SHASHIKIRAN MULLUR writes: If you are in IT, the corporate club, or if you own a business, then you are in the malls, the pubs, the MG Road areas. Or at the Oberoi, the Leela, or the Windsor Manor.
There, people wear those light clothes with light colours, the settings are pleasant, and what the world says is happening in Bangalore can be seen is true.
For others it is life like on Kaigadi Road, for instance.
Take a walk to that laundry which stands where the road ends at the roundabout on the way to the Mills. These laundries have super-hot irons that give neat presses, neat lines, and will burn faint brown patches onto your white shirt—the dhobi will not accept your protest: he is strong, he is grumpy, and he has the iron.
Begin the walk from any home on any narrow lane, make way among women washing vessels at public taps, the water from the washing flowing down narrow gutters on both sides of the lane, smelling of stale food; walk through children playing noisily and happily in the middle of the lane; come into Kaigadi Road.
The road has few memories of calm and quiet. Those rare days when people and cars stayed away and all shops shut down, everyone remembers: when Raj Kumar died; when Indira Gandhi was gunned down; when they blew up Rajiv Gandhi.
Every step you take, you’ll push against recoil from the stench of urine that surges up from the feet of grimy walls: earth grainy like caviar, grape-red, rust-red, ever moist from decades of constant use.
Try and overcome, look up at the posters everywhere of the city’s illegitimate fathers, and of the movies.
See the large young face with stubble on a clean complexion, but with angry intense eyes set under hooded brows, framed under a sickle held across the forehead by an arching arm, the sickle dripping blood at several points, a lot of blood at the tip.
See in the poster the beautiful women—plump, some might say, but exquisite to the fans who fill the poster-pocked theatre, there behind.
Don’t step on the street, the drivers are from all over Bangalore and beyond, and know not to show mercy—see how schoolchildren dart through the traffic and nobody slows a bit. So stay on the pavement with the crowds and take long steps on the stone slabs—they have come off and lie edge over edge in criss-cross the whole length, grey stones going black.
Take care: some stones dip and rise and throw you off -balance when you step on them. In some places stones are taken away for use elsewhere. Reach the rim at the roundabout, feel your burning nostrils, take a lot of risk and dash across to the laundry.
Now you are settled to the sounds: the clatter of the rickshaws, the groan of the buses, the horns—all bundled and spiced up with strong smells of carbon and lead going into your lungs.
See next to the laundry, the IT City hasn’t shed its past: in the now expensive yard there, folks like villagers sit among high mounds of hay which they bundle or knot into ropes and send them away in ox-drawn carts.
If you walk on, see beyond the yard the temple set high over, on a large rock. Pipes carrying liquid-refuse come down, open for discharge onto the gutter-less road. Reach the Mills—so large and so wide with high walls, more prison than work-place, closed by unions, unused for years.
You are tired. But you haven’t left Bangalore that belongs to its significant-others.
You have miles to go to reach the greener areas, the old Garden City.
I suggest you call a cab.
(Kaigadi Road is my invention. The rest are facts.)
Nice article, a must read.
But I think this is true of any city in the world and not just Bangalore. If I published this with the title “Delhi: A Tale of two cities” (or any other fancy title), it would still ring true.
Inequalities exist in every city and every country. The question then is what can be done to bridge this gap. More capitalism, not less is the answer. Less protectionism, not more is the answer. I suggest you call a cab. When you do that, you would be helping to lift the living standards of the cab owner by just a little bit. And Kaigadi Road would be just a little bit closer to becoming a M G Road.
Read Janaki Nair’s book about Bangalore.
I disagree that it true of any city in the world. I have visited over 100 cities in the world during the last five years, but nowhere likein India, in Bangalore one can witness-the nauseating sight and appalling stench of human waste , the stunning arrogance displayed by drivers of autos and some cars in relation to human lives, the shoking arrogance that the newly rich , the so called IT specialists (the glorified program-code coolies) display and the moral depravity they sink into with their out of hours nefarious activities, the shocking contrast between the rich and the poor, particularly the gut-wrenching poverty of the weak and the downtrodden sections of the society,and lastly the fast engulfing pollution into which the city is fast sinking into…
@Ranga
Agree there are slums and shanties every where and the western culture has put its stamp of disgrace everywhere BUT,
Blaming the IT coolies for all the above ills is not correct. In the late 70’s and early 80’s Engineers for production and Doctors where the most demanding people and earning money…these shanties existed even much before – so do you want to blame those people at those times and now move on to IT people and later on to BT or what ever comes.
