"Kannada Barutha??", ah! I am sure most of you in Bangalore would have heard this, but what is "kannada barutha?" here it goes. Bangalore the IT capital of India , the silicon city and now a Metro city opened its gates to almost all kinds of people. Very evidently the recent poll census proved that there are only 47% of original inhabitants in Bangalore/bengaluru. The life style of the city has seen a gradual change with Pizza Corners replacing MTR's, classy eat out's replacing "Vidyarthi Bhavans" and flashy pub's replacing all our "Mahalakshmi wine shops".I am not biased in mentioning here that some inhabitants who are living in namma bengaluru from the past 15/20 years still don't speak Kannada. The only terms that they know in Kannada is "kannada barolla" or "yeshtu" or "hogbeku". They will climb an auto and say "market hogbeku" or "rate yeshtu" and if the driver tries to strike up a conversation with them, the next phrase is "kannada barolla". WTF guys? You are here.. don't force us to be like MNS. We have a KaRaVe here but we are still open minded.
"Change is inevitable" from the days of BEML, HAL and BHEL to INFOSYS, WIPRO; Bangalore has a new look now on the world map. Gone are the days where a typical Sunday for any bangalorean was a nice romantic walk on the pavements of "LALBAGH...", "rave idli and coffee.." at the nearest yet old looking MTR and a wonderful Annavra film either at Santosh or central 'talkies'. Today's Bangalore is deluged in traffic, stress and pressure, Saturday nights without beer is desolate and a Sunday without a visit to either a nearest spa or health clinic is schlocky!! The gandhibazar's are now AC cooled super markets, majestic is now replaced by ultra modern and diversified Brigade road, sri cauvery coffee joint is now Coffee days.. and "Bhagyalakshmi coffee adda.. is now barista. With globalisation and more retail market the city will definitely see more forceful changes.
Have all these changed our language? Kannada the local language of Bangalore is supposed to be one of the most meaningful language, it also has an unique script as compared to its other counterparts; but how many percentage of people really use Kannada in Bangalore now? The figures are staggering, only 37% of people speak kannada in the state's capital, for rest it is only "Kannada barutha?"
Any normal guy starts with this sentence "Kannada barutha?" while talking to other person, people confirm before they speak the language. You want to ask an address in Bangalore ? Or reply to a question then English is the most preferred language other than Hindi. It's a famous fact that two kannidagas in an IT company always talk in a neutral language!! even the vendors and shop keepers are channeled with this new wave, the moment when you step in any shop in Bangalore , you are always asked "Kannada barutha?" or the entire conversation takes place in non kannada languages. People have lost the confidence of speaking in the local language and more over speaking Kannada on the streets of "M.G road "or "kormangala" is substandard.This post is a forwarded email that I received.. I have made an addition there in the midst of the post.. This is absolutely true, esp. in today's instance.. Kannada / Kannadigas are looked down upon wherever you go.. But if you look at it, it is more of our own mistake than anyone elses..
Shopping malls in the city have been completely banned from using Kannada, not a forced one but definitely an adapted one. One has to confirm that the other person knows the language before he starts using any language. "ondu glass beer" is a insult when it comes to any decorous pub in Bangalore . "Swalpa menu card kodthira..??" has been replaced by "Can I have the menu card pls...?"
Just to hit some facts, marathi is still the largest and common speaking language in mumbai even though mumbai has the highest no of inhabitants. Telgue is a practised ritual in yet another IT HUB Hyderabad . When it comes to tamil nadu, beware you can be alive either if you are a fan of rajnikanth or you know tamil. Malyalam runs in the blood of every mallu be it Kuwait , dubai or any hospital; but when it comes to kannada it is always "kannada barutha?" and next is "namaskara."
I am not a Kannada activist neither I run any Kannada supporting organisation, I am just a plebeian who just love the language. Globalisation is the trend and modernisation is the mantra but at the cost the language? Sounds no logic.. is speaking kannada down market? The answer has to be found within oneself. Next time when you hear "kannada barutha?" you just remember that "kannada runs in your blood.."
This mail is in English, only because it can be read by non Kannadigas and understand how much we love our language.
We see a tamilian speaking on the road and we approach him and speak to him in tamil only, to make him feel comfortable and to show him that we know an additional language. This is just not the case in TN.
