People
from the northern part of the country have been long complaining about the
illiteracy of the people down south in the National language. The southern states of Telengana, Andhra
Pradesh, Kerala, Tamilnadu and Karnataka have seen by tradition as the states
where people seem too dumb for Hindi. When I got down to analyse the exact
scenario down south, things got pretty clear.
Karnataka, with
Bengaluru as its capital, a leading IT hub in the country, is becoming home to
a lot of engineers who come there as a part of their job, as a result of which,
we have a lot of Hindi and the northern influence in it. From English radio
stations to full time Bollywood stations, Bengaluru has transcended a lot from
once a dusty roadcap to a very busy beeptimer. In most part of the city, we can
have a lot of auto-rickshaw wallahs
querying , “Kahaan jaanaa hai?”(Where do you want to go?). And, so now,
Bengaluru is turning almost a destination that resembles North cities like Mumbai,
Delhi, Pune, etc.. And hence, we have this place as a favourite spot for
Northies who would love to seek a job and settle down south.
Besides Bengaluru,
coming to the focus of the other states, Andhra and Telengana has a lot of
population for Muslims, and thus housing a large number of Urdu versals.
Needless to say, Urdu is a lot like Hindi and people know how to manage with
Muslims. So, AP and Telengana score a partiality for comforting Northies to
make a living. Although day to day life in AP and Telengana will be much of a
hassle, the worse is yet to come.
Malayalis from
Kerala have a great stake in their language and are hence too obstructive to
Hindi influencing their rich culture. The same applies to Tamilnadu, where
people are always up to new things, but always see Hindi as an enemy that would
destroy their leftoff culture. Tamils and Malayalis have the same outlook and
approach towards North Indians – fair complexioned, uncaringly hard working,
ruthless , etc.. So, if a Northie comes to Chennai or Coimbatore or Trivandrum
or Trichy, with or without an aim to settle, it won’t be well possible without
learning the local language. From petty shops to supermarkets (you are lucky if
you find one speaking Hindi) to banks to offices, things pretty much happen in
Tamil. Though official works always come along English, those “unofficial”
office works will ever be in Tamil, from chit-chatting to bizz hangouts.. Some
may think that this trend is coming to an end. Behold, it is NOT!
The next
generation seems to be too curious to learn the northern language, which is an
encouraging news, but the numbers turn out to be a worry. Only a partial
percentage of the students seem to learn Hindi by heart, others, just for the
sake of a degree or for peer pressure driven thing, so called ego. Just a small
percentage, say 5% to 6% learn Hindi and even then, only 1% to 2% of them
completely of a standard to speak with utmost fluency. People are all aware
that Hindi is extremely helpful, sake of a better future up North, but they
don’t step in to learn the language.
UH, COLD TIMES AHEAD…
