PALINI R. SWAMY writes from Bangalore: This is an advertisement in a Swedish magazine about job openings in the Swedish-Swiss engineering giant, Asea Brown Boveri aka ABB.
“Is your future in Beijing,” it asks in Chinese. “Or is it in Vasteras,” it asks in Swedish.
“Or is it in Bangalore,” it asks in achchu Kannada.
Chain mails entering the in-boxes of (Kannadiga) software engineers on Rajyotsava day had this sign-off line, “Kannadigare idhu nijakku hemma padabekada vishaya” (“Kannadigas, this is something to be proud about”) .
Really?
What about?
That the Kannada font appears in a foreign publication? That jobs are opening up in Bangalore? That the world cannot ignore India? On the other hand, aren’t all three things natural when the world is flattening at a frightening pace?
I can’t think of Kannada being put on the same league as other national languages in any other context BUT IT.
Why shouldnt we feel great about seeing Kannada mentioned in a foreign publication for all the right reasons? Thank God, that the publication has gone all the way to acknoweldge that Kannada is the language of Karnataka/Bangalore instead of Hindi. Kudos to them.
Have we come to a stage where feeling good about ourselves is wrong or do we have to nitpick ourselves to eternity in bamboozling ourselves about this dangerous chauvinistic trend. Get a life.
this is actually a slap on face of some IAS,KAS officers in karnataka who resist enforcement of kannada in administration.
this is a tribute to cultural generosity of sweedish people.
( also worth recollecting the fact that A DUTCH NEWSPAPER CARRIED AN ARTICLE ABOUT DR. RAJ KUMAR’S FUNERAL , HIS POPULARITY , HIS ACHIEVEMENTS).
Alok says: “I can’t think of Kannada being put on the same league as other national languages in any other context BUT IT.”
Hmm, What do you mean by the same league as other national languages? Did someone just wake up to find that this language won 7 Gnanapith awards? Are you lacking some grey cells, Sir?
“Same league” as in sharing the same “mindspace” with other foreign languages.
No one doubts that Kannada is language with a long history and cultural tradition behind it. I merely pointed out that Hindi’s self-proclaimed status as India’s “national” language or its claim to be the sole representative of India’s linguistic heritage (mostly through Bollywood and Vajpayee), is being challenged, in a small way, by Kannada, thanks to techies and IT
The interesting thing is the techies in IT themselves come from various parts of India. That even applies to the CEOs and CTOs of various companies in Bangalore (Mysore).
However why did the IT boom happen here in Karnataka? Why not in Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan etc.? Maybe in some way due to the history, culture and location of the place and its people?
“India’s linguistic heritage (mostly through Bollywood and Vajpayee), is being challenged, in a small way, by Kannada, thanks to techies and IT”
Bollywood and Vajpayee do not represent Indias linguistic Heritage. The strength and contribution of a language through litreature indicates Indias cultural heritage. Get your facts right. In terms of litreature, movies and music, Kannada has contributed significantly. A self proclaimed status need not be challenged; due to the nature of it being self-proclaimed in the same way as a madman self-proclaiming himself as brilliant need not be given a second glance. I really dont understand “in a small way”.
What IS wrong in being proud and happy about it?
Every father is proud when his son gets a third place in the interclass running competition in a school of 100 pupils, isnt he? Being proud and enjoying small pleasures is essential to nurture the growth of every child.
And Kannada is a language and culture that requires lots of recognition, encouragement and pride today. Only it shouldnt result in breast beating adulation (feeling proud of the ad is definitely not such breastfeeding adulation).
Alok
Your “nothing but IT” comment reflects only one thing – IGNORANCE. Let me put a few facets about kannada that beats every other national language/culture/people.
Cricket – GRV, prasanna, chandra, dravid, kumble, srinath, ……
Theatre – BV karanth, Girish karnad, sriranga, …….
literature – kuvempu, thejaswi, maasti, adiga, shivaram karanth, gokak, rajarao, Da ra bendre, ……..
cinema – girish kasaravalli, girish karnad, dr. raj, vishnuvardhan, ……
I can expect followup emails from others mentioning more names and achievements. Just dont have the time to write a lengthier email.
People who read only times of india and watch the NDTVs and CNN IBNs would not recognise anything beyond bollywood and shopping. thats the bane of todays urban middleclass. The problem with lesser “mindspace” is not because of the lack of stuff to occupy the mind but the lack of the mind to open up its space.
