:24 pm |
Hi
I agree with the problem that you defined here but not totally with the solutions.
Let me, a Hindi speaking person, first reassure you that whenever a Hindi person speaks in Hindi with a person, he does not think as far as taking other person for granted. He does it for his own convenience. Which is natural. If some french person sopke to you in your language and if you knew that he knows your language well you will speak with him in your language, not because you take him for granted but because you feel comfortable that a language barrier has evaporated!
Also, i am strongly against people talking to other people in English. For our infighting are we really ready to give a foreign language a position above all our languages? (This is concurrent to the ‘logic’ you have mentioned throughout your blog!)
However, you might argue that English is known to more people! Perhaps the ‘number theory’ is what also causes Hindi to be widely used!
When you go to Europe you see people use their languages freely but English with other people! They have developed a model of convenience. And this has developed over a peroid of time without artifical forces being at play.
For all governemt purposes we must use english. (conveniece theory)
For everything else let us please let the natural forces have a look at everything.
There must be strict reprimand for people not respecting others’ language and culture.
Please do not think that Hindi speaking people have something against anyone! I persoanlly love each and every Indian and I am sure you do it too! The fight has to be fought against people who really try to divide us on the lines of languages. Becuase normal Hindi speaking people- the mass- has no problmes/prejudices against anyone and I am sure that same is also true for every other language.
Jai Hind!!
March 30, 2008 at 2:27 pm |
Some fool mentioned a language called Chinese
above!
There is no language called Chinese
its Mandarin.
I live in a Chinese-majority country (Singapore), and we do call the language Chinese. Because Mandarin (Chinese) is the only LANGUAGE. Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka and Cantonese are DIALECTS. They are like Hyderabadi Hindi or Mumbaiyya Hindi.
April 1, 2008 at 12:12 pm |
Dear Mr. Reformer,
I am sad to say that you have not read my posts clearly.
I will quote you and my reply to it
You said
“Sanskrit and Urdu are the parent languages of almost all the languages in north and central India. So they are related to each oother. The sounds are similar, scripts are also related.”
Scripts are related? Would you like to elaborate on that point? I am happy that you are conducting research on Bramhi script, and would be very glad to learn of any new breakthroughs which relate the Devanagari and Arabic script.
Of course internet is not the only source, but it does serve as a preliminary source. I mentioned wikipedia just for the sake of clarifying that Sanskrit-devanagari and urdu-arabic association. That is just elementary information and internet can very well serve as a source.
I am also sad that you did not get my intentions behind writing the sentence “Portraying any language as more Indian than others creates problems like the Dravidistan demand or seperatist movements in the north east.”
In this sentence I am actually voicing the opinions of most of the people who have posted here. What I wanted to say that portraying hindi as a superior language and enabling it to destroy other languages created seperatist movements like the dravidian movement and has definitely contributed to seperatist movements in North east like the Ulfa. Do you disagree with me on that? We all welcome the emancipation of OBC’s and other disadvantaged sections of society brought by the dravidian movement. But wasn’t this acheived in maharashtra as well. Dont Phule, Ambedkar and Shahu Chatrapati count as great reformers as Periyar does? They did not hint at seperate nations for the underpreviliged. But didn’t periyar advocate a seperate country for the so called dravidians(as if they were different from other Indians)? Isn’t there still a tamil nationalist fringe, people like Nedumaran and co., who advocate an independant Tamil Eelam from India? These forces are definitely antagonistic to national unity and sovereignty. I hope you agree with me on these factors. And these forces gain when hindi is impressed upon the people in these troubled parts of India. Certainly we dont want that to happen. Hence the forceful “hindification” is unwelcome. That was my point. Got it?
I do place Sanskrit at the centre of our culture. And I also advocate the same place of previlege for Tamil as well. I think I have made that amply clear in my previous posts.
Please go through my posts before commenting harshly. I said that Urdu is a corruption of Hindi by foriegn languages like arabic and persian. What I meant is that it formed out of mixture of substantial amounts of languages of foreign origin with Hindi. Am I incorrect?
When you speak of Hindi as having equal number of loan words from Urdu, you utterly confuse me. You probably meant to say hindustani here. Pure Hindi heavily borrows from Sanskrit and other prakrits, and hardly from Arabic or Persian. The common words which you mention as “borrowed by hindi from Urdu” you probably meant the Hindi part of Urdu. In that case it is urdu which borrowed the words from hindi and not the other way round.
Now to the vexed minority question. We agree that urdu has substantial amount of foreign content. Why do these so called minorities cling to these elements of foreign origin? Why do they not adopt indigenous traditions and practices, not only in terms of language, but in all aspects of culture like say, clothing? Why do they do not want to join the mainstream? Why do they want to preserve their seperate identity, which borrows heavily from foriegn cultural elements? Please consider these questions rationally, without letting the “modern Indian secular worldview” cloud your vision.
April 1, 2008 at 12:16 pm |
Mr. Reformer
I have studied these issues. May be you are the one who is jumping to conclusions about my views of the issues without even reading my posts properly. I would only say that you have grossly erred in interpreting what I have said here.
April 3, 2008 at 7:24 am |
I guess the leaders of Free India missed a Trick at the time of independence. Those guys who had enough foresight to make India Multi Racial , Multi Ethnic and Multi Religious forgot to treat india as multi lingual by making india National language.
April 3, 2008 at 7:27 am |
– contd.. India’s National Language as Hindi
April 18, 2008 at 4:05 am |
Hi,
I also faced issues as a south Indian, while working in Hindi speaking places. But I overcame it through learning Hindi and local languages.
I agree that forcing the learning of language is offensive.However a common language to survive and communicate with in our country is missing. A big country like Russia (old) had 30 languages but had one common for all.
