Speaking Kannada In Bengalooru

23 October 2009 - 1:03pm — drvk@in.com

I am a kannadiga and have noticed that kannadigas hesitate a lot to assert their identity and get blended with the society where ever they go. If kannadigas (especially the educated ones) stop speaking kannada to their own people as it is happening now, the future for our language appears bleak. We have to forego our mindless broad mindedness and assert our identity.I want to cite an example form my cousins experience in the US. I have seen in Kannada sanghas where people gather with their own linguistic group rather than just with people from karnataka. We should unite first. Either tulu, konkani, mangalorean, and hubbali we should know that we are kannadigas first

Slowly but Surely a silent revolution is taking place. I do hear Kannada in Forum, Inox nowadays. I always speak in Kannada in Malls(accompanied by 'sign language' even if the other person doesn;t understand kannada). There were many kannada rajyotsava celebrations in many IT companies including mine.

To each person his language is superior. This does not mean other languages are inferior. After all language is a means of comunication nothing more ,nothing less.Any Kannadiga can be justifiably proud of NarayanaMurthy so also other Indians.

We are all Indians, but we do need to preserve our rapidly vanishing linguistic identity as well...

Comments

Reductio ad absurdum

summer glau - 23 Oct 2009 - 2:10pm

I am a Sankethi and have noticed that Sankethis hesitate a lot to assert their identity and get blended with the society where ever they go. If Sankethis (especially the educated ones) stop speaking Sankethi to their own people as it is happening now, the future for our language appears bleak. We have to forego our mindless broad mindedness and assert our identity.I want to cite an example form my cousins experience in the US. I have seen in Sankethi sanghas where people gather with their own linguistic group rather than just with people from Sankethi community. We should unite first. Either Kaushika or Bettadapura, we should know that we are Sankethis firs.

Slowly but Surely a silent revolution is taking place. I do hear Sankethi in Marriages, religious functions nowadays. I always speak in Sankethi in temples (accompanied by 'sign language' even if the other person doesn;t understand Sankethi). There were many Sankethi language celebrations in many companies including mine.

To each person his language is superior. This does not mean other languages are inferior. After all language is a means of comunication nothing more ,nothing less.Any Sankethi can be justifiably proud of any other Sankethi so also other Kanandigas.

We are all Kannadigas, but we do need to preserve our rapidly vanishing linguistic identity as well...

Or in other words...

What is your point?

PS: I am not a Sankethi.

- Summer Glau

Ouch

summer glau - 23 Oct 2009 - 2:31pm

Looks like my post hit a sensitive spot. Sorry!

No seriously, what is your point? Are you saying that Kannadigas should resort to 'Kannada or else sign language' approach to preserve our language's identity?

Or are you saying you see a trend building up and happy about it?

Or what do you mean by 'Either tulu, konkani, mangalorean, and hubbali' ? You speak as if Hubballi was some kind of demarcation of Kannadigas.

I am totally lost.

In any case, my point was, the challenge faced by Kannada to survive in a changing world is no different than any other language say Sankethi or Havyaka or Kodava. What is your vision to preserve the identity of all of these? Would love to know your encompassing and sustainable approach for this challenge.

PS: Pleaes dont use all CAPS. It does not reflect very well for someone with a above average IQ.

- Summer Glau

No seriously, what is your

drvk@in.com - 23 Oct 2009 - 3:59pm

No seriously, what is your point? Are you saying that Kannadigas should resort to 'Kannada or else sign language' approach to preserve our language's identity?: EXACTLY bro...u hit the nail right on the head..for a start id like this as a practical solution for ppl on blore streets who come n ask u directions to go to forum in their own language??

Or are you saying you see a trend building up and happy about it? Yes im happy bout this trend

Or what do you mean by 'Either tulu, konkani, mangalorean, and hubbali' ? You speak as if Hubballi was some kind of demarcation of Kannadigas.: It is...or atleast those are the groups of kannadigas i have seen grp together in meetings

This blog was under the category discusions..so this jus average iQ guy would like to solicit some ideas/solutions from ppl about this issue..

Im sorry for bein rude

vikram k

Relevance

faiqg - 23 Oct 2009 - 2:51pm

Is this post/discussion relevant to Praja.in?

