Business placards and hoardings neglecting/insulting Kannada

Shastri, as a consumer what one needs to realise is that he is indeed the King of the market, and thereby the business that happens in the market. And inside Karnataka, Kannadiga consumers no doubt form the majority (Your Radio mirchi example forms a good enough substance to prove this). Coming to think of the majority we are in, and the amount of business we give to these businessmen (who also, unfortunately, might be Kannadigas themselves!) we have a right to be interacted with in our language. Otherwise, it is but an insult to our language and us.

Sitting cold on thoughts that "this is not an insult to me" - is what a majority of Kannadiga consumers are doing, and accepting the fact that English is okay for business - thereby implying that Kannada is not. Kannada glorification on plain vanilla words, saying I too am a proud Kannadiga, has ceased to impress even a dead soul, dude! Wake up, and realize what that pride in you really has to be! If you'd be glad to see Kannada everywhere (including these boards), then press for it, and not sit ignoring the insult indeed!

Big bazaar doesnt want to put Kannada big on its hoardings, even when, believe it or not, Kannadigas spend most of the money that Big bazaar makes in Bengaluru. The trouble here, my friend, lies in you, and not in Big Bazaar! The state of affairs is but you, the consumer!

-Nijavaada

Shastri,

What makes you think asking/demanding for one's own language, and also the language of the land to be used prominently in business as "ramming?"

Using Kannada for business in Karnataka cant be termed as Ramming. Using Hindi and other immigrant languages in Karnataka is Ramming! Using Gujarati in London is Ramming! Calling bELe as "dhaal" in Karnataka is Ramming!! Ramming unwated things into the Kannadiga consumers' throats. If you oppose ramming, why dint/dont you oppose this ramming??

If one stops to think why this is happening, it is because we dont show our interests and intentions clearly in words to the businessmen, and unfortunately someone else is doing that in favour of their language inside Karnataka. So if we show our interests and being a customer, demand for its inception, it is not Ramming. If you think it Ramming, then Ramming is the way to go (in achieving our goals)!

-Nijavaada

If the central government imposed Hindi as national language and asked BIAL signboards to have Hindi for that reason, its just another linguistic crime committed by them on Kannadigas. This has been happening in all corners where there is a Kannadiga standing as a consumer. He has been given the impression that his language is for whatever is local, then Hindi is to be used for whatever is national and binds different parts of the country with Karnataka, and then English as the royal entity which will take the Kannadiga across borders of nations.

This is entirely false. A Kannadiga needs but only Kannada to represent himself, anywhere in the world. A Kannadiga is equally an Indian, but he ceases to be an Indian soon as he ceases to be a Kannadiga. In fact his Indian-ness is by virtue of his being a Kannadiga. This applies, in fact, to all the migrants in Karnataka too. After they've come into Karnataka, they are now Indians by virtue of becoming a Kannadiga in Karnataka, not by remaining as a Tamilian/Hindian/Bihari guy in Karnataka. Indianness of a person is deeply embedded in the Kannadiganess of people in Karnataka, Tamilness in the people in Tamilnadu, and likewise.

Likewise an organization (BIAL here) is considered serving people well, and thereby serving the country well, when it is serving Karnataka well, recognised that Kannada is enough to do this job, and has respected Kannada in all walks of its business.

-Nijavaada

From these it is so clear that one can get so personal only when the words really start seeming to be an attack on one's persona - and not when his language is insulted on the road!

Anyway, TS did a good job in re-phrasing my thoughts in his comment. I was wondering if Murali also got the same opinion or not from my comment. If that dint happen, I think I'll have to say it otherwise from now on. That I accept.

But Yajaman, your inferences are usually pregnant with wrong notions:  As sarvagna has pointed out, anything standing for Kannada, and anyone talking about Kannada, is chauvinistic according to you.

According to you, any person talking about resolving this is talking about throwing stones in public space! Isnt this your one-sided thinking in a way? I can come back and say you're already biased towards accepting whatever Murali (just an example) says.

I am not personally against anyone or anyone's thinking here. It isnt going to get us anything. Its just that I am particularly intrigued by opinions of some people who still think Karnataka and India are two separate things that one "represents"!!

And Mr. Yajaman, if you've come back from Singapore after living for 6 years there, you need not be claiming gratitude from other readers for that, and I hope that was not your intention when you returned either. Your (along with Murali's) interest in BMTC buses to the extent of getting English characters on their boards (like in Singapore, perhaps), is already known to us, and I dont want to start over that again. In short, those interests are well understood here. But if you wish to leave just because you feel your interests are not respected, no matter what they are, you're getting personal yourself.