It will be embarassing to speak to another Indian through a foreign language like English. Whether we like or not English is more or less official language and can never be personal when we try to interact with friends.
So, what is the solution to this situation now?
I feel we need to go for Hindi which is existing in most parts of our country instead of going for English as the medium in India.
A true Indian need not depend on a foreign language for communication with in India.
Finally someone who politely disagrees with me. So far all those who disagree with me have peppered their posts with expletives. At least you maintained decorum.
Here’s where I disagree with you:
I don’t believe that English is a foreign language any more. If you believe that English is a foreign language, then by the same token, Hindi is foreign to South and East Indians.
If you feel English can never be personal when interacting with friends, are you saying you can never make friends with non-Indians?
Alright, assuming for purposes of argument that English can never be personal when interacting with friends, the same goes for Hindi. Unless Hindi happens to be the cultural language of both the interacting parties (once again, South and East Indians don’t fall in this category).
You got it right when you said a big country like USSR had 30 languages but had one common for all. So what was the outcome of imposing one language on the rest in USSR?
May 8, 2008 at 8:54 am |
1. What a debate!!
Hats off for Nita
May i ask to Nita who is she?
What’s her identity?
My idendity is BHARTIYA (INDIAN).
What’s her ? MAHARASHTRIAN or BHARATIYA
(INDIAN)?
I know my boundaries. That is Bharat (India) for me.
Whatever happens inside the country matters for me.
I know that i have some responsibilities for this country and its culture. I don’t see always Profitable side. I have immense of respect for any Language and culture of India than of any other country.
I’m not fluent fluent in English so i’m learning it.
But I always have a respect for my language.
I know that i cannot learn all the languages spoken in India but have a respect for all.
I learn English but always desperate for Development of Hindi and any other Hindustani Lnaguage.
I know that it is easy to learn a foreign system and to grow, but i prefer to make our own system and develop that according to our requirement.
Because that wiil be a real progress.
Nita says South India is better developed than North India.
Who is responsible? Regional Language!!
Not at all.
I personally believe that each Indian should learn atleast 3 languages. First is Mother Tongue , Second is National Laguage and Third is International Language English.
We should respect our Country, language and Culture.
Only financial development is not worth.
Development should be in all field.
We should try to modify our language for Professional and Technical use like Chinese or Japanese or French, German etc.
Please devote your energy in development of Our National and Mother Language in competition of English.
And please talk about only BHARAT (INDIA) not MAHARASHTRA, TAMILNADU, ANDHRA etc.
It will break our Family.
We should oppose Foreign intrusion or utilize them only for our develoment.
India has talent and opportunity to be allrounder in languages. Here you may find the expert people of any language. Please make it our strength and use it for our development only not to make us ashamed or degraded.
I really don’t care for origin or root of Languages.
I know only that whatever belongs to BHARAT (INDIA) belongs to me and my all actions will be in direction to promotion, modification (if required) and development of that whether it is language, culture, heritage etc.
if we are not going to prompte our language who else will do?
Don’t forget English also was not in good situation some time in past, but they promote it and make it so large.
May 17, 2008 at 12:19 pm |
ok.thats right …you want to save the diversity of culture by saving
regional languages of india……although i dnt fully agree with you….still its a debatable issue…..but the only thing i want to ask you is why are you giving this link to the people who are fighting for separate states on the basis of religion….
{even i dnt say they are wrong ….it is just you cant convince a person who has lost his dear ones ( and then they think some one from other religion killed them and sometimes its true so they take revenge and there is no solution to this) so they dnt want to live with that religion/language….it is fully understandable}
but frnd it is time these people are learning to forget this for the unity of india….i am not saying you are wrong….but try to help them to cure there broken hearts instead of raising the anger in them by telling them that there language is also losing its respect..you can also try to express your thoughts to other communities..where people will listen to you and you can have some good debates ..but dnt try to express your thoughts by linking it to regional issues…and i also dnt say those persons are right who are using abusive language here..
will wait for your reply…
plz think about this ….next time we will debate over language issue
regards
sodhi
May 31, 2008 at 7:52 pm |
Nice topic.. I too agree with you , Can you post a similar blog for Bhojpuri to granted as a regional language status… I want it to be accepted as a separate regional language in india , So that we can get our own Bhojpur regional identity. We are a different regional language , and have got messed up and sandwiched between Hindi and other language speaking regions. I will appreciate if you can do that. All the best for your efforts for your SI thing , i hope you ll get ur identity as well… Please inform if you make some success , i will visit you blog
July 10, 2008 at 1:48 pm |
WELL IT IS TRUE. HINDIFICATION SHOULD BE STOPPED. IT IS BETTER THAT PEOPLE START LEARNING ENG INSTEAD OF HINDI. LET HINDI BE LIMITED TO THE STATE WHERE IT IS SPOKEN IN MAJORITY.
STUDENTS WHO STUDY IN VERNACULAR MEDIUM ‘ DO NOT GET JOB OPPURTUNITIES BECAUSE THEY R NOT FLUENT IN ENG. IT IS BETTER TO MAKE THEM FLUENT IN ENG RATHER THAN SPEAKING IN HINDI.
July 30, 2008 at 8:35 am |
great article…….
one should understand the importance of English as a language
August 16, 2008 at 10:40 am |
Hello Vasanth,
It is a nice blog and reflected the views of the cross section of non hindi speakers especially south indians but i beg to differ with you on some of your points,but before that let me state few things very clearly:
1.Despite being a hindi speaker i am dead against imposing hindi forcibly on any body.
2.I despise the attitude of some north indians who live in non hindi states and never make an effort to learn the local language.
Now about the points raised by you:
1.I slightly differ with you on english being used as link language rather than hindi,i think it is matter of national pride that a indian language should be used as a link language rather than english.It doesnt mean that i do not understand the importance of english it is very important to succeed in today’s times.