NO.. if people from outside DONT come to a single place, earn and spend ( not allways correctly) you call that region under developed, the other end of the spectrum is the mess called bangalore as an example.
Lots of this blame goes to our blindly apeing the west without concern to our traditional values and our family system.
the worst auto drivers in the world are in madras.
The problem lies in kannada itself, a language sandwiched between tamil and the aryan languages.kannada does not have a distinct “identity”,in the modern sense.In india today,”identity” is a well defined anti-hindu,anti-hindi,anti-brahmana chauvinistic position.
mallus,andhras and tamils have this well defined identity.karnataka has been the bastion of sanatana dharma in the south.karnataka has far too many tamils,telugus,mallus and konkanis and now hindiwallahs within its borders for its own good.I am not a chauvinist,but these groups have so much freedom.Look at the contrast in kerala,hyderabad and madras.
Karnataka has no chance until a hindu nationalist govt. is formed in delhi.we also have to wait for the death of karu so that madras can attract the hindi crowd.also the formation of telengana will reduce the clout of andhras.
tamil iyenngars(from c.1000AD),sanchetis from shencottah,iyers in the last 100 years,konkanis(from 1500AD),telugu brahmins from roughly the same time have made karnataka their home.It is because of this hetrogenity i think that karnataka has lost out on kasargod,ooty,hosur,hogenakkal etc.
kannadigas should fight for depth and space,taking the help of all these migrant groups.Otherwise bengalooru and mysooru will be lost ,as they are so close to the TN border.The plateaus and the hills in southern india belong to karnataka.
TN and andhra have so many advantages.TN is progressing very fast and has immense clout at the centre.
I have listed some of them in the comments on “what is churumuri?”
To Karnataka Lover,
Please see my comments within “//” marks:
The problem lies in kannada itself, a language sandwiched between tamil and the aryan languages.kannada does not have a distinct “identity”,in the modern sense.In india today,”identity” is a well defined anti-hindu,anti-hindi,anti-brahmana chauvinistic position.
//I think you are wrong here. Kannada does not suffer from any identity crisis–this is something that has been put forward by our ‘liberal’ thinkers. If possible, please try and read or get some friend to explain ‘Tamilu Thalegala Naduve’ book by BGL Swamy where he has demolished this oft repeated claims of Tamils as the ‘Ooriginal People’ and fantastic claims of antiquity about the Tamil language. In fact all of the so-called Dravidian languages have been influenced by ‘Aryan’ Sanskrit language. Starting from Tamil, the least, to Malayalam, the most with Kannada and Telugu in that sliding scale. Because of geographic positioning and exposure to foreign influences, Kerala has strong influences of both Muslim and Christian religions. Andhra people have a similar culture to Kannadigas and hence places like Bangalore are peaceful. Imagine the scenario if Tamils were to be the majority in Bangalore—we would have had multiple ‘Lake District-like crisis (that is Ulsoor and its environs) and demands for Bangalore to be re-designated as Union territory:) Telugus are not in-your-face types like Tamils, although on occasion I see a bigoted Telugu who doesn’t speak Kannada but can very well follow it if he wants to…//
mallus,andhras and tamils have this well defined identity.karnataka has been the bastion of sanatana dharma in the south.karnataka has far too many tamils,telugus,mallus and konkanis and now hindiwallahs within its borders for its own good.I am not a chauvinist,but these groups have so much freedom.Look at the contrast in kerala,hyderabad and madras.