@Rajeev:
PaintingL: VS Gaitonde, MF Hussain (yes, MF hussain is a Maharashtrian Muslim from Pandharpur), Sudhir Patwardhan, Ravi Paranjape,
Literature: Dilip Chitre, Kiran Nagarkar, Vilas Sarang, PL Deshpande, VS Khandekar, Vinda Karandikar,
Theatre: Vijay Tendukar, Satish Alekar, GP Deshpande, Mahesh Elkunchwar (all famous in Indian theatre, as far for VT, Girish Karnad has openly said that he is the most famous playwright of all Indian languages. What Marathi theatre has produced in the last 50 years, no Indian language comes close. The most significant INdian theatre has been Marathi theatre, post-independence and this is something all theatre wallahas agree upon.
Music: Kesarbai Kerkar, Mogubai Kordikar, Jitendra Abhisheki, Aarati Ankalikar-Tikekar, Kishori Amonkar, Bhimsen Joshi, Shaunak Abhisheki, SUman Kalyanpurkar, Bal Gandharva, Chota Gandharva, Kumar Gandharva, Bhatkande (the man who designed the system of Hindustani classical music notation)…Maharashtra’s contribution to Hindustani classical vocal music is immense.
Cricket: Gaekwad, Wadekar, Vengasarkar, Tendulkar, Manjrekar, Borde, Gavaskar, Gupte, the list goes on, the Mumbai team which won the Ranji a record 37 times out of 51 has been almost entirely Maharashtrian. No team in India comes even close. There was a time when the Indian team was full of Maharashtrians.
Cinema: Dadasaheb Phalke (the man who STARTED Indian cinema, and the person in whose name thehighest award is till given), the pioneers of cinema were Maharashtrians, Amol Palekar, Anand Patwardhan (documentary film maker), Radhu Karmakar (maker of Awaara and Biwi 420), Smita Patil, Madhuri Dixit, Swadanad Kirkiree (writer for Parineeta, Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi, Lago Rahe Munnabhai, Eklavya..)
There are many other examples I can give. Each language group throws up some heroes…on what grounds can you say: “that kannada that beats every other national language/culture/people.
Rajeev and SN
Apart from the bit about attributing ignorance to me, I do not dispute what you guys have to say. What I am saying is that despite all this cultural and linguistic heritage that we have, Kannada is getting international exposure thanks to IT, a large number of whom are from Karnataka and Bangalore.
The only Indian language that has been “represented” in the UN has been Hindi. Amitabh Bachchan and Bollywood enjoy a worldwide audience that is simply not matched by most other Indian languages (except maybe Tamil and Bengali).
No doubt all these cultural achievements are important to kannadigas and kannadathis everywhere, but I am not referring to, nor is the above advert/post referring to that. Despite all the cultural achievements in Kannada, it is getting recognition on a worldwide plane only because of IT.
My dear Alok,
For starters, most people who know about India, know it for things apart from Bollywood. If you are expecting that everyone in the world recognizes Bollywood, you are mistaken. People still think that Indian is spoken in India. They are clueless about Hindi as well.
Hindi has been represented in the UN because of chauvinistic reasons and not as a sign of meritocracy. Bangalore and Karnataka have been at the forefront of litreature, education, cultural arts etc from eons. The establishment of Kannada in the international arena was long due and thankfully, everyone else seems to be waking for it.
I am not a Kannadiga, but I still felt great that an Indian language was used in an ad by such a high profile company in Sweden. Good, but I see a lot of regionalism… Does it really help if every person wants his own language to be made a national language? Face the facts – Hindi is spoken much more widely than Kannada and much better understood. How would you feel if I say I wanted Malayalam as one of the national languages?
Being proud about one’s cultural heritage, language is good, but it should never spill across to pure regionalism. That’s all…. We are all Indians for god’s sake (not just when there’s cricket) and no it is not just Bangalore and Kannadigas that made IT happen in India (though their contribution has been significant), many people from many different places also contributed… its sad that people ignore such things and act narrow mindedly..
Nija, kannaDigaru nijavaagiyoo hemmepaDabekaada vishayave. Hinde ondu sala Internationa Cricket match ondaralli CHEMMANUR JEWELLERs advt. kannadadalli haakiddaaga hridaya thumbibandittu. Kannada yelliye kaaNali adara bagge mechchuva abhyaasavannu kalithukoLLalu iga sakaalavaagide. Kannadkke kuththu iruvudu kannadigarindale horatu bereyavarinda alla. Jai kannadambe!
I think this is going on separate tangents.
I have made my point, if you don’t agree with it, well and good…. just have the decency not to make personal attacks.