2.As far your point that punjabis are giving up their language for hindi then let me tell you its some punjabis in hindi speaking areas who are doing so and that too second and third generation ones,if you go to punjab all punjabis speak in their language.I think a similar example could be found in tamil nadu where gujaratis and telugus settled their have forgotten their language and now speak in tamil.If you go to malaysia smaller indian communities like telugus,malyalees and other non tamilians use tamil as the ‘national language’ of indians living there since tamils are a majority there which is very natural and none of them resent it.Majority language does has its effect and its every where in the world.
But in India if you see there is some thing unique about it most of regional languages are surviving and thriving with their own films,magazines and TV Channels.A unique example not easily found else where.
3.Sikh militancy was never about hindification,you made it too simplistic and generalised,it was about a few zealots fighting for their own religion based state which was conceived and executed by pakistani general zia ul haque in cahoots with some self styled leaders like jagjeet singh chauhan.
4.Assam controversy was again generalised by you before turning their anger on hindi speakers their main enemies were bengali settles in assam infact intial agitation was about bengali settlers.
Best Regards
Vinay
September 14, 2008 at 3:06 pm |
I AGREE WITH U……ALL THE LANGUAGES MUST BE GIVEN THEIR OWN IMPORTANCE……AND ALL ARE UNIQUE GEMS…..CANNOT BE COMPARED WITH ONE ANOTHER..
September 15, 2008 at 1:45 am |
To Himanshu
The cruz of the topic is “imposing” Hindi as language of communication in all states. “We”, the Indians do not want to have a language that originated only after Islam invaded India through Persia and is only about 500 yrs old in this country to be our “National Language” as it doesn’t qualify going by the history of this language. It is just one of the official languages in India so far and India doesn’t have a National Language, still the Hindi Prachar Movement is calling it “rAshtra bAshA” which is totally against the will of Indians.
English on the other hand is accepted universally as official mode of communication by a lot of countries that are global business centric. We need English for our own growth, still English has to be only the
“second” language after the regional language in all states. If Hindi is imposed on the whole country, it amount to gross injustification to all the other regional languages in this country. This is the reason for the divide, while English will only help simplify the issue of linguistic divide(and still help keep the diversity).
Go to Karnataka and say “Thamizh is now the national language and all should speak in Thamizh”, I bet you will be thrashed by the Kannada Rakshna Vedike and localites. The same is the case with AP, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Orissa, WB, Assam, Mizoram, UP, J&K etc. So, if you go and say “Your regional language is one of the official languages in India, and English should be taught as the Business Centric Language in all schools”, you will definitely get a good welcome and not a hostile reception. The immediate requirement for Hindi-speaking people is to go back to the roots and learn the history of Hindi.
October 1, 2008 at 1:05 pm |
Really,this post gives us the importance of diversity in our national character.
November 15, 2008 at 10:38 am |
Hi all,
My Name is Banupratap Tanguturi. Many telugu speaking Indians ,would recognise me as one among them. But I was born and brought up in Chennai. I speak tamil and love to do that, cos I understand every happening in this world through this language.Hindi was my second language in school, and I can speak a decent Hindi. Coming from Tamil Nadu , having spoken Tamil for my entire life now, am sure not a punt in Hindi.I for sure know English as much as a North Indian guy knows.Please people tell me , would it not be unfair in a conversation that I have to speak with the so called Hindi speaking Indians in a language which they are good at and sound equally competetive and prove myself equal to them , inspite of being well informed of things just being hindered by the fact that, language that I speak is not my forte.And on top of it , he criticies my Hindi as if not speaking Hindi was a sin , like most people see non english speakers as illeterates.
Now that was point 1. Now coming to the fact that most of the north Indian states speak Hindi and have accepted it and are being able to speak Hindi very well , is cos most of the Hindi words are similar to your mother toungue.Like the Marathi script is more or less same as Hindi(this is what a marathi guy told me).So you find it easy to speak Hindi. However coming from Tamil Nadu , having our own age old script and language which not in my farthest dreams has any relevance with Hindi (there is no relevance in the words except very few which got mixed in to tamil in the very recent past, which have been removed though),it becomes more difficult to speak Hindi and sound as good as you guys .And above all this, instead of appreciating our effort to speak Hindi , you criticise my Hindi.
Now I will explain why I choose to learn any Language other than my mother Tongue(especially English).I dont give a shit to english , except for earning my rice and sambar.And you make fun of me eating rice and sambar.There is the indifference when we accept you guys and look up to you guys as fellow Indians , you ppl look down upon us. As a matter of fact , u guys are hypocrates .Its a fact cos ,u say we are united india and u make fun of us and are probably trying to increase our standard of living by teaching us HIndi.Now how different are u from those whites , who invaded our lands giving the same reason.Please stop this nonsense.
I have always had problems out of tamil nadu about the language we speak.Guys what on earth is u r problem when we in Tamil Nadu speak Tamil.Thats the language of the land.I have heard many lazy North Indains and Hyderabadis say , in Tamil nadu , they speak only Tamil. I ve had to take harsher words about my people.And just out of anxiety want to ask all you Hindi speaking true Indians, who the hell gives you the right to question my integrity towards the Nation just because I dont speak Hindi.How much more of an Indian do you become when you speak Hindi. For people who dont understand the meaning of dominance by Hindi folks ,hope u understand it now.Are you gracing me by letting to live in INDIA and giving me a language to speak. Dont shower grace upon us , cos we live a much graceful life and are more of Indians .The worst part is , I have had to hear much harsh comments , from fellow Hyderabadis. He says the same thing, in chennai even if people know telugu , they will speak in Tamil. Guys dont understand one fact when u r in chennai pls bear with us . U r in Tamil Nadu and we speak Tamil there.U dont have a bleady right to ask my people speak in a language of u r convenience . U come there for a survival, then learn the language of my land or speak in a common language ( which is ofcourse not Hindi), prolly english. Cos we cant be the only people to take all the pain in this world to learn all your languages to make u guys feel comfortable.Think of a normal auto wala , with whom you would interact on u r first visit to chennai . the worst part is u want him also to speak in Hindi . Common yaar ,have some common sense. What is his access to education. He has to have a licence to drive autos and shld know a language to communicate to all visitors. He knows tamil and some broken english, which helps him to communicate wit ppl arnd the globe , cos chennai being a metro equally invites foreigners. So now u force the Autowalas to know English and Hindi , just to make u feel comfortable. Now is this dominance or not.Is this not stupidity.