//You may be partially correct here but ours is a democracy–but Kannadigas can be provoked to hit back–like in the case of Cauvery riots. Besides, we are a tolerant people which forbearance can come only from solid self-confidence. Unlike the Tamils, we don’t get ‘insulted’ at the drop of a hat–we can manage to hold a rational conversation. This calls for intellectual effort right, and speaks of self-confidence? At the same time, we don’t allow outsiders like film actors to become CMs! Also, I would maintain that except for a few Tamils who cannot see beyond DMK machinations, the rest of them are likeable folk. The anti-brahminism angle perhaps comes from the excesses committed by the upper caste folk in those regions–I may be treading on dangerous ground here–but that is an aberration resulting in reverse discrimination today in Tamilnadu//
Karnataka has no chance until a hindu nationalist govt. is formed in delhi.we also have to wait for the death of karu so that madras can attract the hindi crowd.also the formation of telengana will reduce the clout of andhras. //Don’t forget we also have a Uttara Karnataka region ready to become a separate region given half a chance. I don’t see that as a problem–the reality is Tamils have been industrious and even allowing for certain malpractices, they have got to where they are today by their grit and gumption. Something Kannadigas need to work on.//
tamil iyenngars(from c.1000AD),sanchetis from shencottah,iyers in the last 100 years,konkanis(from 1500AD),telugu brahmins from roughly the same time have made karnataka their home.It is because of this hetrogenity i think that karnataka has lost out on kasargod,ooty,hosur,hogenakkal etc. //Well nostalgia is always nice–but the reality is we have to move on//
kannadigas should fight for depth and space,taking the help of all these migrant groups.Otherwise bengalooru and mysooru will be lost ,as they are so close to the TN border.The plateaus and the hills in southern india belong to karnataka. //Yes they do and I think we are strong enough to withstand the Tamil influence. The way Tamils are bankrupting themselves with free TV and the rest, it will start making a difference very soon.//
TN and andhra have so many advantages.TN is progressing very fast and has immense clout at the centre. //TN always did; you cannot counter something overnight. It takes a strong leader who can unite the state and get the due recognition that has been withheld//
I have listed some of them in the comments on “what is churumuri?”
Mohan:
The shanty towns and poverty existed around late 1950s and early 1960s when engineering industries started cropping up and the gap between professionals ( engineers) and unskilled started to widen, cost of living went up, land was used for construction and the poor were reduced to living in shanty towns. But the difference then and now is that because of the inflated prices that IT coolies can pay for virtually everything, the gap between the haves (IT coolies) and have nots (even those who were not classified as poor in 1960s)is widened by miles. The shanties have expanded and multiplied.
Does It help the poor. It is debatable. Does IT helps Bangalore? Only for a chose few, and its negative effects are more and varied. Bangalore as a result is in a polluted cess pit.
Ranga,
Your argument is nonsensical.
You have conveniently laid the blame on the door of an industry that has very little to do with the condition of the shanty towns. Blame it on bad governance. Blame it on lawlessness and anarchy in India, in general. Blame it on the poor social attitudes of Indians. But for heavens sake, don’t blame the folks who are working hard and are empowering Indians.
And no, IT does not help only a minority – it helps the displaced farmer from Gulbarga who works as an unskilled laborer to construct a Brigade Complex. Without this alternative, he would’ve committed suicide. That, hs can’t find a decent place to live, good working conditions etc is purely the responsibility of (a) his employer (b) the govt to ensure that laws aren’t broken. It helps all the shops where these IT engineers buy groceries (and thus farmers), the stationary supplier, the plumber, the tailor, the waiter in a restaurant, and any number of small skilled and unskilled workers, small and large business.
Blame the dust and pollution on haphazard and unplanned development by the city planners.
My dad left Bangalore in the 1950s and worked in Mumbai for over 30 years. My ancestors left their villages in haale Mysoru and moved to Bangalore. I’m sure when they moved, Kempegowda must’ve sighed, “These damn outsiders. There goes the neighbourhood.”
I am IT guy and has worked in the IT industry in India and abroad for over 25 years.
The IT industry in India and particularly in Bangalore and Mysore flourishing because of IT-sourcing born out of cost differential has been affecting both the environment and IT at-large in many ways. The IT-outsourcing has put so much money ( unprecedented amount bordering obscenity) in the packets of the bosses and the program-coders that it has skewed the economy ( rising house prices, inflating land prices and inflating the cost of essential goods moving it up beyond the reach of even the so called middle class) and education system. This unbridled growth does not allow planning to take place.
It is sense coming from an IT guy, who trained umpteen It graduates and who have relatives working in IT industry.
What a contrast!!!!
After being in the same industry for close to 19 Years, dont feel that IT has DIRECTLY contributed to this mess.
If you are talking about captialisum and ill effects – thats ok… maybe you are even talking about few IT capitalists making money.