About Praja - http://praja.in/en/about-...

merge

tsubba - 23 Oct 2009 - 5:30pm

hello doctor,

i have this organizational issue that too many posts get created on same/ similar topics. so what happens is discussion get repeated or worst lost. some of us cant visit/check the site every day. and for us continutity is important. when we get time we should be able to continue from where we left off. for example, i am searching for a drainage thread i had posted on last week for the past half an hour. cant find it. it is frustrating.

long story short, can you please move your thread to one of the scores of posts dealing with this issue? please. thumba upyoga agutte. nanni.

side note: please donot assume that we have not discussed the issue before or are not concerned about the issues you cite or dont do anything about it. but, atleast for me, such 'civilizational' issues are too big to make actionable prescriptions. these are manasu gello type of issues. highly unquantifiable.

meanwhile neeru nalli type of issues exist. things about which i may or maynot something about, things much smaller and more importantly more well defined in scope and impact. little things that i can wrap my head around, in concrete quantifiable terms.

so as i age, and can do that much little with my time, i will try to focus on little things that i can do. you please carry on with what moves you. i just stated what my situation is. so if i dont respond to your post, it does not mean i dont understand your problem, or disagree with your solution.

tarle - the comment mover

silkboard - 23 Oct 2009 - 5:47pm

Tarle pa, Moderator's are handicapped a bit by unavailability of that nice "comment mover" feature. It should be back soon to address your problem.

Either way - the tech way of working on the problem is to club together such posts via tags and somehow present them together. Having just a few posts with 100s of comments on them is not very user friendly.

On this particular post, such pourings are relevant fit with praja.in only if someone has ideas to promote kannada, and is eventually willing to track or review state govt's language promotion efforts.

Whether its the case with this post or not, its for moderators to decide. Like Tarle said, I have the right to keep away and that doesn't mean that I am for or against the emotion put on display here.

lekhak notes vs. buff sheets

tsubba - 23 Oct 2009 - 6:03pm

i school i used to maintain notes, one for algebra, one for geometry one for kannada and so on... then at home i used have buff sheets on which i would work out problems. organization for both used to be very different. and their usability was also very diffrent. all my learning used to happen in my buff sheets. notes dictated by teacher were just reference.

since i was not very organized, i never filed my buff sheets in order, so i could never use it again on a later date. they all used to be in a file folder, stuffed into it in an ad hoc manner. those pages that i gund soojied together found some use. others were just papers with my handwriting on it. not surprisingly i was not a good learner or student and barely passed bcoz i could not refresh my memory. to put hennessey and patterson to work, i never moved data from pages to ram or registers. so what could my 8086 do?

that habit continues to this day.

ps: i forget the name now, but in old systems there used to a dedicated part of the hard disk, which contained a table from where the 'computer' would know which file is stored where, how much size etc etc...

tag is like search. the output has no organization.

books and folders

silkboard - 23 Oct 2009 - 6:14pm

Books and folders is a bit of a different approach. A JEE practice problem that involved both Trigonometry and Algebra would probably get duplicated in both your notebooks.

Study areas were well defined man. Now the topics here would talk storm water drain and elevated roads at the same time, or dedicated bus lane (PT) and police enforcement - where would you put them? Thats why the forum thing caused a problem - it wasn't possible to put same post in multiple forums at once.

But saar - mail me. Let us make a good list of categories. And then take away the free tagging feature. We will then build forum like views on top of the fixed set of tags, and that would be the entry page of discussions.

Long pending. Try maadthini, this weekend. That is if you give a list of categories, because only you can.

nice measurable objective.

tsubba - 23 Oct 2009 - 6:32pm

On this particular post, such pourings are relevant fit with praja.in only if someone has ideas to promote kannada, and is eventually willing to track or review state govt's language promotion efforts.

aha! you put a nice quantifiable measure on the problem. very nice. actually brilliant. now we have something tangible. first step to track this issue in a meaningful sense.

Language issue

psaram42 - 23 Oct 2009 - 9:22pm

There is a story where two new born boys were kidnapped by a fox. These boys when rescued were seen to talk in there own brand new language. These boys would be the most unfortunate if they were highly proud of their language and would want to propagate their language. However they may like to talk their own language when the meet.

English language is a boon to us Indians. Learning languages other than ones own mother tongue is useful in opening the gates to the bounties that language can offer. It is true of ones own mother tongue too.

“If kannadigas (especially the educated ones) stop speaking kannada to their own people as it is happening now, the future for our language appears bleak.”

Just speaking is not enough serous writing too is needed. SL Byrappa has written series of books par excellence. What about Karnatic Music and dance? No need to despair Doc. Kannada is a highly developed language with a treasure of literature and culture. Such discussions on Praja hardly add anything to the available Gyan on this subject.

