Politics of Language
I was waiting along with my friend in a queue at the Bangalore City Bus stand yesterday. We were both traveling to Mysore (about 140 kms southwest of Bangalore) and were waiting to buy tickets. I hadn't seen her in almost two months and we were just chatting generally. Usually, when I talk with my friends in/from Bangalore, depending on who it is, it usually varies from about 70-95% English, with Kannada making up the remaining part.
So anyway, we were just chatting and this guy standing in the queue near us suddenly interjects. He was like, "Listen, you know Kannada, she knows Kannada, so why don't both of you talk in Kannada? You can talk in English at your workplace, but talk in Kannada now. Are you ashamed of speaking in Kannada?" First thought in my mind was, what business is it of his what language I speak in, especially when it doesn't concern him in the least. So I replied, "Yes, we both know Kannada ..." and I was going to finish with "but we'll speak how we're comforable" when he interjected, "so talk in Kannada then."
At which point, we decided to ignore him and continued speaking in English, while he complained to the guy next to him, "See what the fate of Kannada is when even people who know it don't speak it." Well, I have news for him. The world is getting globalized and English is the lingua franca. It's sad that people are losing touch with their local languages and mother tongues, but that's the price of progress. For example, I do feel bad about the fact that my "thinking language" is English, not Tamil which is my mother tongue. But that's besides the point. This guy has no right to tell me what language I should speak in with my friends. I generally do try to speak in Kannada as much as possible when I go to stores, etc and if I had asked this man a question first, I would have spoken to him in Kannada, not English. This man, unfortunately, represents the wave of linguistic fanaticism that crops up the state every now and then.
I mentioned the lingustic fanatics in my last post who are fighting to keep English out of being taught in government-aided schools. This anti-English illogic doesn't stop there! The announcement was made on November 1, 2006 and within the next couple of months, the names of Bangalore, Mysore, Bellary, Hubli, Belgaum, and Mangalore are going to revert back to their pre-British names of Bengalooru, Mysooru, Ballary, Hubballi, Belagaavi, and Mangalooru respectively. First of all, Bangalore sounds a million times cooler than Bengalooru. We even have a English word named after it for God's sake, "Someone's job gets Bangalored." So from now on, is it going to get "Bengalooroed?" Come on, don't tell me that the Government of Karnataka doesn't have anything better to do than to change the names of cities. This process involves a huge cost, because all the signs on the roads, highways, government documents, legal documents, etc has to be changed. It's expected to cost hundreds of millions of rupees before all is said and done. Is this really necessary? Couldn't this money be better spent ensuring that the children of Bangalore have decent schools, the citizens of Bangalore have a decent subway system that will unclog the roads. Really, what is the need of the hour, infrastructure or a new name? Our brilliant politicians, aiming for that votebank of lingustic fanatics, obviously decided on the latter.
Sadly, this is not a trend restricted to Karnataka. Bangalore is the most recent city to fall victim to this waste of money and time. Bombay became Mumbai, Madras became Chennai, Trivandrum became Thiruvananthapuram, Alleppey became Alappuzha, Quilon became Kollam, Cochin became Kochi, Cannanore became Kannur, Calicut became Kozhikode, Panjim became Panaji, Baroda became Vadodara, and Calcutta has become Kolkata. So you see, the insanity has not been restricted to Bangalore, but is widespread around India.
So is Cubbon Park in Bangalore, named after Mark Cubbon, a British designer of the city, going to be renamed? Why not change the name of the country itself? After all, India is a name given by the British. In Indian languages, the name of the country is Bharata. So should we all become citizens of Bharata? My passport says "Republic of India" in English and "Bharat Ganarajya" in Hindi. In front of a State Bank of India in Bangalore, you would see a sign that says "State Bank of India" in English and "Bharateeya Rashtriya Bank" in Kannada. The point is that the country is always referred to as India in English and Bharata in Indian languages. Similarly, Bangalore was always Bengalooru in Kannada. In fact, the bus I am sitting on right now on the way back from Mysore says in front, in Kannada, "Madikeri - Mysooru - Bengalooru" and the corresponding English sign says "Madikeri - Mysore - Bangalore." Even when I speak in Kannada and refer to Bangalore, it's always referred to as Bengalooru, since it sounds right. The point is, Bangalore was already Bengalooru in Kannada, so why bother with changing the name of the place in English? It's kind of like how Rome is Rome in English but Roma in Italian. Similarly here, in government documents in Kannada, Bangalore has always been referred to me with Bengalooru.
So, will someone please throw these lingustic fanatics out of the Vidhana Soudha and let the government handle some real work.
And did I mention how horrible Bengalooru sounds in English? If I could only have that beautiful name Bangalore back for this city!