But lets not confust capitalisum with ONLY IT. It exsists right from zamindars to IT czars…
If there is a magic wand to remove this disparancy pls do share
Mohan,
If you are talking about captialisum and ill effects – thats ok
You are making the same mistake as Ranga did. The blame should lie with people who are paid (Municipal corporation city planners) and elected (MLA, MPs). They haven’t planned anything in India since Edward Lutyens left. :-) The only difference was that Bangalore was immune from this mess until recently, while Mumbai, Calcutta and Delhi weren’t. People head to places where there are jobs. And if the city planners can’t deal with the consequences of the burgeoning populace, they are to blame.
Note that the most capitalistic of place – the S.F. Bay Area – where most of the world’s leading tech companies thrive, is well planned, relatively pollution free, has lots of parks, trails, forests and clean streets. The Bay Area grew as fast in the 70s than did Bangalore in the 1990s. Heck, even in the 2000s there were a few farms left right in the middle of this tech paradise! The same goes for RTP (Carolina), Hillsboro (Oregon), and Seattle (Washington).
Ranga,
The IT-outsourcing has put so much money ( unprecedented amount bordering obscenity) in the packets of the bosses and the program-coders that it has skewed the economy ( rising house prices, inflating land prices and inflating the cost of essential goods moving it up beyond the reach of even the so called middle class) and education system.
Once again, you are making a Economics 101 sorta mistake. The money that these folks earn (obsence, in your parlance), just does not disappear into thin air:
Argument
– they buy groceries at inflated prices
* it goes to shopkeepers and unskilled workers. More shops are created to cater to this upper class (Namdhaari, Food World). Ergo, more jobs.
– they buy homes
* more jobs for laborers, contractors, civil engineers, accountants, lawyers, bankers
– they buy financial investments
* see above
– they spend money at restaurants
* more waiters, managers, cooks, grocery stores, farmers etc benefit.
– they buy clothes
* more employment to tailors and garment makers, more to shopkeepers and assistants. I seem Karnataka women benefitting tremendously in this area. Check out any garment factory in and around Bangalore and see the number of women working shifts. It is a very healthy sign – ordinary lower middle class women earning a honest living and earning decent wages – something that was not possible just 20 years ago.
and so on, ad infinitum.
Yes, their spending behavior does lead to inflation, but this has been true ever since commerce began in human beings. Even while our babus worked in HMT, Nippo, Wheel & Axle Plant and other government places, people who were left out of those employment opportunities had to leave Bangalore for jobs or if they were unskilled workers had to fend for themselves in the outlying areas of Bangalore.
@Quizman
Obviously you are justifying that capitalisum is the way to go and there are definetly some ill effects which even socialist society ( old babu days migration example) has forced people to be nomadic.
Allright – lets agree for a minute you are right and that capitalisum,socialisum et all are having side effects.
But what about the poor eco system? Where is that placed between all your development. In the name of captitalisum , controlled socialisum we have cut trees left , right and centre. We have increased co2 emissions so much so that global warming is taking place.
Can we justify killing our own children in the name of development? You can name it any thing right from democracy to communalisum.
Am not getting confused here but this is the bare truth and the root cause that is making me or ranga fume but people have got carried away little bit by only blaming IT industry.
dear manjunath,
Thank you for your comments. I feel so happy reading your comments.my love for karnataka is so strange in a way,as i am a tamil brahmana in madras.your comments are cogent and reasonable.
In the long run,all the linguistic groups should feel confident and be at home in our beloved “Bharata Varsha”,while having a “niche” for themselves.
Is there anyway to reach out to kannadigas in gudalur(ooty),hogenakkal,talavadi,hosur,dhenkanikota (all in krishnagiri) district.Karunanidhi has made a start by appointing for the first time a baduga minister from ooty in the present govt.
Tamils call hosur as osur,hogenakal as ogenakal,dhenkanikota as thenkanikottai.This is an assault on the kannada people living there.Previously congress mlas were elected from these constituencies.now PMK is growing stronger.I was very happy to see Ulsoor renamed as Halasuru.What do you feel?
Tamils are elected from kolar gold fields.I have sympathy for the poor workers.Similarly the kannada peasants in the border areas of TN should also have support from Karnataka.Tamils are so well organised in Bengalooru.
dear manju,
one jarring point.Though kannadigas were provoked,the riots of 1991 are a scar,which we should avoid by forethought and action.
my two penny opinion on the main debate.