This is to answer one of those guys who asked why tamilians are superior. I dont say we are superior , cos we are not arrogant like our fellow Hindi speaking brothers.But we a superiro race equivalent to all other Indians. I have to mention this about Tamil Nadu , when the rest of North India fell to the dominance of the Moghuls , we are the only state which stood its ground. Moghuls came until Hyderabad and Mysore and ruled , but never dared to step foot in the land of the chera, Chola , pandiyas.Why should we not be proud.And why should we not feel , not recognised. Cos when the Rajputs are glorified in History(I have great respect for all Indian Dynastys), though they fell to the mOghuls ,why does Indian history not glorify the Cheras , Cholas and Pandiyas, who stood ground.Why is Thirukural , which is considered as the best gift of man to man kind , not glorified.Dont u think it is all cos of glorifying one language called Hindi.I am speakin on behalf of my people , not to say only tamilians are grt. So are many other grt people arnd India have gone missing.
Abouth the fact that , Hindi can kill the regional Languages .Pleas see the example of Hyderabad . U can find people who cant speak Telugu , but speak Hindi or english.I say thats a shame for all you Hyderabadis.
Now for all those who say ,being a Telugu guy why are u supporting Tamil . U dont take pride of u r mother tongue. I was born in Tamil nadu and that is my Identity all over India(Ofcourse Indian is my Identity all over the world).I think I am doing justice to my land.
November 15, 2008 at 10:44 am |
However I respect Hindi as a Language and its global reach.But I feel bad when people , tough in UK and in my project say that ,” Yehan Pe telugu mein Baat karna Mana hai.”Now temme who are u to say that. I am a lot more angry than I sound. But I saw the manner in which the person who posted this blog has conducted himself in conveying his thoughts and felt I should as well not put my furious words in the posts.And sorry to those Hindi speaking Help less guys, the words shows u r character. And please avoid harsh words abt each other , it only severes things and helps no one.
November 16, 2008 at 6:23 pm |
This is an awesome article. i am an INDIAN whether or not i know Hindi and i dont want other ppl tryin to be too judgemental on how indian i am based on how well i know HINDI which is just another language like the 28 and odd languages.
My point here that i would like to express is simple(i guess..). For all the ones that say HINDI could be made the national language (and for the ones that say HINDI already is one, i suggest you might need a brain transplant if possible) cuz its spoken by a large sect of ppl, why not make CHINESE the one common language for the WORLD, CHINESE is one language thats spoken by most ppl in world. Lets get to talk on the GLOBAL standards for sometime now, can we?? lol
Anyways, one thing which i differ is on talking to another hindi-person in hindi i feel should be fine so long as you dont feel awkward or bad to talk in your own mother tongue when you have to. And i feel, one most have a personal sense of responsibility to respect ones own regional language no matter who you are and where you are from.
Nice work bro!
November 16, 2008 at 10:02 pm |
Now that so many of you Hindi guys say that we tamilians are racists, I would like to quote an example of what happened to me .I happened to speak with my friend who is from AP in telugu.ANd the sad part was the Hindi speaking true Indian crowd was the majority(like u guys say 60:40, so Hindi is the National Language).And this guy says , dont speak in Telugu speak in Hindi. I said whats u r problem, i communicate with him and not with u. This is what he said”When you are amidst us speak in Hindi or dont sit along with us”.And one day he tells me how in an English bar he and his friends were forced not to speak in Hindi .Tell me how different are u.Now this means , for you guys to accept us , we should do what you say.We should speak u r language and for go ours. To me it seems imperialistic and racist.And you guys call us Racists.Go take a dictionary and read what it means. And also read some South Indian History, we have never in past succumbed to domination and will never in future.
I swear there is not one thing which is exagerated or spiced up.
November 17, 2008 at 4:40 am |
There is nothing wrong in the above post. Each of the points should be obeyed properly…
and moreover it is the outcome of over 50 years of imposition of “HINDIAN” CULTURE”
whenever a threat to the very survival of a language arises, it bursts out in a rapid manner…………\
STOP IMPOSITION………..
ONE MORE POINT……. CALL OUR COUNTRY AS “INDIA” NOT “BHARAT”
we are all “INDIANS”, NOT “BHARATHIYAS”…………
December 5, 2008 at 2:39 pm |
http://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_symbols.php
Among every thing else , show me where you see Hindi as a National Language in this web site.
December 6, 2008 at 1:41 pm |
Kudos to the writer n for all those who have supported..If someone believes that English is a foreign language, then they have to accept that Hindi is also a foreign language to us(south Indians)..Have you ever seen a Non-Hindi speaker imposing his language on other Hindi speaking people?We never do that in Bangalore r Hyderabad or any other city..Most of us learn n try to speak Hindi just to make them feel comfortable in our place.. But that doesn’t mean that we love Hindi more than our language..All the languages are equal and Hindi is no exception..We expect the same respect from others…
I’ll surely spread this word..
