Tamil vs Hindi
"Its slowly changing now"."There are even a couple of theatres which screen hindi movies".The above Conversation happened at the Delhi Airport between two middle aged ladies speaking Hindi.I didn't have to be a genius to figure out that they were talking about Madras.
After having lived outside Madras for 7+ years in various cities, I have found that Madras still remains an enigma for most North-Indians.Apart from the usual debate of Hindi Vs Tamil ( Which I have seen is an emotional issue to both sides),Madras represents an almost foreign city like feeling for most northies.I have seen Hindi Speakers abusing Tams of being an isolated community by not joining the mainstream Bharat by speaking Hindi ( Though the truth is that majority of the population are not averse to hindi and its just the politicians who have made it an issue & numerous southies have learnt hindi reasonably well at Hindi prachar Sabhas/Central Schools or eager to learn at workplace). Tams are angry at Hindi speaking crowd for imposition of Hindi (Which is equally stupid since Hindi is the national language and we need to learn it and helps us in communicating with the majority of fellow nationals) & belittling tamil.
Come to Madras.You will be surprised to hear so much hindi on the roads. There is a big North Indian population thriving in the Madras metropolis not just in the last few years but for decades.Scores of Hindi movies run here.I could not get a ticket to a Ghazal concert during my last visit at Chennai since it was full.People perhaps don't respond to hindi queries out of ignoranace and not out of discrimination.Come on .Let us wake up.As we move forward, we don't need these internal squabbles to unsettle us.The greatness of India is its diversity.Let us respect it and turn it to our advantage.
"Its slowly changing now"."There are even a couple of theatres which screen hindi movies".The above Conversation happened at the Delhi Airport between two middle aged ladies speaking Hindi.I didn't have to be a genius to figure out that they were talking about Madras.
After having lived outside Madras for 7+ years in various cities, I have found that Madras still remains an enigma for most North-Indians.Apart from the usual debate of Hindi Vs Tamil ( Which I have seen is an emotional issue to both sides),Madras represents an almost foreign city like feeling for most northies.I have seen Hindi Speakers abusing Tams of being an isolated community by not joining the mainstream Bharat by speaking Hindi ( Though the truth is that majority of the population are not averse to hindi and its just the politicians who have made it an issue & numerous southies have learnt hindi reasonably well at Hindi prachar Sabhas/Central Schools or eager to learn at workplace). Tams are angry at Hindi speaking crowd for imposition of Hindi (Which is equally stupid since Hindi is the national language and we need to learn it and helps us in communicating with the majority of fellow nationals) & belittling tamil.
Come to Madras.You will be surprised to hear so much hindi on the roads. There is a big North Indian population thriving in the Madras metropolis not just in the last few years but for decades.Scores of Hindi movies run here.I could not get a ticket to a Ghazal concert during my last visit at Chennai since it was full.People perhaps don't respond to hindi queries out of ignoranace and not out of discrimination.Come on .Let us wake up.As we move forward, we don't need these internal squabbles to unsettle us.The greatness of India is its diversity.Let us respect it and turn it to our advantage.
posted by Cogito at
Sunday, June 20, 2004
5 Comments:
but, one thing you gotta notice....most of the ppl who learn hindi thru school/prachar sabha....cannot speak properly.....colloquial hindi i.e. pronounciation is way different than the texts....
By
kaatss, at 11:00 PM
As Karthik rightly points out, practise matters a lot, especially for language skills.
My personal experience: Even though I had Hindi (as my second language) till my 10th Standard, and had attended the Hindi Prachar Sabha to learn Prathmik/Madhyama during my primary schooling days, I really couldnt speak any hindi till I landed here in the US. Fortunately for me, I had roommates from all over India, so the common language was obviously Hindi. It was a totally learning experience, my bookish hindi knowledge needed a lot of mending.
By
Twin-Gemini, at 1:43 PM
You guys are right.But the point I was trying to make was the divisiveness languages tend to create need to ignored and we need to respect all languages.
By
Cogito, at 6:07 PM
india has 23 OFFICIAL languages - NO national language.
let the north indian who comes to TN learn Tamil, do we expect the northies to speak in Tamil in hindi belt ?
By
Anonymous, at 5:36 AM
I am a tamilian and I can speak hindi, but as for as North Indians expecting us to learn hindi, thats bullshit. What effort do they make to learn tamil? I know north indians who have lived in madras for years who still cant speak tamil. On the other hand my watchman(illiterate NEPALI) speaks very good tamil. Tamil is as much of a national language as hindi.
By
ramesh, at 6:37 PM
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