Anisuthide yeko indu - Be Romans while in Rome

Vasanthkumar My... - 24 Oct 2009 - 7:44pm

I couldn't help but to log in because the post is about KANNADA, the singing language of the south. There are two things in the life of Kannadigas that ensnare them – Kannada and Cauvery. I have deliberately posted the following in Engannada/Kanglish so that those who espouse the cause of Kannada and those who are on the verge of learning Kannada despite being out-landish in the land of Pampa, Ranna, Sarvajna, Aacharyaas, Vidwaans and Land of Palaces and Gardens, may understand how to behave like Romans while in Rome. Many of those who have made Karnataka their abode, bread, butter and jam earner, talk of Bharat is one and about constitutional rights, such people may please note that all that is passé and time has come to call a spade a spade for Kannadigas to make such people understand that the goodness should not be misused or over ridden and the land of opportunities, namma Bengaluru can be nimma Bengaluru also and is wide open for all good hearts (conditions apply). Please get the following transliterated, if you are interested and then post your comments – please do not post something just for the sake of posting.

There is a Kannada proverb:

KATKONDOLU KADE THANAKA, ITKONDOLU IRO THANAKA :

Aadare, ee gaade mathu thirugu murugaagi, karnataatakada kannaditiya paalige satyavaada urulaagi sambhaviside. Yekendare, katkondiruva, kannikeyaagidda kannadithiyannu karnatakada ranadheeraru udi thumbisi, mane mathu mana thumbisikolluva pramaana vachanagalannu maadi, manege banda mele, oddu moolege serisi, chindi batte udisi, avalu kaneeru surisodanna nodidroo saha kanikara thorade katukara haage nadedukolluthiddaralla, adannu kandu nammantha hireekara karulu hisuki neeraadanthe anisuthide, yeko indu.

Pakkada raajyagalalliro gadsaru shastreeyavaagi katkondolge jaasthi marvaade kottu, olle patta kottu, staana maana kottu, yelli hodaroo avalanna baayi thumbaa maatanaadisikondu, bagalalle ittukondirodanna nodidre, nanage anisuthide yeno indu.

Aadre nammoornaage nodi swami, adhikaarada chukkani hididiro kachche panche gandugali raamandiru, kurimari November thingala netaararu, thale bolaagi gadda nerediddaroo manassinalle niguri ninthu obbarannobbaru iriyuvanthe nodi mathu maathanaado hiriya saahithigalu, jayabheri baarisida anya bhaashegala chitragalannu kannadadaage maru chitreekarana maadi, sarkaara koduva sambhaavanege mathu paaarithoshakagalige kai odduva kotigattale kolle hodeyuthiruva chitrarangada chitra vichitra nirmaapakaru, nirdeshakaru mathu vichitra nata shikaamanigalannu kandare maiyella uriyuthide yaako indu.

Ishte alla, kannada patrikegalu antha nondaayisikondu, aangla padagalannu haasu hokkagi upyaogisikondu nanna patrike mundu, thanna patrike mundu antha henagaaduthiruva patrikodyamigalu, mathu kannada shaalegala paravaanagi padedu aangla maadhyamavanne upyogisi kannada bhaashege avamaana maadi, konege shaalegalannu kotigattalege maari kolluthiruva neecharannu kandare nanage anisuthi yaako indu…..

Jothege, bhaarata deshada makkalu naavu, naavella onde yendu saari, bengalurige bandu nelesi, kannada naadina nela, neeru mathu namage serabekaada moola bhootha soukaryagalu, nidhi nikshepagala, havaagunada kolle hodiyuthiruva horagininda bandu nammoorina galli galligalalloo beru bittu nammanne kadegaanisuthiruva “sahodara shikhaamanigalnnu” yenoo maadalu aagillavalla anisuthide yaako indu.

Hodare hogali, naavendendoo sadbhaavanegala aagara, sneha jeevigalu mathu sahrudayigalu antha annisikondu horaginavarige nammathanavannu thiliyapadisona, namma nudi, bhaashaa samskruthi, kale, sogadugala arivu moodisuva kaaryakramagalannu hammikollona yendare, aa horagininda banda baddethavu, avara bhaashe, samskruthi mathu avara sogadugalannu namma bengalooorinalli pasarisuthiruvudannu kandare namage hege, hego anisuvudaralli thappenide indu?