We do the same mistake with a "Northi" - we approach him and ask him "bolo bhaiyya, kyaa chaahiye aapko". Where have we spoken our language in front of others? Why are we so careless about our own language? Is it that we do not respect it? And when we do not speak our own language in offices and streets and when conversing / commuting, how can we expect immigrants to speak our language?
Comments
BTW, However I am very glad that Kannada articles on wikipedia are very exhaustive, perhaps much more than any other south indian language. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoysala_Empire
ಸಕತ್ತಾಗಿದೆ... ಆ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲೇ ಒಂದು ಎರಡು ಗೆರೆಗಳನ್ನ ಬರೀತಾ ಇದೀನಿ. ಕನ್ನಡದವರು ಇನ್ನೊಬ್ರಿಗೊಸ್ಕರ ಬದುಕೊ ಜನ. ಆದಿಕ್ಕೆ ಅನ್ಸುತ್ತೆ, ನಮ್ಜೊತೆ ಮಾತಾಡೋರಿಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬಂದಿಲ್ಲ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಅವ್ರ ಭಾಷೇನಲ್ಲೇ ಮಾತಾಡ್ತಿವಿ. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಷಾಭಿಮನ ಇದೆ. ಭಾಷೆ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಅಂಧಾಭಿಮಾನ ಇಲ್ಲ[ಬೇರೆ ಕಡೆ ಇರೋ ತರ]. ಈಗ ನಿಮ್ಮನ್ನೇ ನೋಡಿ, ನೀವು ಇದನ್ನು ಎಲ್ಲಾರೂ ಓದ್ಬೆಕು ಅಂತ ಆಂಗ್ಲ ಭಾಷೇನಲ್ಲಿ ಬರ್ದಿದೀರಾ. ಅಲ್ವಾ? . ಹಾಗೆ.. ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಸೇರಿರೋ ಕಡೆ[Tweetup meet] ನಾವು ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತಡೋಲ್ಲ...ಕಾರಣ? ಅದು ಸರಿ ಅಲ್ಲ ಅನ್ಸುತ್ತೆ.
ನೀವೇ ಹೇಳಿದ ಹಾಗೆ, ಕನ್ನಡದವರ ಶೇಕಡ ತುಂಬಾ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಇರೋ ಕಡೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಮಾತಾದೋರನ್ನ ಹುಡುಕೋದು ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕಷ್ಟ. ಬಂದವರನ್ನ ಬದಲಿಸೋ ಜನ ನಾವಲ್ಲ...ಅವ್ರಗೋಸ್ಕರ ನಾವೇ ಬದಲಾಗೋರು ನಾವು.. ಇನ್ನಾ ತುಂಬಾ ಕಾರಣಗಳಿದೆ, ಸಮಯ ಸಿಕ್ಕಾಗ ಮಾತಾಡೋಣ. ಅಂದ ಹಾಗೆ, ನಂಗೆ ಪಿಜಾಗಿಂತ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿ ಭವನ ದೋಸೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಎಸ್.ಎಲ್.ವೀ ಕಾಫೀ ನೇ ಇಸ್ಟಾ!! :)
I don't know whom to complain whether the kannadigaas or the neighbours.. But the first entity, u can directly complain is the government. Encouraging other state peoples to learn kannada cannot be done by each and every one..
I really loved a kannada drama i saw in a village near Coorg.. I even learnt some good kannada words by seeing that drama..
I love to know abt the prehistoric epics of kannada language and also the carnatic music in kannada..
But only very few is interested in teaching me.. :(
If u ask me to teach something in tamil or explain its epics, i will stand first in the queue to advertise.. :)
And movies.. :).. i love some kannada movies.. the way we learn hindi by seeing hindi movies.. we can learn kannada too by watching kannada movies..
I dont know why some people dont like tamil people..might be because of stupid politics + cavery etc.. But if u see, all south india people can learn kannada more faster and the reason why they are not learning is due to lack of encouragement..
Basically, it is all on the government hands to enforce kanada usage in bangalore..
It has to be encouraged by government by organising Drama's, advertisements, art movies, force people to use Bengaluru instead of Bangalore.. (I personally started telling people to use "Bengaluru".. :))
if this is what you are preaching to people around you God help us all!!