Please do not compare bangalore with silicon valley,on environmental issues.They are like chalk and cheese.Bangalore is in the state of Karnataka,close to the TN and andhra border.Period.
Regarding felling of trees,Kempe gowda did not plant them in the 16th century. Bangalore,”the garden city” was a creation of British colonists,mudaliar contractors and tamil labour.Its industrialisation was due to favourable central policies in the 70s.
The birth,growth and decay of cities in our milieu have a logic of their own.
every city in india has slums and migrant labourers.I think bangalore’s problem is its growth has exploded in the 90s.nobody foresaw this.other metros have a longer history of development and civic governance.They have been capital cities for a longer time.
There is a huge floating population in bangalore,which has no emotional attachment to it.for many tamil technocrats it is a second home.
Bombay is cosmopolitan but mumbaikars have great pride in their city.maharashtrians have tight control on the civic affairs,though others play an important part.
In chennai,one finds fourth generation industrialists like TVS,Tube investments,Spic chettiars,film studio and press magnates.Being the capital city of a state with 40 seats in lok sabha(39 +pondy)they are used to getting things done at the centre.
Bombay,calcutta and delhi have been centres of power for long.kannadigas should take the help of atleast liberal tamil technocrats ,who have made bangalore their home in championing the cause of bangalore.This might seem naive.But then everyone wants to exploit bangalore,no one wants to contribute to it.Where else would you find migrants(like some reddy) having the audacity to challenge the chief minister?(i am not going into the merits of the case)
quizman,
I do not think you grasped what I was saying. I managed an IT Company, and I am saying from experience of seeing how the lower strata of the society-the poor and the needy suffer because of the demands made on resources. It does not matter how many cooks and waiters are employed, the very fact that these people who perhaps were thrown out of their rural jobs is a stark condemnation of the kind of eco system destruction that growth engineers. Growth is seldom as a result of gentle development in a country like India with 1 billion homosapiens and 1.5 Australian population is added each year. Perhaps you are unaware of the simmering discontent in Mysore where people are grappling with the effects of expansion led by the IT indusries, and is fast hurtling towards a pollution abyss, like Banglore. I am not sure how much you know about the IT outsourcing dynamics. Other countries are joining in and there has been shift of contracts to those countries ( IT wages in India is becoming uncompetetive). I can well foresee a situation ( I have friends in senior managemen in large IT companies who agree with me) due to flight of outsourcing, cities whose ecosystems were destroyed would be left high and dry.
Ranga,
It does not matter how many cooks and waiters are employed, the very fact that these people who perhaps were thrown out of their rural jobs is a stark condemnation of the kind of eco system destruction that growth engineers
Once again, you deflect the blame. The blame lies sorely with the government which does not allow farmers to sell their land for non-agricultural use, that places bars on agro companies. Thus, the farmer is obliged to keep taking loans, keep farming, since his only asset is the land. Then he goes into a downward spiral and migrates – since his land is now in the hands of the person who he took a loan from. This is the failure of policy.
As we’ve seen in Singur, the farmers could not sell the land. The state confiscated it and then handed it over to corporates. Why not allow farmers to sell it directly? They would’ve made more money. Gotten market values for their land.
Mohan wrote
Where is that placed between all your development. In the name of captitalism , controlled socialisum we have cut trees left , right and centre. We have increased co2 emissions so much so that global warming is taking place
That’s my point. If they cut down trees in the Bay Area, it would cause an uproar. Yet, in Malleswaram and Vani Vilas Road, the state has cut down historical trees, made meaningless flyovers that simply move the bottleneck to a different location etc. Why not blame the city planners?
Why not blame the govt buses, jeeps etc that cause inordinate amounts of pollution? The petrol pumps (govt mandated) that adulterate freely, because the state controls oil prices.
Finally, why not blame individuals who drive recklessly? Blaming the entire industry is not correct. This happened even in Mumbai with Textile Mills, Manufacturing industries etc. The city planners did not have the intellectual ability or the political will to cope. The city simply collapsed.
Ranga,
I can well foresee a situation ( I have friends in senior managemen in large IT companies who agree with me) due to flight of outsourcing, cities whose ecosystems were destroyed would be left high and dry.