Thank you..
January 24, 2009 at 9:19 am |
In Tamilnadu, reservation is on basis of caste and not language. That is why the state ‘Tamil’ Nadu is not really Thamizh naadu. It is only Tamil in name.
The reserved list contains several Hindi-speaking caste apart from Telugu and Kannada caste.
Forward Community caste excluded from reserved are mostly Tamils but OBC, BC, MBC caste contain significant number of Hindi, Telugu and Kannada caste.
In Tamilnadu, the politicians prefer non-Tamilians compared Tamilians.
THis is from ‘Tamil’ Nadu government website:
http://www.tn.gov.in/bcmbcmw/bclist.htm
May 4, 2009 at 7:17 am |
Your article is great. What you said is absolutely true. Even before reading your article, I was following your do’s and dont’s
Though the constitution of India defines no national language, all the school textbooks carries the sentence that national language is. No school children is going to read Indian constitution. They will learn what is given in their textbook. So even, most of the non-Hindi speakers are of the illusion that hindi is the national language.
I feel that there should be a major language policy change at the at the political level in the central government. Only then this linguistic imperialism will come to end.
May 15, 2009 at 11:24 pm |
NAMASKARAM,VANAKKAM, NAMASKAR, GREETINGS,
FANTASTIC!!
This is a very nice blog which is very poised and discussed the problem of Hindification impartially.
I am Telugu from Hyderabad and now i am pursuing my studies in the US.
After leaving India,i realized how much Hindi imposition takes place!
1) I was many times forced to speak Hindi.I was humiliated for not speaking Hindi. All this made me feel bitter and suddenly i started developing hatred towards Hindification.
A language is supposed to unite us but it is doing the opposite! Suddenly there happened a slow shift in my Identity from being an Indian to a Dravidian!
2) I was so surprised that ALL (almost 99.99999%) of the foreigners DO NOT KNOW that India has 18 other official languages.My girlfriend who is an American started learning Telugu for me.For one of the cultural events in the Indian student association of our University,she was supposed to sing a Telugu Song.But the committe members who were Hindi speakers asked her learn a Hindi song and made her sing it.I was SOOO furious.
I want other countries to know that there is a language called Telugu.Likewise a Tamilian, Kannadiga etc. should be able to showcase the world their respective great language and culture to the world!
All our Indian languages have great literary traditions and we must preserve them and propagate our cultural values to our next generations
3) Some of my relatives who grew up in the Hindi speaking regions DO NOT speak Telugu.They have completely forgotten the language and have lost touch with their roots!
4) These days Hindification is getting into my nerves.Although i am doing PhD and expected to behave like an intellectual,i am vehemently opposing people imposing Hindi on me and this is causing quarrels and tarnishing my reputation and I am being called a Fanatic!!
But after reading this blog,i realised i haev to more poised like Vasanth and we need to do more than just blogging our cause in the internet!
SO FRIENDS WE HAVE TO UNITE!!!!!!!!!
WE ALL HAVE COMMON GOAL TO STOP HINDIFICATION.IF WE DO NOT UNITE,WE WILL BE RUN OVER BY HINDI LIKE ENGLISH AND WE HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO DO BUT EMBRACE HINDI.
I DONT WANT MY GRANDCHILDREN TO TALK TO THEIR SPOUSES AND CHILDREN IN HINDI EVERYDAY IN THEIR LIVES!!!!!!!!
IF WE DO NOT UNITE AND PUBLICISE OUR CAUSE AND GARNER SUPPORT THEN I AM SURE SOON WE WILL REGRET NOT TAKING ACTION NOW!
LET US FORM A FORUM LIKE A ORKUT/ FACEBOOK COMMUNITY ,A WEBSITE AND THEN SLOWLY ORGANISE MEETINGS AND BRING AWARENESS!!
PLS SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THIS CAUSE.
THANK YOU,
Srinivas
May 16, 2009 at 2:06 am |
From what I have heard and seen in my study of Latin, Hindi, and Telugu, the use of the English language by Indians will not compromise anybody’s ‘mother tongue’ because it is so structurally dissimilar. This is to suggest that no one Indian language risks endangerment or extinction when the speaker learns English.
This is also suggests that the use of Hindi as a nationally spoken langauge poses a risk to other languages due to its similarity in structure and vocabulary.
In the linguistic era of language preservation, who will step up to the task of examining this issue in depth?
I must confess to being one of those (sadly) ignorant members of this world who grew up knowing nothing of India. Consequently, only within the last handful of months am I learning that India is a country of such rich cultural and linguistic diversity. Yes, I did believe that Hindi was the national language. That’s why I began learning it. It doesn’t help that it if any Indian language is to be taught in the University, that Hindi is the only option. If you don’t believe me, try learning Telugu, Tamil or Kannada at any regular/public American University -I’ve looked at four so far.
Then again, I also grew up speaking French, having a mother from Belgium. Imagine her embarrassment when I asked one day as a high schooler about the Belgian language -never mind there is no such thing, only French and Dutch.
Clearly ignorance can powerfully influence our understanding of the world.
May 19, 2009 at 10:16 am |
@ Srinivas
I am from Tamil nadu. I think Tamilnadu is the only major state in India where Hindi invasion is very very very less compared to other non-Hindi states. This is due to strict state policy. Our government schools dont promote Hindi. Ptivate schools in our state teach Hindi only to the extent where the students will be just able to read Hindi.
Are u aware of Tamilnadu’s anti-Hindi agitation in 1965? A wicked move was about to be made to make Hindi as the sole official language of India removing English. But due to the intese agitation in Tamilnadu, it was not successful. If we had not opposed it, how Hindi would have already eaten up all the languages. Also, our state has strict policy of not having Hindi sign boards in national highways. But other non-Hindi states have it.