@manojvasanth ಮಗ, ನೀನು ಹೇಳ್ತಿರೋದು ನೂರಕ್ಕೂ ನೂರು ಸತ್ಯ.. ನಾವು ಇನ್ನೊಬ್ರಿಗಾಗಿ ಬದುಕ್ಥಿವಿ.. ಇನ್ನೊಬ್ರಿಗಾಗಿ ಏನು ಬೇಕಾದ್ರೂ ಮಾಡ್ತಿವಿ.. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಜನ ನಮ್ಮನ್ನ ಕೆಳಗೆ ದೂಡುಥಿದ್ದಾರೆ.
@vprajan dude, never did we complain about tamil/telugu or any other state here.. we are just feeling bad about the way we let our maatrubhasha go. If you want to know, I am a tamilian by birth, but a kannadiga by choice. I have absolutely no qualms about teaching someone kannada, but it is the interest in the other person that counts. There are not many vprajans here who are interested to learn a language.
@anonymous I guess you did not get the blogpost's intention.. request you to read through again and if you still feel the same way, I am sorry that you woefully lack understanding! And if you are so broadminded, why are you not giving your name? Don't u have a name?
I think one way to promote the language among everyone is to hold cultural meets, promoting regional cinemas. I dont see why a person would want to watch a Kanada film if that is peromoted well and has subtitles in English atleast this way one will get a taste of the language and culture. Its also important to have many local freinds, that way you get a chance to start loving the localites and their way of life and language. People who come looking for jobs in the IT hadrly have any frnds who is a Kanadiga from Bangalore. people have their own seperate groups. We got to know of so many local people only thru bloggers meet and photo meets else I would also have beenone of the people from Delhi who knows nothing about the city. I still dont know the language and honestly I dont even feel the need to learn it but I would surely love to know the Kanada culture, attend a family dinner, a wedding you know some thing that will take me closer to the local people. I think once we develop a relationship the need to know the language will also grow automatically.
Thanks for dropping by. I agree with you thoroughly on the movies part.. of late, there are only a few "decent" movies and expecting subtitles for them is a tad too far an expectation.
We could, as you say, have more of these meets and learn more languages.
Talking abt your point abt the IT industry guys not having more kannada friends, they would prefer to gel amongst their own linguistic friends rather than learn another language here.
I am not pointing the finger at anyone here, however, it is better said that it is due to the mistake of kannadigas who are so "benevolent" that they let go of their language and are more intent on pleasing the "other" person by speaking in the "other" persons language to make him feel comfortable.
Anyways, happy kannada rajyotsava!
(Rajyotsava = Rajya (State) + Utsava = Festival)
Couldn't agree more, and yet, they never bother to do the same.
There are however people who have lived in Bangalore their entire lives, though they come from different parts of India. What about them? My best buddy himself is a Bengali from Calcutta, and yet he always calls himself a Bangalorean and a "trying to be a Kannadiga" guy.
Good article Suksy.
1. Kannada does have its own script but in no way it is unique. It is very similar to the Telugu script. In fact both the modern Kannada script and the modern Telugu script had the same origin.
2. If you had been to Hyderabad you would have understood that it is no different from Bangalore, in that the local language is displaced. Majority in Hyderabad speak Hindi or Urdu.
3. Except Tamils I don't see any locals in the South and Maharastra being protective of their languages. Unfortunately the local languages are dying a slow death. What you described is happening to Kannada is happening to Marathi and Telugu as well.
I strongly believe that if a person lives in a particular state he must learn that language. That is the least he can do.
This is stupid.
Why would you speak to someone in a language they don't understand?
You shouldn't speak in Kannada with me (unless I can understand/speak it) the same way I won't speak in Gujarati with you (because I assume you don't speak/understand it either).
Promoting your language and culture is one thing (and something that I fully support).
Harassing people who don't speak your language, on the other hand, borders on bullying.
While I can understand your frustration at expats who live here for years without knowing a lick of the local language, do bear in mind that it takes time, effort and commitment to learn another language - especially if you're an adult with a busy life.
In fact, you should be happy that you can use as Hindi as a cop-out wherever you travel - imagine having to learn a new language every time you change states.
Having said that, I am doing my best to learn enough Kannada to be able to carry out basic conversations. The people here are sweet and helpful, and I would love to talk to them in their own language. :)