Idannella thadkondiro kempegowdrugalu, madakari naayakarugalu, bekaadaaga topi haakikondu byaadavaadaaga bereyavari topi haakuva kannadada kache panche raajakaaranada bagge kadime arivu iruva pudaarigalu, ‘adeno anthaaralla andu aangla bhaashaa padavannu’ upyogisi uddudda bhashana bigiyuva putagosi raajakaaranigalu yellaru seri, itkondiro thundu langada vyaari bhamalannu, avala bhuja sontagalannu balasi, aagaaga thabbikondu, baaithumbaa hogali, avalannu naguvina alegalalli thelisi kila kilaantha naguvudakke biduthiddaralla, namma kannada thaayiya suputraru, adannu kandu nammanthaha kannadakkagi bevaru surisi ulisikollalu prayatna paduthiruva hireekara manassu kenda-mandalavaagudaralli mathu jigupse hondovudaralli thappenilla anisuthide, yeko indu.

Nija, namma kelavu hireekaru thappu maadudru, aangla bhaasha vyaariyannu itkondu, avalanna mane mandigella parichayisi, avala haava bhaavagalige marulaagi, avalannu makkala mathu manemandigala madilalloo koorisi, avalige devaramaneyalloo serisi, yelladaroo nulidu nalidaadu antha saraagavaagi bittiddaralla, adannu kandare, namma yede biridu raktha heppugattuvudaralli thappenilla anisuthide, yeko indu.

Banni kannadada makkalella ondaagona, katkonda Kannadithiyannu mooleyinda yelisi, thabbi muddadi, aagabaaraddella aagi hogide thaayee, baa, eega ninnannu aadarisi, ninnannu alankarisi, hane thumba kumkumavannu ittu, mysoru malligeyannoo, kesari kanakaambaravannoo ninna thurubina thumbaa mudisi, sirigandhada, arisinavannu lepisi, mysooru reshime mathu dhaaravaadada kuppasa udisi, kaalandige, daabu thodisi, neenu naachi ninna hebbettininda nela kereyuva bhangiyannu noduva mahadaase aagide yenisuthide, yeko indu.

Banni karnaatakada suputrare, nillisi, saaku saaku neevu kotta ee himse, ee duravasthe, vijayanagarada veeraputraranthe yeddu nilli, hakka bukkara theradi neevu namma kannadithiya maana maryaaadeyannu ulisuva pana thodi, saaku nimma ee niruthsaaha, itkondolige maaduthiruva seve saaku, avalu beku, satya, aadare avale nimma maneyolagoo saha sarvasvave yennuva prashne nimmannu kaaduthillave, yaako indu?

Nimma mummy, daddy, uncle, aunty samskruthiannu indinindale pana thottu pakkadallidi, itkondolanna baree bettaalu maaduvadannu konegaanisuva paristhithi bandiruvudarinda, mathu neevu aangla vyaariyannu itkonde iruva paristhithi bandirodrinda, itkolli - avalu illadiddare nimma baalu munde saaguvude illavenu yennuvanthe maadikondiddeera, itkolli, horagade iddaaga, avalondige odanaadi, nalidaadi aadare….;

AAADARE

maneya hosthilolage kaaliduva modalu, itkondirolige ondu maathu heli - saaku sundari, ninna vyaara, nalidaata, haava bhaava - ee sarahaddnavarege maathra, ee hosthilolage ninna pravesha nishedhisalaagide yendu vinayavaagi heli, avalannu hogalu heli, neevu hosthiloagade kaalittu, katkondola siri mogada mugulnageyannu kandu, avalannu baachi thabbi, muddittu manemandiyodane achcha kannadalli baayi thumbaa maathanaadalu mundaagi. Ee reethiyaagi nimmannu neeve thiddkolluvudarinda nimma maneyolagina vaathaavarana kannadamayavaagi santhoshada aagaravaaguvudaralli sandehavilla mathu thaayi bhuvaneshwariya mugulnageya aasheervaadagalu nimmodane sadaa iruvudaralli sandeshavill anisuthide yeko indu.

Kone maathu: kannadigare kannadigarige kannadada hirimeya bagge bhaashana maaduva mathu maatannaduva badalu, kannada balladavarige karnaatakada nudi, nade, sogadu, sampathu, nela, jala mathu saaviraru varshagala paramparaagaanuthavaagi galisiruva hiremeya bagge arivu moodisuva mathu avarige namma haadu bhaasheyaada kannadavannu kalisuva kaaryakramagalannu hammi kondare, kannada thaayiya nijavaada seve maadidanthaaguvudaralli sandehavilla anisuthide yeko indu.

