Is it really such a huge issue ??

An idle mind is always a devil’s workshop. There are so many things that we find amusing the night before a crucial exam. Even standing in front of the mirror will not amuse you this much. One such night I recollected some of the conversations I had with my classmates before I made friends with them. Here are few of them.

Hi! I’m Sudeep. And you are?

Me: Surya.

S: From?

Me: Chennai.

S: You know only Tamil and nothing else kyun ki mein Chandigarh se hoon.

Me: Rehne de bhai. Kisne bola ki mujhe Hindi nahi aatha?

S: Kya? *Bursts out laughing* Chennai waale hindi jaante? Kaisa yaar?

Next

I’m Saurabh from Delhi and how about you? Mein Delhi se nahi hoon lekin Hindi me baat kar sakta hun!

Ranveer spoke the same way and so did Debashish.

           A few more interesting conversations followed. But the best reactions came from my very own city people. The startled look on their faces said it all. The problem wasn’t with or for me. It was for my non-Hindi speaking friends. They had horrible first time conversations with their ‘only Hindi’ speaking friends. Their reactions varied between ebullience and wistfulness. Why is that people who know Hindi expecting the others to know it as well? Is it because the national language is Hindi and we should all stand by the rule? Allow me to correct such beliefs by quoting that as per the constitution of India, Hindi is not the national language. In fact, India doesn’t have a national language and it doesn’t need one. So it would be prudent to lower the expectations which were supported by a myth rather than a fact. Now to the most important question: Why Chennai won’t speak Hindi?

            I would say it is as the exact same reason why a person from Delhi, Punjab or Assam does not speak Tamizh. First, Tamizh is a language that from my knowledge has existed for close to 2000 years with crores of people speaking the language. It has stood its time. The only languages that tried to compete with it are Hindi and its mother, Sanskrit but have failed to create its mark. It’s a fact that we love our language and do not like to speak a different language when we are in our domain. And this reflects in being supportive any to Tamizh community outside the country irrespective of what is right or wrong.

           Two – Fear. The more you love something, the more you’ll be afraid that you’ll lose it one day. And you’ll do everything at your power to protect what you love dearly. That’s what people in actual power in 1960s did by opposing point blank to the proposal of making Hindi as the national language based on the fear that nationalizing Hindi will slowly erode Tamil. Our fear is justified.

           There are several points that one can put forward to enforce our side of the argument. If you travel to Barcelona/Madrid, do you expect people to speak in Hindi? Obviously not Hindi when you can’t expect them to know English either! Will you complain that English is a global language and they should have known it? On the same note, why should you expect someone in Tamizh Nadu to do so? Because it is a part of India? The greatest strength of India is its diversity in languages and sustainable cultural diversity. Don’t try to nullify that strength by expecting the entire nation to speak in a single language. If you are moving to a land that doesn’t speak the language you do, the onus is on you to learn the new language and not the other way around.

            Everyone has their own choices and can make their own decisions. When I started college, the language spoken over here wasn’t my mother tongue. It seemed like Saroj Narayanaswamy reading the news in French. It was that funny. I didn’t brood over it. But I vowed to learn the language and even though I’ve failed miserably at it so far, I know that I still have 3 other languages that can help me survive anywhere in India. No-one stops you from learning something; it’s just that you choose not to. It’s not Tamizh, even languages like Telugu and Kannada experience similar issues. As people from Bangalore and Hyderabad can converse in Hindi, it makes them a better cosmopolitan than Chennai. Only the state governments continue protecting the regional language. 

             Yes you can continue arguing over such topics forever and ever. India is a sovereign, socialist democratic republic where anarchy will never prevail. Choose your own medium of communication and do not burden the other person with the you-should-know-what-i-speak nonsense. In that case English can be considered as a global language. Why don’t we look forward in that direction? And my dear brothers and sisters, please do remember that our national song and national anthem were both written in Bengali. 

Cheers to our ‘national language’.

#Frustrated Indian.

I MISS YOU :(

               Appa!! Will you frame that picture of Adi and Me or not?  That was the first thing that entered my mind when I entered OUR room .Oh, It’s not going to be yours or mine hereafter. I’m already a non-paying guest in the house.  I can proudly say that you were my inspiration for the three most important skills for a person: Reading, Creative Writing and speaking fluent English. Blogging goes without saying. You proofread all my blogs so far, I won’t let you touch this post :P .You have definitely had more share of fun with me than amma or appa either by fooling around with my hair or dressing me in the up in the weirdest fashion or stealing my pen-pencils or taking me to your friends’ house just because you needed company. Seriously, how many people have you fooled by declaring me as Aditi, that too with just a pony tail and that evergreen pink frock? :O Paaaaavi :P

              All those amazing fights we had: You scratching me with your huge nails, throwing water on me, switching off the TV just when I wanted to watch something, watching only hindi channels and so many more. You were such a mean sister ;). The way you and me used to co-ordinate every mistake and master-plan by perfecting expressions which always meant *What ? Us ? When ? No Way.*Only we knew what we were up to. Every single expense right from the adidas floater to the wildcraft bag to the van heusen shirt to the north star converse to the …………………….. :P You have those bill details to show la? 

Now, every time I come home for the weekend or for any festival, I won’t have anyone to disturb from their deep sleep in our bedroom either by switching off the AC or the fan or in the worst case pinch your hand :P . Nobody will be there to hug me and say Adiii lets go shopping or drop me in the gym or stay with me or help me with this. I can’t help but cry now .I got everything I needed in life. There are a lot of things money can buy but nothing can buy me an awesome elder sister like you J.

              Like I said, it all seems to have happened so quickly. By the time I grew up and could understand what was happening around me , they said you were going to get married and move away to someone else’s house far away from here. It all appeared so new to me with so many people coming over and talking to us about so many complex issues. And now I stand amidst everything wondering what happened in the two weeks I was home. Standing on the dais consoling appa and amma saying she is going to be happy but feeling sad inside knowing that you were going to leave us and go nonetheless. I really miss you dog.

               You were there for me for everything. Right or Wrong, we were never divided. You stood by me, supported me, told me take my chances and always look at the bright side of things and told me to smile no matter what. You said when a problem arises don’t brood saying WHY ME? Instead say TRY ME! You kept me smiling when nothing went right for me. You are extremely adorable. Yes de, he is extremely lucky to have you by his side. You make a great couple. Yeah :P He was the only one I accepted instantly right ? Lucky fellow. 

                The English dictionary does have a hard time when it comes to describing people like you. So yeah, I’m going to stop this right here not because it’s getting late for dinner or because I have a train to catch but for the fact that I don’t want you to miss F2 SF anymore. We were,are and will be there for you no matter what. Chill Out. We are just a missed call away. You have a family of your own now. You are a grown up girl. Take good care of yourself and him and your lovely credit cards because Aditya still has a lot of duties left with that :P (Just kidding ) . And yeah, totally forgot about it, I LOVE YOU <3 anddd  HAVE A HAPPPYY AND AWESOMATIC OF THE AAROMALE MARRIED LIFEEE :D :D <3

PS – I hope you liked it J

PPS – I don’t care, coz you should say I liked it :P

PPPS – You better follow the previous one J

PPPPS – OKAY! That’s enough :P

Don’t forget to show those 30 awesome teeth of yours :D

#Adi :)