That is bound to happen. What is your solution? Prevent outsourcing? :-)
I do not understand what this “provoked” mean ? You mean the Cauvery River Tribunal judgement or Bangarappa to case against Veerappa Moili factions ? How can the Tamils living in Bengaluru be blamed for the judgement by a third party ? Solpa yojane maadi Saare ! Is it not a shame ? We are in United States and seldom talk in English at home or public places. Mostly Kannada only. But yet people here seem to absorb us and our culture. I feel pity for the Tamils in Bengaluru that they cannot do this without a feeling of insecurity. Does that show the immaturity of we Kanndaigas ?
Cauvery dispute judgement tommorrow.
I pray to God there will be no trouble.Sir,i am a tamil brahmana who passionately believes in good tamil-karnataka relations.I am not anti-tamil.I am only anti tamil chauvinism.
But karnataka must stand firm against arm twisting by centre.Karnataka must bargain for the legitimate rights of kannadigas in hosur,hogenakkal,gudalur in ooty.This will give depth and space to karnataka.
The plateau and hills belong to karnataka.The life giving waters of cauvery originate in karnataka.Without cauvery,thanjavur would be a desert.Karnataka must bargain for its due.
@Karnataka lover: Since you stay in Karnataka and are originally from TN we ask you this question. Which is great ? Kannada or Tamil or Hindi ?
The reason I ask you this question is to understand the feelings and sentiments of Tamils in Karnataka. As a Kannadiga I will naturally want the answer to be Kannada. But as a Kannadiga again I will not be aggrieved if it not. To me Kannada is great even if you say it is not greater than your own language. Because I respect you and your devotion to your language and that is what I wanted my fellow Kannadigas to understand.
Do not get into arguing with Tamils that our language is the greatest even in our own soil. A language does not become great just because you are in your soil and they are not. Kannada has been in existence for 2500 years and it has its own glory. Similarly Kannada does not need to be a lesser language if you are not in your soil. Atleast not for me even when I am in the United States. Praise your language in front of others. Also do not fail to praise their language in turn. Forget the sterio typed images built by our politicians.
How nice it will be if we can praise each other’s language instead of abusements ?
Just know this one truth: Hate other language your language will die. Praise other language your language will live.
Just know this one truth: Hate other language your language will die. Praise other language your language will live.
Sir, This is not true with Tamil and Tamilians .
They make every effort to Kill other languages and certainly their language is thriving . Same with North Indians who are more stubborn towards South Indian Language . See the influence of Hindhi words in our
Chitrageethe ….
OOO Aajare..OOhhooo OoOO aajare
Ninna kanda kshana Edhe thumbi Mana……
from chiguridha kanasu
“Same with North Indians who are more stubborn towards South Indian Language .”
I think Hindi is a conglomeration of languages. That is the reason it flourished like anything with no history before 500 years. There are several Proto-Dravidian words mixed-up in Hindi.
Similarly English. What they did was absorb all languages and ideas. There are several Kannada words included in the dictionary.
Tamil has several words borrowed from Kannada and Sanskrit. Similarly Kannada has words borrowed from Sanskrit and Tamil.
Telugu had aslways had its mixes and hence dominating the South.
Per what I understand about Tamil history the Tamil Brahmins had attempted secondary language status for Tamil itself in Tamil Nadu resulting in anti-brahmin sentiments by Tamils. Tamils purists inturn purged out Sanskrit from Tamil and this movement they call as Dravidian movement. (interestingly it is called Dravidian movement and not Tamil movement).
There are valuable lessons that could be learnt from their experiment. Both Tamils and Tamil Brahmins lost their culture. Kannadigas and Telugus dominate the TN politics for that reason only. The experiment proved very costly.
The success of Tamil movies are because of altogether different reasons. The films were never protected by the Government. In fact the Government suppressed the movies because it was the handy tool of the opposition. Congress suppressed movie industry because DMK used it. Later DMK suppressed it because MGR used it and Jayalalitha and PMK against it because of Rajnikanth.
Similar case can be easily built in AP also. Congress, TDP and PWG always had suppressed the media at one time or the other.
But in Karnataka the politicians never encouraged nor antagonized the movie media beyond a certain extent. Ultimately the result was only moderate relevance of Kannada movies. With current protectionist tendencies of the Government the KF is sure to die.