So anyway, we were just chatting and this guy standing in the queue near us suddenly interjects. He was like, "Listen, you know Kannada, she knows Kannada, so why don't both of you talk in Kannada? You can talk in English at your workplace, but talk in Kannada now. Are you ashamed of speaking in Kannada?" First thought in my mind was, what business is it of his what language I speak in, especially when it doesn't concern him in the least. So I replied, "Yes, we both know Kannada ..." and I was going to finish with "but we'll speak how we're comforable" when he interjected, "so talk in Kannada then."
At which point, we decided to ignore him and continued speaking in English, while he complained to the guy next to him, "See what the fate of Kannada is when even people who know it don't speak it." Well, I have news for him. The world is getting globalized and English is the lingua franca. It's sad that people are losing touch with their local languages and mother tongues, but that's the price of progress. For example, I do feel bad about the fact that my "thinking language" is English, not Tamil which is my mother tongue. But that's besides the point. This guy has no right to tell me what language I should speak in with my friends. I generally do try to speak in Kannada as much as possible when I go to stores, etc and if I had asked this man a question first, I would have spoken to him in Kannada, not English. This man, unfortunately, represents the wave of linguistic fanaticism that crops up the state every now and then.
I mentioned the lingustic fanatics in my last post who are fighting to keep English out of being taught in government-aided schools. This anti-English illogic doesn't stop there! The announcement was made on November 1, 2006 and within the next couple of months, the names of Bangalore, Mysore, Bellary, Hubli, Belgaum, and Mangalore are going to revert back to their pre-British names of Bengalooru, Mysooru, Ballary, Hubballi, Belagaavi, and Mangalooru respectively. First of all, Bangalore sounds a million times cooler than Bengalooru. We even have a English word named after it for God's sake, "Someone's job gets Bangalored." So from now on, is it going to get "Bengalooroed?" Come on, don't tell me that the Government of Karnataka doesn't have anything better to do than to change the names of cities. This process involves a huge cost, because all the signs on the roads, highways, government documents, legal documents, etc has to be changed. It's expected to cost hundreds of millions of rupees before all is said and done. Is this really necessary? Couldn't this money be better spent ensuring that the children of Bangalore have decent schools, the citizens of Bangalore have a decent subway system that will unclog the roads. Really, what is the need of the hour, infrastructure or a new name? Our brilliant politicians, aiming for that votebank of lingustic fanatics, obviously decided on the latter.
Sadly, this is not a trend restricted to Karnataka. Bangalore is the most recent city to fall victim to this waste of money and time. Bombay became Mumbai, Madras became Chennai, Trivandrum became Thiruvananthapuram, Alleppey became Alappuzha, Quilon became Kollam, Cochin became Kochi, Cannanore became Kannur, Calicut became Kozhikode, Panjim became Panaji, Baroda became Vadodara, and Calcutta has become Kolkata. So you see, the insanity has not been restricted to Bangalore, but is widespread around India.
So is Cubbon Park in Bangalore, named after Mark Cubbon, a British designer of the city, going to be renamed? Why not change the name of the country itself? After all, India is a name given by the British. In Indian languages, the name of the country is Bharata. So should we all become citizens of Bharata? My passport says "Republic of India" in English and "Bharat Ganarajya" in Hindi. In front of a State Bank of India in Bangalore, you would see a sign that says "State Bank of India" in English and "Bharateeya Rashtriya Bank" in Kannada. The point is that the country is always referred to as India in English and Bharata in Indian languages. Similarly, Bangalore was always Bengalooru in Kannada. In fact, the bus I am sitting on right now on the way back from Mysore says in front, in Kannada, "Madikeri - Mysooru - Bengalooru" and the corresponding English sign says "Madikeri - Mysore - Bangalore." Even when I speak in Kannada and refer to Bangalore, it's always referred to as Bengalooru, since it sounds right. The point is, Bangalore was already Bengalooru in Kannada, so why bother with changing the name of the place in English? It's kind of like how Rome is Rome in English but Roma in Italian. Similarly here, in government documents in Kannada, Bangalore has always been referred to me with Bengalooru.
So, will someone please throw these lingustic fanatics out of the Vidhana Soudha and let the government handle some real work.
And did I mention how horrible Bengalooru sounds in English? If I could only have that beautiful name Bangalore back for this city!
posted by Vivek at 9:23 AM
2 Comments:
I read this blog post a few days ago and ever since, whenever I look at a sign, I think of how silly it is to change just the English portion of it. It seems as if the US isn't the only government that will throw money away on stupid and pointless ventures while people go without food and home.
Well, to tackle poverty, it would require some actual governance, which is *clearly* beyond the job description for which we have elected these politicians.
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