This post of mine is not intended to create any havoc and increase the ever existing dispute between the people of North and South on the dominance of their own language, culture and other factors....
This all started when my good friend boopalan sent me a mail quoting Mr. Annadurai, ex-cheif minister of TN, speech in parliament opposing hindi imposing in TN. Here it goes...
Annadurai's Speech in Indian Parliament
In an address in 1962, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C N Annadurai made the following statements opposing Hindi imposition: "It is claimed that Hindi should be common language because it is spoken by the majority. Why should we then claim the tiger as our national animal instead of the rat which is so much more numerous? Or the peacock as our national bird when the crow is ubiquitous?"
Annadurai also said,
"Since every school in India teaches English, why can't it be our link language? Why do Tamils have to study English for communication with the world and Hindi for communications within India? Do we need a big door for the big dog and a small door for the small dog? I say, let the small dog use the big door too!" [3]
Most people in Tamilnadu feel that if Hindi enters their land, their classical language and ancient culture/tradition would be no more, citing cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad where the native language is rendered nearly auxiliary: in any of these cities it is entirely possible to live without knowing the native language, with Hindi serving as lingua franca; in so much that both political and non-political organizations alike have expressed concerns over the future of their native language/culture [4][5][6][7]
Dont know why but i was so aroused seeing this in the morning and finding my another good friend Surjith missing in the mail list i forwarded the same with the below comment (very subjective to my opinion..not to hurt any northies feelings)
This is specially to people who think Hindi as the primary language and think other regional languages as a speck of dust…..
Soon came the reply from Surjith stating...
The problem is Indians doesn’t learn English either. We learn Manglish, Tanglish, Hinglish and so on so that it is not only difficult to communicate within India, the world doesn’t understand us properly either. Maybe that’s why our communication with world is limited to “yes sir” and “we’ll do that sir”! BTW why have you forwarded this mail to me. You should be mailing this to all ELTPs and igniting the fuse of a serial bomb blast! You are no terrorist Baalaji. Shame on you... :P J.
So i replied to surjith with my view on the issue...
The forward would do no good surjith as most of the northies would not know who Annadurai is..he would just be treated as one of lost faces of a kollywood…. Northies most often don’t bother to know anything abt the south when we southies often keep updated of what happens in the north... I don’t actually accuse all the northies but most of them are like that.. if we are put up in some place in north we usually make up our mind to know the language of that region and tend to adjust with it while northies, no matter how much ever long they are put up in south, they tend to stick to their own language and then make a fuss out of it…hmm don’t know why am so angry at things right in the morning…might be work desperation ;-) anyways carry on dude….
And then came the very awaited philosophical explanation from Surjith who finds great pleasure in killing time with his passion to listen to Heavy metal bands and reading books of all kinds...
You got a point there. Many people especially from Northern parts tend to view people from south are worthless. To think that a great person like Anna being dragged into ignorant debate is a horror. But I feel that sectarian feelings are just as strong among southern people too. However, being a majority in case of north-south divide, they show more arrogance.
One has to wonder if people from South are not to be blamed at least partly. Most of the people in south have been contented with non-risk taking way of life which churns out more bureaucrats. While the lack of political success from south at national level can be blamed on number games of democracy, there are only a few leaders from south who even made an impact at national level. Same goes to business or any other fields. Even though Maharashtrians are viewed as separate from “north” by many people in “north”, they can’t ignore Maharashtra because of the economic implications. Similarly if you take the case of Bengal, then they have such literary and political figures who made impact at national level.
Anyway this divide is not limited to India. In US also there is acute North-South divide and the cultures are far apart. Same goes for many other countries including The UK, France etc.. But the larger fact is that people are losing the essence of life trying to live in their own cocoons. As they say it is a wonderful world out there...
This is all that i have got till i draft out this post for the blog..But i assure you in no means are we indians strictly sticking on to this North and South debates...everyone of us are guilty in a way and have grudges against each other at heart.. but a simple cricket match would just unite us to cheer for our country and thus we stand tall at the end of the day, Proud to be Indians.
No comments:
Post a Comment