Coming to people and language. Compare Kannada and Telugu. Kannada is older and richer. But that is the past and not the future. Telugu may rule because it is more flexible than Kannada is absorbing the ideas from other language. No wonder Telugu movies rule the rural areas of Karnataka.
Tamil Nadu on the other-hand is the most urbanized state in India and hence its people settle in cities and thence become conspicuous to the educated people like us.
Same with North Indians. Since they come from educated families they become conspicuous to us in Bangalore. Ask a villager in KA he will have no issues with NI.
For a language to flourish its people should flourish. For people to flourish in this free economy they must have the knowledge of as many languages as possible. There is a reasearch that links IQ with the total number of languages you know.
Southies fair better than Northies because of English and nothingelse. With English I am bold enough to venture out to US. With Hindi I am bold to venture out to Mumbai and with Tamil and Telugu I am comfortable in Chennai/Hydrabad. My friends who stuck with just Kannada are still there doing support to the teams abroad where as I am being sent physically because of this. Directly benefiting from language.
Dont I love Kannada ? Well, I will not be writing this if I did not. I just wanted to share my success story with you. If I need the knowledge of other languages to avail additional oppurtunity, a villager needs it as a survival tool today. I do not want to elaborate this as everyone knows it. Yet as educated we tend to misguide them in our policies.
Summary: Language and people that show least resistance to change will flourish.
People who wrote “aajare Ninna kanda ..” are not fools. They are just experimenting. I am pretty sure they love Kannada more than you and me. Let them do it please !
Just wanted to mention this. The eye-opener for me was the birth of my daughter who is 4 years old now. I am putting her in Gujarathi classes. I would have prefered French or Spanish. But Gujarathi classes are afordable since there are lot of Gujarithis around us here. House wives teach her Gujarathi for just $100 per month.
My brother was a typical Kannada chauvinist. I can see a hell lot of difference between my daughter and his though she is a year older. I believe it is because of this resistance to other languages inspite of living in Bangalore. His mentor was the movie idol.
Not surprising, tamils, telugus, and Hindis work for me while he works for them in turns. In my personal experience I have seen Telugu and Tamil speakers learn Kannada faster than Hindians though Telugu speaking people learn faster than Tamils. The main reason I would cite is not the interest or necessity. It is the capablity and relationships. Kannada is relatively akin to Telugu and Tamil.
I do not think anyone comes to Bengaluru with a conspiracy in mind to denigrate Kannada. (Because I did not conspire when I went to Mumbai or US). I speak Hindi or Tamil or Telugu not because I love those languages. It is my basic strategy to thrive and excel. Like wise they come to Karnataka with the same mind-set. Depending on their ability or inability they learn or lose the oppurtunity. I learnt theirs for my own selfishness. If you are smart enough, learn their language before they learn yours like the previous generation did for which Bengaluru is Bengaluru today.
Some of my friends criticised my approach when I was in MSR Eng. college. I am having the last laugh today.
“Sir, This is not true with Tamil and Tamilians .
They make every effort to Kill other languages and certainly their language is thriving . ”
This is the best joke I ever heard. MGR spoke Malayalam in his office as CM of TN. Jayalaitha speaks Kannada. Even today she “reads” rather “speaks” in Tamil in public meetings. And Rajnikant speaks Maratti. Where is Tamil in its own land ? Where is the language “thriving” ?
In TF traditionally excellence and talent poured in from all states and Tamils were open to the idea of foreigners into their land. Result: MGR, RajniKant, Mamooty,Jayalalitha etc making it run 100 days.
With the current protectionist tendencies our producers are just exploiting our centiments. Films in other states are earning money for the states whereas in Karnataka we are paying from our pockets subsidising not agriculture but entertainment industry.
Whoisthis athwa ‘Yariwanu’
Swalpa nimma half-baked andare ‘are-bendakaloorina’ ideas annu neeve itkolly!
Neevu yenu helabeko antha idhhira?
who is this
i have never lived in karnataka.i live in madras.if you go to comments on “what is churumuri”,you will understand my reasons.
When i see the intensity of emotions,at one level i am happy.Because I am what I say “KARNATAKA LOVER”.On the other hand,i see kannada self assertion happening.like what happened in TN during rise of DMK.Better for me to keep out.
