Prologue:
I wrote this originally in Hindi thinking that if an article which in principle disagrees with the recent note from the Government of
India to ensure primacy of Hindi as a language of governance were in Hindi, it would be quite
cheeky and in principle, apt. Those who missed it may check here! However many friends, especially Mr. Husain Sadar of Canada suggested that if
the same may be translated and posted, it would be useful for people who cannot
read/write Hindi but are equally interested in this issue. So here goes! Thank
you Mr.Sadar.
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A few words about me to start with! My mother tongue is
Tamil and despite this, I am not a foreigner. I am an Indian and possibly
as much an Indian as you, whose mother tongue is Hindi. If you are confused
with my above statements, I don’t blame you as this discussion leaves me in
such a state too. You would have noticed it often and this was making headlines
recently too that Hindi language should be given primacy in all government
work. You would have also noted various views expressed on this subject, some
in its favour and some otherwise, some in civil words and some…………………sigh!
Our history is witness to the importance Language or
Languages have in our society. From Linguistic based reorganization of states
to pro and anti-language agitations, we have seen all. People have sacrificed
their lives on this issue and from the looks of it would seems that they are quite willing to sacrifice as well as take a few lives too. This is reason enough to
ensure that whenever we have a debate on such issues, we do it sanely and
objectively sans emotions. “Unity in diversity” is one mantra which is taught right from our
primary schools the way a mother would feed her new born. Our Constitution is
primarily based on celebrating this diversity. Among the various instances of
diversity in this country, Language possibly takes the first and most important
position. They say, in India “कोस
कोस पर पानी
बदले, चार कोस
पे वाणी", meaning “Taste of water changes every mile, and the
language every four”! In such a social cauldron, it is imperative that any
decision which can jeopardize the plurality of our society should not be taken
with narrow political gains in mind.
It has often been said of people like me especially by the folks up in the northern part of India that we ‘Madrasis’ don’t know Hindi and we take special
pride in being ‘Anti-Hindi!’. “’Madrasi’ doesn’t know Hindi, has no enthusiasm
to learn it too, should someone be interested they wouldn’t permit it, even if
he knows Hindi he would deliberately feign ignorance of it!” I am sure most of
you would have used the above lines or heard the same being said some time or
the other in life. I for one am tired of it! Very very discriminatory indeed! I
mean have you ever heard a ‘Madrasi’ on reaching Delhi complain, “This ‘Hindiwala’
doesn’t know Tamil, Doesn’t want to learn Malayalam either, If someone wants to
learn Telugu he is discouraged, even if he knows Kannada he would deliberately
feign ignorance of it!” (My dear countrymen: Did you just notice the diversity
that exists even within what you think is a homogeneous ‘Madrasi’? Welcome!)
And this is not restricted to ‘Madrasi’ alone. My other friends who subscribes
to Bengali, Oriya, Ahomiya, Gujrati, Marathi etc as their mother tongue are
feeling the same way!
I am not only a South Indian whose mother tongue is not
Hindi but I also reside in South India where the usage of Hindi is not very
popular. The primacy of Tamil in Tamilnadu or Marathi in Maharashtra is after all
expected and should be so too. Despite this handicap, today my children study
Hindi in their school. Do you know why? Because it is a voluntary decision and
not because Hindi is being imposed on us. Our belief is we will anyway end up learning our mother tongue/regional
language, with the International language English being mandatory, knowing
Hindi opens up for us opportunities in those parts of the country where this
language dominates! In short for economic gains and opportunity, not for any
special love that we have for Hindi. While you keep debating emotional appeal
of Hindi, we ‘Madrasis’ are already learning the language and it is but a
matter of time when we will swarm all over the Hindi heartland. The moot
question my friends though is when will you learn ‘Madrasi’!
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PS:
Q: Do you know which institution has rendered yeoman service
to popularize Hindi in Tamilnadu?
A: ………………………………………………………Bollywood!
Madrasi: An term used to describe South Indians. The present day South India was one administrative unit called Madras Presidency during the days of British Raj in India!
Madrasi: An term used to describe South Indians. The present day South India was one administrative unit called Madras Presidency during the days of British Raj in India!
Thank you @atiyaz for "कोस
कोस पर पानी
बदले, चार कोस
पे वाणी"!