You are a telugu guy and I understand your anger and frustration. But I would say your state has not done enough to prevent Hindification of India. For example you should not making Hindi compulsoty in schools. The same applies to karnataka.
When I moved to Bangalore for work, I bought a small kannada book for learning basic words. But after staying in bangalore for 3-4 days, I realized that kannada is very rarely spoken in banglore. Its all Hindi, Hindi, Hindi there. The blame goes to local Bangaloreans and Hyderabadis too. I have seen autodrivers, bus conductors in banglore speaking in Hindi. This is the fault you people are doing. This makes Hindi migrants assume that it is their birth right to speak Hindi anywhere in India.
Even educated Telugu and Kannadigas are speaking in Hindi to Hindi migrants. Why dont you speak with them in English? if you speak with them in Hindi, it means you are comforting them at the cost of your language.
I have seen many hindi speakers telling chennai is not a mordern cosmopolitan city because they are sticking to Tamil always. wheras they praise Bangalore, Hyderabad accepting Hindi. So we tamils, who are saving our language are being viewd as language chauvinists. I would say Chennai is a mordern city but not a Hindianized city.
First of all remove compulsory Hindi education in other souther states schools like Karnataka, Hyderabad, Kerala. This would be the first step towards stopping Hindification of India.
May 19, 2009 at 10:26 am |
The pity is that anything associated with Hindi becomes national
Languages:
National Language- Hindi
Regional language- Tamil, Malayalam etc
National cinema – Bollywood
Regional cinema – Kollywood, tollywood etc
National stars – Bachans, Aishwarya etc
Regional stars – rajini, Mamooty
If hindi speakers are so much craving for the word “national”, why dont they form a nation for themselves? They want other states for the strength but supress their language, culture to the regional level
This is really Linguistic imperialsim in the disguise of national unity.
May 27, 2009 at 9:00 pm |
@Jayavel
Thank You for post.
Yes,i am aware of the anti- Hindi agitations.
I personally respect Tamilians a lot!! Tamil is the mother of all Dravidian languages and Tamilians love their culture.
Even A.R. Rehman when he received the Oscar , mentioned a proverb in Tamil. I always like people who respect their mother tounges!
If not for Tamilians, entire South would have been Hinidified way back in 60 and 70s itself.
A.P was under the grip of Congress until Telugu Desam Party came.So naturally they made Hindi compulsory.
But from what i know,expect for cities like Hyderabad,no one cares much about Hindi. Most of the times the Hindi exam paper is leaked by the officials themselves
and the pass marks for Hindi is 21 while for other subjects is 35.Also Hindi is taught only from 6th -10th class,by then the student develops a strong interest in English and mother tounge.So many students simply cram Hindi and vomit it in the exam paper and later forget it!!
Thus Hindi has not spread in A.P. as much as some wanted to.
Also the central government forced Hindi down our throats by broadcasting good programs in Hindi by misusing Doordarshan! .
Now with the advent of the various Telugu TV channels, may Telugu people don’t give a dang about learning Hindi. But still in cities particularly Hyderabad, Hindi has some significance but N.T.R made sure that all boards, government paper work etc. has to be in Telugu.
BUT one of the biggest examples of gross propaganda is that all text books of 1st class students say “Hindi is our national language”.
Why no one talks about this ??..when the constitution of India clearly does not accord such status to any language!!
Namaskaram, Vanakkam!
June 8, 2009 at 11:39 am |
OMG!!! What kind of aricle is this!!
@Jeyavel
Don’t show off too much about your tamil patriotism. THis is globalised world.The next generation of tamils will surely succumb to Hindi domination. Hindi has spread till Karnataka and Ap. Tamil nadu cannot withstand for a longer time without Hindi..
Hindi is the mother of Indian languages.
Hindi culture is the national culture.
IIFA has no place for other film industries bcos India does not want to showcase to the world the cheap regional movies.
Bollywood has high standards which no other film industry has matched.
It would be really disgraceful to our Bharath if Kollywood, Tollywood is showcased to the world
I’m leaving this comment here because it’s a fine example of north indian parochialism. The sort of attitude which makes north indians unpopular. Considering that a lot of north indians are backward, deprived and below the poverty line, people should have only sympathy for north indians, not hatred. But the mindset of people like you makes many people hate north indians.
June 11, 2009 at 1:34 am |
@Praveed
I agree with Vasanth!
Here is how i debunk your false claims about Hindi being the national culture etc.
1) I am appaled when you said “The next generation of Tamilians will surely succumb to hindi ‘domination’ ”
I donot think Tamilians and South Indians are so ‘dumb’ to let someone dominate them
2) It is absolute shame that you do not know about the achievements of other film industries! Few examples are
Mani Rathnam, A.R. Rehman,Illayaraja are from Tamil Film Industry.
a) Do you know the actor who won the highest number of national awards ? It is Kamal Haasan! 18 film fare and 4 national awards
b) This is what wikipedia says about Maestro Ilayaraja
** Ilaiyaraaja’s composition Rakkama Kaiya Thattu from the movie Thalapathi (1991) was amongst the songs listed in a BBC World Top Ten music poll.
** He composed the music for Nayakan (1987), an Indian film ranked by TIME Magazine as one of the all-time 100 best movies.
** he composed music for India’s official entries to the Oscars, such as Anjali (1990) and Hey Ram (2000) and for Indian art films such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s FIPRESCI Prize-winning Nizhalkkuthu (’The Dance of Shadows’) (2002).
** Ilaiyaraaja has composed music for events such as the 1996 Miss World beauty pageant that was held in Bangalore, India,
DON’T UNDER ESTIMATE SOUTH INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY or FOR THAT MATTER ANY OTHER FILM INDUSTRY OF INDIA!!