Karnataka Lover, from your posts I can see more hatred on Tamil than love for Karnataka.
So, much for the State and people who sheltered you and your kind during muslim rule.
Hi Guys,
I am a bangalorean and a kannadiga at that. Nowadays there are so many outsiders (especially northies) entering Bangalore that i hate to hear hindi(it’s so much Hindi everywhere ) which has even entered the BMTC buses. The marathis, maarwaadis, gujarathis who came to bangalore in 1970’s and 80’s had to learn kannada for survival in Karnataka. Nowadays , they have started wagging their tails and the same ppl don’t respond in kannada if u speak to them near roadside shops, malls etc. This new generation has been able to manage without learning kannada and they are flocking Karnataka for the same reason.
Thanks to the always helping(but not helping his own clan) kannadiga who is ready to speak any language the outsider asks for. This has lead to degeneration and extinction of our langauge, culture,tradition and feel of kannada.
Kannadiga children today can’t speak decent kannada. Forget children, my collegemates (many of them kannadigas) weren’t able to read/write kannada because their homes was englicised….
I agree learning English is very much necessary in this age of globalisation and seeing most kannadigas speak English even with a kannadiga, i should have seen a good %tage of kannadigas in IT, ITES sector…but sadly that is not the case. Why kannadigas (very less %tage in IT/BT/ITES) largely speaking English/kanglish fail to get jobs in ITES.
Tamilians who manage to even have team meetings in tamil, recruit/select only tamils into their teams etc…are a intelligent lot and 1 in 10 Software professional is a tamilian…they can speak good English but prefer to speak only in Tamil. My tamilian team guys managed to get Knwledge transfers from their tamilian counterparts in Singapore in Tamil…
My best friend who never spoke tamil has started to speak tamil with all his Tamilian colleagues in a IT Company in Bangalore. Myself born and broughtup in a Tamil area(Viveknagar, Bangalore) who could speak tamil equivalent to any tamilian in childhood stopped speaking from the day i realised i was making a mistake…
The innocence , happiness etc that you find when your kid call you Appa, amma, or some children call you anna, akka etc do you find it in mummy, pappa and such english names…
In the movie “Benkiyalli aralidha hoovu”, Kamalhasan sings a song…in which he says…speak your mothertongue at home and kannada when u r out of ur home. Now it is opposite…speak kannada only at your home and hindi/english/tamil etc outside..because these are the ppl you find in large chunks in Bangalore…
Bangalore once:
A city full of trees, greenary, pollution less, cost effective, cool climate, very helping people, sparrows, butterflies, theatres screening Kannada movies, Good cheap food, no traffic james, culture , celebrating every small and big festival with grandeur, people had time for social gathering, work for social causes.
Bangalore now:
City with trees being cutdown to widen roads and they say they will plant twice the no in outskirts :(
Women who wore traditional, decent dresses now ape the north indian women and worst they try to fit into dresses which never fit them at all.
MOney minded people, traffic james, outsiders successfuly implementing their own rules, high rises, glass buildings(which don’t suit B’lore climate and add to the environmental woes),
Know what there is a service in Bangalore now which provides for carrying, burial and every other service during demise…he he he…do ppl don’t have time for even that or can’t they shoulder the last departure of their near and dear one’s..
Costly rentals, bus charge, pollution and smoke everywhere, no lung space, no theatres for screening kannada movies…
High cost of living, hiked fuel price, huge amount of money paid in Tax,
No time for people….all you struggle is for a car (can’t bear the pollution and traffic jam outside and need a car which can travel at the pace of a bicycle due to traffic jam) 20 yrs back you never needed a car…never needed an AC, u had plenty of time (now u struggel for money, u struggele with diseases of so many kinds…when you go out u don’t know if you will come back home or not..ppl dying in accidents and heart attacks at such young age)
I laugh at the
Ranga, where r u?
maheshara anisike——-ನಿಮ್ಮ ಅನಿಸಿಕೆ ನನಗೆ ನಿಜಕ್ಕೂ ಅಭಿಮಾನ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರೀತಿಯನ್ನು ಉಕ್ಕಿಸಿತು. ನಿಮ್ಮಂತಹ ಕನ್ನಡ ಚಿಂತಕರು ಇಂದಿನ ಅಗತ್ಯತೆ.