Alok,
Your opening post attributed everything to IT. Hence the vigorous course correction from several posters on the subject. When you live by the verbal sword, you die by the verbal sword. QED.
Yes it is. Please stop linking the heritage of a language to an ad. Such flame-baits are uncalled for and downright derogatory. Stop taking the moral ground and claiming that you were abused personally. All of your comments are so comic and lack any sense. You talk crap, you only get crap thrown back at you.
If somebody thinks it is because of IT only that the language is ecognised, it may not be fully correct. There are also other fields by which language can be projected and the modern advertising industry will definitely help it. India is not recognised by IT only in the world. It may be the major one in the modern world. But let us not ignore the contribution in other fields.
The point is simply this. People cant see beyond IT because THEY dont care to and neither are they CAPABLE OF. If a language doesnt get more recognition, it is the problem of the people, not that of the language.
I can understand if someone sitting in Kolkata writes like that. But is astonishing and astonishingly painful to know people are ignorant even after living for months.
The problem is with our socalled popular media, who know only to write about nonsense like OSO and Saawariya.
Yes, I am proud and happy that my language’s script is seen on print in a foreign publication. What’s not to like??
God knows that Kannada needs all the attention and exposure that it gets and more.
Jai Karnataka mathe!
Ondhu prashne…
Does a foreign publication need to print our language to make us proud of our language? Kanndadalli kelabekendare, namma bhasheya bagge naavu hemme padabekadare, adhu bere deshada pathrikeyalli acchagabeke?
We will progress as a community, as a state, country when we can shun our craving for admiration from the west.
We are just proud that our language is out there and is showing up prominently in places least expected. Not that we are begging for attention from the west or other Indians or need ratification from anyone. We already know we are great and need no one to tell us that! :)
We are proud Kannadigas and support the presence of our script and language anywhere in the world. For once let us be happy about ourselves and shed our cynical side.
Be proud and say it loud!
Jai Karnataka Mathe!
Rajesh,
Even I can brag with names from karnataka and a longer list of people who are famous.
After reading your post I was confused you started saying that no language is supreme and finally end up saying MH, marathi and your people are great…..
Am I mising something or do you just have google to find people from MH and post it here and end up saying NOTHING?
Mr. Kashyap,
WHo thinks I have ended up saying Nothing:
Rajeev has said “Kannada beats all other languages/people/cultures”
Is this not wrong? Aren’t there great people from all places? So if you argue that Karnataka is great because there are so many great people-THEN FINE.
BUT, if you argue that Kannada BEATS other languages/cultures/ then I must point out that while Karnataka/Kannada/Kannadigas are great, how can you argue that they beat other cultures? In what way is Kannada/KArnataka better than all other cultures? It is rich-but others are no less rich.
Mr. RAjeev argues that these greats from KA prove that KA is BETTER than the rest. Which implies that other cultures are not that rich. Or have not produced so many luminaries. Which is not true. I posted this because I wanted to correct his impression that some luminaries from KA proves that KA’s culture is superior. My guess is that Bengal certainly and MH probably has produced as many greats as KA. Then how can Rajeev say that BECAUSE of these greats, it means KA is greater than other states/languages/cultures? Other states have their own greats which are no inferior to KA.
Kashyap,
read carefully. CAREFULLY. I am not the person who has written that MH is culture is great. DID I SAY THAT.? Nor did I say that Marathi is great-DID I SAY THAT? Nor did I say that my people (whoever they may be) are GREAT. OTOC, Rajeev has said Kannada beats other languages/cultures/people-NOT ME. So before you accuse of saying MH, Marathi and your people are great-SHOW ME where I’ve written it.
Am I mising something or do you just like to twist words and jump to conclusions, and post some accusations here and end up saying NOTHING?
Rajesh,
Still I didn’t get the message. After reading your message the information I get in a nutshell is that MH is having better people. May be you can argue you have not said that directly (a court can buy that as it always looks for evidence). It is human nature to always think that one’s culture is superior to rest of the world. (Think Germany, Britain, China or any other small tribe in Africa.) Many wars have been fought over this issue. I think KA is great and you think MH is great and I am not saying it is wrong. If someone says it we have to accept it because deep down our heart/mind we do have the same feeling. What I am trying to say is Rajeev is not wrong is saying that KA is superior. If you say MH is better than I won’t argue with you and try to prove wrong :). One cannot prove that one’s culture is better than other’s. Can you?
Thanks,
Kashyap
Its a good thing to note that KANNADA has started to take precedence in world business. Its not big wonder at all. Kannada words were used by greeks in plays in 200BC.