JUST BECAUSE THERE ARE MORE HINDI SPEAKERS AND MORE MONEY IS SPENT ON MAKING HINDI FILMS, IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY ARE THE BEST AND OTHERS ARE SUB-STANDARD.
Likewise Telugu,Malayalam and Kannada Industries produce very good films with high quality.
Also Before Rehman, it was Stayajit Ray who won Oscar for his contributions to Bengali Cinema!
3) Tamilians are very intelligent people.
India got only 2 Nobel Prizes in Physics. Nobel Laureates Dr. C.V. Raman and Charashekar Subhramaniyan are both Tamilians.
There were a lot of Tamil scientists in the Indian Atomic Bomb project like Abdul Kalam etc.
Tamilians have every right to be proud of their great culture!! (P.S. I am not a Tamilian, a Telugu..but i respect Tamilians!). It is a God given right for a person to love his language and culture.
4) Now coming to the facts you do not know!
IT IS LUDICRIOUS TO HEAR THAT HINDI IS THE MOTHER OF INDIAN LANGUAGES!
If you knew anything about linguistics, Hindi is a derivative of Sanskrit! It belongs to the Indo-European class of languages while Tamil is the mother of the Dravidian languages like Telugu,kannada,Malayalam,Tulu etc. There are many root words in Dravidian languages which can be traced back ONLY to Tamil but not Sanskrit.
So before you say some crap,pls go do some research on facts!
5) I cant help but admire your “patriotism” when you said : It would be very disgraceful if movies from other film industries are showcased.
What is disgraceful is the fact that you relegate ascpects of many other great cultures and obfuscate the reality with your India=Hindi propaganda!
India is a land of many GREAT cultures and languages. THE MORE WE CELEBRATE UNITY,THE MORE UNITED WE WILL BE! THE MORE YOU PUSH ONE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE DOWN THE THROATS OF INDIANS, THE MORE DETRIMENTAL IT IS FOR OUR UNITY!!
OUR UNITY LIES IN OUR DIVERSITY. IF YOU CAN NOT APPRECIATE THE DIVERSITY AND RESPECT IT, WHY DONT PEOPLE LIKE YOU GO FORM A SEPERATE COUNTRY FOR YOURSELVES AND NAME IT “HINDIA” AND MERRILY TALK IN YOUR HINDI AND WATCH BOLLYWOOD MOVIES!
It is this India=Hindi attitude which is found with a very high probability in North India that sometimes makes me wonder if the rest of India actually got Independance or if it is change of power from one tyrant to the other. So called Aryans came (arguably) few thousand years ago and rubbed their indo-european languages,next came the Arabs, then the British,now after they left, i feel Hindians have taken over the baton to rub their language,culture in the viel of “national language”.
Let there be opportunities for all Indian languages to grow and showcase them to the world and be recognised. It is the fundamental right of every person in a democracy to be treated equally and recieve equal opportunities irrespecctive of their background.Likewise, the same applies to languages and cultures!
Namaskaram,
Srinivas
June 11, 2009 at 3:52 pm |
@Praveed
I am shocked to see your comments. Is that how you north Indian people treat/consider south Indians? I really wish not all North Indians have this kind of attitude. Otherwise, there is no point in telling “All Indians are my brothers and sisters” and being united as a country
Recently Samajwaadi party have emphasised on removing english from the school curriculum in North Indian schools and make teaching only in Hindi as Hindi is their mother toungue. THis is really ridiculous. North Indians are so passionate about Hindi that they dont even want English(which is actally the door to the international community). But they expect non-Hindi states to learn Hindi in their schools and communicate with Hindi speakers in Hindi!! Just as north Indians have passion for their mother toungue, Tamils have passion for tamil, Keralites have passion for malayalam, Kannadigas have passion for Kannada..But Hindi speakers never realise that!!
I have myself witnessed this incident:
I was shopping few movie CDs in a small platform shop in Bangalore. A small around 10-year old Kannada boy was managing the shop. A north Indian lady came to that shop and was enquiring about the CDs to that boy in Hindi. The boy didnt know Hindi. He stammered few words in Kannada to that lady but the lady didnt understand. She got irritated for not getting reply in Hindi and muttered to herself “You people dont understand Hindi ” and and put the CDs down disrespectfully and left the place.. He was looking at the lady like a school boy got punishment from the teacher!! I was wondering, why should a 10 year old kannada boy selling CDs in Bangalore road know Hindi!! I felt like explaining to the lady about her incorrect attitude..but did not do it as the place was already crowded and busy..
June 15, 2009 at 4:14 am |
@Srinivas
Please do waste your time by replying to Praveed. I am sure that guy neither knows nor has heard anything in this world other than Hindi.
Because his one statement that “Hindi is the mother of Indian languages” is enough to prove that the guy is totally an unknowledgeable person. I really doubt whether he had any schooling
June 18, 2009 at 8:25 am |
Ok..I agree Kollywood has some talents. But they are the right skills at the wrong place. Thats why maniratnam, AR rahman moved from Tamil to Hindi. Recently Asin in Ghajini and now Trisha is selected for a film with Akshay in a Priyadarshan movie and Surya in am Gopal Varma movie.
