Regionalism

It was around 6.30 pm, i was traveling to Majestic bus stand, Bangalore from Mysore road. The person sitting next to me was speaking in Telugu, so i started conversing with him, as i do speak Telugu. A while before, this guy was speaking with the bus conductor; the conductor asked my neighbor does he speak Kannada, he said, he does not, because of work, he has to travel to different places.

Then, the conductor asked me do i speak Kannada, i said i am learning. He at once shot back, why did i come here not knowing Kannada and don't i have job elsewhere? I said jobs are available everywhere. He was taken aback and left. This is my second encounter in just a period of 2 months with pro-Kannada guys that they force others to speak Kannada.

I would like to drive home this message:

We young generation well know that learning an other language is an art, and if i am in Karnataka, if i don't learn Kannada, i will be the loser. But request you all out there, whose minds are filled with super pro-Kannada ideas, to be patient till your neighbors like me take time to learn and speak the language.

I was bemused to learn a PUC Tamil student Ms. J Keerthana topped in the Tamil Nadu state exams 2010 in Telugu, please read the article here: Tamil girl tops in Telugu. While my house is few kilometers away to Andhra Pradesh state border in Vellore, i did not have the opportunity to learn my mother tongue. If this is the case, consider the sizable Telugu speaking population in Trichy, Coimbatore and other inner areas of Tamil Nadu. While the States reorganization committee, formed states for better coordination and administration among the linguistics states, the present day politics infuse more regionalism, does not open up the opportunities and allow the citizens to have their rights. With this i meant only to learn more languages, and not at the cost of forgetting others. While entertainment industry broke these barriers, with actors and music playing and heard across states, it is the citizens, who were left without any option unfortunately. Come on, even after 60 years of independence, how much inequalities we have!

One has to always remember that, you can tell others to learn the language, but you can't force. Alright. Let's stand united for nation's prosperity and unity.

An interesting example in this context, is The Danube river, which flows through 10 countries in Europe. Wow! I don't ask you to collaborate with 10 countries, but a friendly attitude towards your neighbors and society will do to sort out all the burning issues today - resources sharing like water, and better coordination among intelligence bureaus etc. Learn more about Danube river here.

Gotcha! bye for now.