Vasanthkumar Mysoremath

Kanaada

E.R. Ramachandran - 25 Oct 2009 - 11:30am

I have few suggestions for those who want to promote kannada:

1. In your locality try to teach kannada in non-kannada schools on week ends, sundays free. Arrange some good Kannada films

2. Post small signboards in Kannada in your locality after invoving 2 to 3 shops.

3. Distribute leaflets how to make bisibele, obbattu etc before ugadi, sankranthi.

4. Get local people involved whatever may be their language.

5. you will see the result soon.

6. Don't get too emotional on language. any language for that matter. But do your bit to spread the language in innovative ways.

Welcome back VKM sir

psaram42 - 25 Oct 2009 - 7:44pm

I was surprised indeed. But it was a pleasant surprise. However my considered opinion is one need not be emotional on any issue. Be critical no problem.

However I would like to make some comments.

1. I am a Kannadiga. I would learn a new language for my own selfish purpose of enriching my self economically, culturally, intellectually and socially. (need based)

2. We kannadigas consider ourselves broad minded. ->))

3. We consider sticking to Kannada as an inferiority complex.

4. Mother tongue has many connotations.

5. It is pointless make an issue out of ones own language ie mother tongue.

6. What happens if a Tamil Ian marries a Bengali? Who learns whose language?

7. Being multi lingual is an advantage

8. The country has been divided on linguistic basis. So be it. All name plates on busses should be in Kannada. Why not? Official language in Karnataka is Kannada.

Are these points enough? Saka Innu Beka. Welcome once again VKM sir!

One idea...

idontspam - 25 Oct 2009 - 9:35pm

Kannada Organizations(facilitators) should fund people to take up income enabling/enhancing full/part time Kannada instruction programs which pays instructors on the number of hours taught and levels of tests cleared by learner. The spread of instructors is very important. Any private individual who wishes to enroll in the instructor program should be able to write a test and accredit himself. He can then conduct his own training program with course materials provided by the facilitators online. The instructor can conduct the program at his own time, class size and choose the mode of instruction (home tutoring, online, facility based). The accredited instructors have to enroll the learner online at the facilitators systems and track his progress there. The payment will be based on the data at the facilitators systems. The learner can pass different levels of tests which will enable them to interact with govt organizations and converse in Kannada with fellow Kannada speaking countrymen.

This entire infrastructure can be setup online, the accreditation, enrolling, tracking, tests,payments etc. I know a ton of people who can supplement incomes by being home tutors in the evening, there can be unemployed who may want to set up remote learning centers etc.

While we should keep in mind that a person whose mother tongue is not Kannada will not learn Kannada if he/she does not hear/use it in public life, a law needs to be passed that no person shall be refused service because he/she doesnt know how to speak in Kannada. Do not let insecurity get the better of your emotional stability.

While any language or religion can be pervasive it should never be intrusive or offensive to those who dont follow/practise it.

@ psaram, ids, err,

Vasanthkumar My... - 26 Oct 2009 - 1:52pm

@ psaram, ids, err,

Apprecaite the views expressed but before further discussions could take place and other good natured prajas could post, let us just have a look at the experience gained by such a cosmopolitan from Kerala, on her post in a print media:

The following is a post that appeared in Bangalore Mirror – Column: Bangalore Talking – My Stories on 22-11-2008 -

‘Speak only in Kannada’
Bharti Vishwanathan
Posted On Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 09:11:13 PM

[Moderator: CONTENT REMOVED - Do not cut and paste full content from other commercial websites - provide a link and summary only]

If the above is the attitude of certain set of so called cosmopital ‘Bharatiya’ people, what should the Kannadigas call them? Want to know what she got? She got 23 posts - some for some against - u b the judge.

After all these posts, the Editor, Bangalore Mirror posted his own version to draw some sort of conclusion and now this post has raked up the same subject.

Should Kannadigas keep quiet? Even an ant fights back when cornered and when my little boat is being rocked, why should i try to save a cosmopolitan ship?

- not to become emotional, blah, blah, blah is passe - all holistic and confusian theories. What is the reality?

- Vasanthkumar Mysoremath

Fine - no cut and paste - here is the link

Vasanthkumar My... - 26 Oct 2009 - 9:46pm

Thank U Modr Sir,

here is the link -

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=Bangalore Talking - My Stories&sectid=18&contentid=2008112220081122211113703387a44a6

- vasanth mysoremath

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