Remember one thing, the famous actors, movie makers, musicians have started to move from Kollywood to Hindi after realizing the high standards of Hindi. [Counter Point: It's got nothing to do with high standards. It's coz the Hindi audience breeds like pigs, a sign of lack of civilization] Kollywood is perishing due to brain drain. I agree, there are many heriones imported to kollywood from north. But those are gals dumped from hindi industry. But their dream is always to make big in hindi and not in regionals
I am a north Indian but I have stayed in Chennai for 2 years for my work. I stayed with my Tamil colleagues only. So, I can speak a somewhat decent tamil now..Those two years really were the worst part of my life.. I was forced to watch many tamil films with them. Oh my god.. For the so-called “Kuthu songs”, the actors were dancing in lungis!!!!.I cannot stop laughing at that. The whole world will laugh at hindustan if such movies are screened in IIFA [Counter Point: It's like selecting some D-grade Hollywood movie and saying Hollywood is crap]
Ok..Forget about the cinamas.. When I board a bus in Chennai with my north Indian friends, all your local girls are looking at us and drooling as if we are the only men on Earth. [Counter Point: Hahaha! North Indian men have a loooong history of drooling over South Indian girls!] You people surely have some inferiority complex over your looks. To make up for that you are confronting with us in language issue. What a cheap attitude you people have!!! If you have any bloody self-dignity, why can’t your girls avoid staring and drooling at our men????
I really respect and salute my Hindustan. But it is because people like you, regionalism is being promoted. Regionalism will not work. It will hamper Hindustan’s progress as a single nation.
Your blog is very anti-national. Hindi has bridged the gap of diversity of India [Counter Point: Two words - Raj Thackeray] and has provided a common platform for our Indian citizens to communicate. We have united all the languages of the north. [Counter Point: That's cos non-Hindi North Indians are so damn spineless!] It is only tamils who are standing apart and irritating us. [Counter Point: We don't need to irritate you. You're not worth it.] If you don’t want Hindi please leave Hindustan and settle with Whites in western countries (because you ppl love English more than Hindustan, is’nt?) [Counter Point: We're already doing that, and we prefer that. We don't need you or your India. Thank you very much.] It is you people who are creating the north-south divide!!!
Please join with our language,culture and customs and let us all live in harmony!!!
JAI HO!!!
JAI HINDUSTAN!!!
BHARATH MAATHA KI JAI!!!
June 18, 2009 at 8:35 am |
To Srinivas,
I am very upset to see a Telugu guy opposing Hindi domination. I have many Telugu girlfriends who love to speak with me in Hindi. They never speak in telugu even among themselves if they are present near me. So what is the problem with you? Dont spoil yourself by getting friendship with Jeyavel kind of ant-national persons.
June 22, 2009 at 4:45 pm |
@ Praveed
I would not like to waste my time replying to your first post because it is full of Pseudo-Patriotism which i frequently find in many proponents of Hindi imposition in India.
1) If you believe that Hindi film industry has ‘high standards’ and is the ‘right place’,so be it, it is your opinion!
2) Yes, we south indians are dark complexioned, wear lungis, eat rice and sambar with our bare hands! It is our culture,our way of life! We are proud of our way of life. It does not matter if foreigners or fellow Indians like it or hate it.
I am always proud of my parents irresptive of their attributes.Likewise i am proud of my idli-sambar-lungi culture!
The same culture is shown in movies.If you like it watch it else go watch whatever movies you like.
If someone forces you to watch them, you have every right to say No to them. Many Hindi friends of mine force(d) me to watch Hindi movies, but i frankly tell them that i do not wish to.
3) Once again it is becuase of this India=Hindi attitude that other cultures and languages are made fun of and suppressed and are baranded as ‘not so Indian’ while some are considered to represent India.
Every culture and language of India is equally important and represents India. But there is one view that India is best represented by a single culture/language.
3) How did the discussion move to girls? Going off-topic does not help either.
4) Me being a Telugu guy does not mean that i have to support Hindi imposition. People often confuse ‘anti Hindi IMPOSITION’ as ‘anti-Hindi’.
Further, there is (and has been) a propaganda in India, which is passionately espoused in North India that any body who is against Hindi imposition is anti-India.
5) On a personal note, i found it very amusing when you said ” All my Telugu girl friends speak in Hindi..what is my problem? “……that was so funny..why should i imitate others?. I form my own opinions and preferences. I like to think on my own and not be a dumb sheep in the herd.
July 5, 2009 at 12:56 pm |
This article is great. It would be even greater if everyone follow this.
I agree with this article completely. India’s diversity is perishing fast. A stupid sense of unity has been created by imposing Hindi on South and NE indians. No one can keep witnessing his language/culture getting eaten up at the cost of being together as a country.
Just because of “majority” rule, Hindi has been given a high status in India. “Majority” of Indian population lives in impoverishes Hindi-speaking BIMARU states. So shall we call BIMARU as national poverty?
If Hindi speakers are too many in number, more awareness should be created on family planning menthods and people should be given proper eductation. Instead of that enforcing their language on others is senseless. It is true that south India (Karnataka, Andhra, maharashtra, Tamil nadu) is the backbone of Indian economy. BUt it is very sad that their language\culture is not respected and recognized at a national level. The “national-regional” concept itself sounds very imperialistic. Are’nt south Indian states and its people part of this so-called “democratic” nation?
English can kill other European languages because English script\alphabets are same as French, Spanish, German etc..But english can never be a threat to Indian languages because none of the Indian languages bear any resemblance to English.
A language is not just a medium for communication. It is much more than that. Imposing one’s language upon others is a tyranny. This is something called Language imperialism..If you want to destroy a country, you need not kill its people, use weapons or bombard the places..It is enough if you just kill the language of the country and impose a new language there. The country is considered to be dead then.. the language has such a power.
I truly love, respect and salute a multi-cultural India. But I am simply apathetic towards a hindified India.
One more thing I want to emphasize. I really condemn violence against North Indians in Mumbai. Violence will not help. North Indians are also human beings. We have no right to attack them physically. But we have to voice against the flawed language policy of this country. If we are turning violent, we would be viewed as irrational and our ideas\views will not reach the people. Rather, we must act in a smarter way to spread our thoughts.
Surely I will forward this article to as many people as I can.