Calls for National Integration - a linguistic one?
India has always been a land of many cultures and languages. You cannot travel more than 100 miles without encountering a new dialect or language. Such is the diversity of the people.
But I would have never imagined that the boundaries between them were so distinct. Over the last year I have come to realize that people are more than happy to socialize with others that share the same mother tongue. Personally, i have never quite noticed or experienced it until now. Ever since my school days i have had friends whose vernacular varies from bengali to gujarati, from malayalam to hindi. I have never found it difficult or weird mingling with a crowd in which tamil was not the medium of communication. I guess English has always kept us all together.
Last year more than 20 of us came to Minneapolis from Tamil nadu. We represented the lion's share of all desis in the city by far. Who would imagine that in America of all places, with English being the only dominant language, bonds will form between people who shared a common language as opposed to a common interest. Groups slowly formed neatly divided by language. Tamil guys stick to Tamil Nadu, Telugu junta to Andhra and Marathi people to Maharashtra. The boundaries were as well known and evident as our state boundaries in India. Never more so than now when there has been a huge hiatus of students from Mumbai and Pune to match the Tamil population eye for eye.
Even though I see this phenomenon in flesh and blood in front of me, I still believe that it is just an aberration. People do not have a natural tendency toward ones with a common language. Yes, initially maybe, but your closest friends simply do not need to share the same mother tongue. As long as you enjoy each other's company, it really doesn't matter whether you call your mother mom, amma or aai.
p.s. this post has no reference to manmohan singh's address to the nation today or to Kalam's support for hindi although it is an interesting coincidence.
11 comments:
Aberration or not, you shall never realize the true implications of it all unless you are the one to face its consequences!
But in any case....about forming close friendships based on common interest and not common language........me is proud to be an example of that in flesh and blood!! :-)
And this one's for the records........you DO have a flare for langauages!!!!:):)
Jai Hind ! ;-)
I think the unity in diversity, etc need to creep in when the necessity arises, say, during crisis or even meagre help/assistance. To jus have a timepass talk, i guess, forcing oneself to mingle arnd inter-linguistically loses half the fun. Lack of prejudices/bias against other "statesmen" is , i believe, the road to glory !
seri ...seri... don't abuse me ! :-)
Hey Sorry sorry prahlad, don't mean to start a fight here, but couldn't resist replying to that!!!!
Half the fun is lost?? is it really?? and I guess the point is not about forcing to mingle, is it?? Its rather about not stopping yourself from mingling inter-linguistically or whatever!! :-)
In this case, it could even be termed as a meagre cry of help/assistance though, what say you, Prahlad?? :)
And anyway, wasn't the comment in a true Tam spirit that I know of?? ;)
No offense, just kidding!!!:):)
Jai Hindi ...!
Hi Deep ! Enna da ollare!? Inter mingling isn't fun but is the road to glory???? Ppl get kicked telling me mal jokes ... they think its greater fun and i agree.
rgds
Rohini
@mads - there need not be any "consequences" to the aberration.
@sam - i think u've been abused enough:):)
@ro - my dad cracks jokes abt the mallu accent whenever he gets the chance.
heehee :-)
me not 'bolding' the "forcing" part did the damage ! :-)
@mad: I thought mine was the first post, when I typed 'em. Anyway, you're right. Its about having the natural tendancy to "inter-mingle" that helps it last. Not the pseudo -stuff.
@ro: inter-mingle = kalaasufying internally n havin fun ? am sure not every mallu has a "Fraud Mallu" community link listed on their Orkut profile ! :-)
@Lamb: temme the truth ! The reason for you not using those words here is that you'll then have to translate those too...along with the many words here... ;-)
Hey DK/SAM/whatever.... :)
Never mind me and my stupid statements!!
And by the way, as a matter of fact I do happen to know some of those words which surprisingly did not apear here!!! :) and their meanings and translaions too!!!! :):)
This sticking with one's state people I feel happens when many of them are thrown in together into a new environment. Classic example .... AP-ites in SVCE. Inter mingling and cracking jokes in good humour improves relationships if taken and meant in good sense. Just as i laff at the mallu accent, it's equally funny when the English accented Tam n Mal are kalasified.
@ deep : Fraud mall community was a funny concept .... so joined it :)
@ ladh : Will laugh with u n dad only if you do the same at the Tam equivalent of it they do up north.
Rohini
Is it me or are you guys confusing accent and languages ....
The Mallu accent is hysterical if the mallu in question is speaking english.
And my abcd cousin finds it hilarious when I speak in heavily accented desi english . For that matter I break out laughing when one of these abcd folks speak in hindi or guju.
However language itself is used as a divisive tool. How many times have you shifted to another language just to pass a comment not meant to be heard! And I've been in enough groups with all the other ppl talkin tamil and being the only one left in the cold ...
No what we need is 1 language and no Madhura its not Marathi !
I vote for Gujurati !
Doshi
What you say is largely true but not strictly. Strangely, most of my friend s in IIT are NOT tam. Atleast not tam tam. But, that was because there were no tams in my hostel.
Hi from Spain
I am afraid I am not able to understand if you ultimately prefer one language rather than a lot of them.
I live in a country where languages are used to create different castes. We have a common language but plenty of regions are using their own language rather than the common one and I think that it's sad.
Greetings.
Spaniard.
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