-Nijavaada

Mithun,

Let me cite an example to get this discussion about Language, and who-comes-foremost fundae.

Take up a handful of mud from this land in Karnataka, and ask yourself which place it belongs to - Karnataka, or India? Obviously, it is both, isnt it?

So one thing is proven - there're no two different identities, as in One I am a Kannadiga (belong to Karnataka) and Two, I am an Indian. Both these identities are one and the same.

But because there are different kinds of muds/soils across the width of this nation, there ought to be difference in thoughts one gets when holding up sands from different places. So a handful of mud lifted up inside Karnataka has its identity as long as it retains its quality that is unique to itself, and therefore the guy who lifted it is constantly reminded of the fact that this is mud from Karnataka land, and has so and so features. That is mud from Assam, it has so and so qualities.

But mind you, the differences here is depicting richness/variety, and not the"difference" per-se!

So, because of the difference in languages people speak across India, any person living inside Karnataka, has an identity of his own only because of the uniqueness he and his state represents - and that is Kannada. So a person's identity in India actually rests in his ability to project himself as a representative of the land he is making his life from.

If I am a Tamilian by birth, but live in Bengaluru, say. My Indianness lies in being a Kannadiga here. Remaining to be a Tamilian inside Karnataka is neither being a good Kannadiga, nor being a good Tamilian. So it is not being a good Indian either, 'cos Indianness is the same as being a Kannadiga in KAR, and Tamilian in TN.

So in essence, one's identity comes first, and there cant be two identities to one person. So my identity is my Kannadatana. There's no "three-level" identity to any person on this planet. One identity needs to say it all!

-Nijavaada

Mithun,

We have all that it takes to have the deserved reverance accorded to Kannada on its land, be it in business, administration or otherwise.. But the real problem comes in how badly it has been implemented! Implementation is where failure lurks strong in our system. And surely enough we as consumers, are party to this problem. If we dont insist, no damned law can be enforced upon businesses or administrations to reflect Kannada on their ads, boards and hoardings.

So the solution here is not to find new ways of making boards or plates (seen in the number plates discussion) but instead in making sure we have our rules implemented. Of course our rules also need to be re-written sometimes to be inline with the latest advances in technology or other changes.

The committee should strictly rule that any business ad/hoarding should have Kannada characters in this font-size, when English is in this font-size. Relative sizing is to be emphasized here. Reason being the nature of characters in Kannada and English demand that Kannada letters be of nearly double the size of English in order for both of them to look equal in appearance. Things like these are what "we the people here" need to come up with and make sure more people know about such things. The govt's doings will soon have to follow what the masses want.

-Nijavaada

A valid suggestion by Mithun, but nevertheless calls for another system to be implemented correctly, failing which we're going to be back in square one.

So we're at a stage where we dont need a new implementation to get things going on the right track. We are in need for more awareness among people. Each individual in our society is a consumer, and if we plan to educate the consumer/customer, then the businessmen (or service providers) will have to bend to our expectations. And there needs to be good enlightenment about the language angle of these expectations consumers should know.

For all this to happen, we need a collective and planned public effort. If after this we dont get what we want, then of course the KDA route is to be taken. A system cannot be built purely on rules and assumed to be in good shape!

-Nijavaada

City.Zen,

Well, there are websites that are already in Kannada. Wonder if you've been able to catch a glimpse of those. But there's a reason why this place is in English - and that is Kannada on the computer is still not a "cup of tea" for many, because we're so-to-say in the stone-age of using Kannada in technological aspects, whereas English and some other languages have been there in new-age already.

But that should only serve as a motivation to us, 'cos we have so much more to achieve, while English and others dont have to!

You need not stop just at a webpage.. why dont we start asking/thinking higher here:

1. Websites should be in Kannada

2. Websites should be about the entire world, but remain in Kannada

3. To interact with all that Kannada content, I need a Kannada keyboard

4. I need Kannada spelling checker, once I've typed in Kannada 

5. I may end up getting RSI with all that much typing, so I need Kannada voice recognition

We can and need to keep the list going on. We need to make sure our wish-list never stagnates, and also make sure every move we make today is targeted at atleast one of the goals we list here.

Once we determine that we want Kannada to be out there, its all about planned execution. And I am sure all this will happen only if we want more than a mere cup of tea!

-Nijavaada