Former Procter & Gamble India head Gurcharan Das in The Sunday Times of India:
“At great sacrifice India’s poor send their children to private, English-medium schools of varying degrees of quality. The children face incomprehension initially, but eventually most of them manage to take a leap into a new world. This happens because a child is naturally bilingual. Our education establishment dismisses these schools and thinks the parents stupid. The same establishment thrust shudh Hindi down our throats for 50 years but all they achieved was an unemployable person. Now, at least, these children can get a job – so, who is the stupid one?”
The Jnanpith Award winning author U.R. Anantha Murthy in Many Indias: Search for a Centre:
“All languages in India will survive, one feels, if there are people who speak only that language. I once met Bhalachandra Nemade, the Marathi writer. He told me that some people from Bihar came to Bombay to sell vegetables. They speak only their language, they refuse to learn any other language. So all our women who go to buy vegetables, because they want to buy fresh good vegetables, have learnt to speak their language. And who are these people who know only that language and no other language? They are not literate, they are backward, they are untouchables and also people who have not come up, in the modern sense, anywhere. I sometimes think that our languages have survived because of such people who knew only that language.”
YouTube video link courtesy T.V. Mahalingam
churumuri 
Yet another proof that URA’s thinking is idiotic.
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That boy is a brilliant polyglot. If given proper education he can be a linguist. Coming to URA, he plays up to certain castiest and kannda jingoist political forces. He is also quite close to the rabid caste politician Siddharamaih. Expecting words of wisdom from URA is foolishness. He is no Kuvempu who spoke of the ideal Vishwa Manava.
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According to URA, for language to survive, we need people, who are backward, untouchable, illiterate.
I wonder what URA eats for food
Hell with language. Earth is there for people, not for languages. Its people like URA who encourage people to be backward, in name of doing good for language. URA is a true misanthrope.
Somebody ought to tighten URA’s screws.
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VM and PFIER – Your comments are a classic case of distorted understanding is what this piece will give us. A fuller reading of URA’s article will tell us that neither does URA advocated illitereacy, lack of education, survival of one language, etc. All he is making is an observation – which like most are probably only partly true. Even multi-lingual people’s original languages will survive if such people are economically strong, emotionally attached and that language itself has an economy around it. Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, etc to a larger extent. Other Indian languages to a smaller extent.
Infact, URA is actually saying that multiple languages should be encouraged and linguistic chauvinism should not.
Now, neither he nor anyone else should be at fault if he makes statements of love to a particular language or statements of sorrow that a particular language is degenerating. VM and P – You will cry for your beloved ones death or disease dont you?
Pls read his full article as well as other articles in full. You may not agree to everything he says (neither do I), but you will atleast know what he wants to say in entirety.
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All three instances clearly suggest one thing: If there is NEED, every human being is capable of picking up/learning more than one language. The polyglot peacock feather seller NEEDS to sell his ware to tourists from different countries. The Marathi-speaking, English knowing housewives of Mumbai don’t mind picking up a smattering of Bihari to land a good bargain when out vegetable shopping. If the feather seller spoke only Marathi, he may have sold only half the stuff. He is PUSHING his stuff to customers by speaking their tongue. But the demand for vegetables has PULLED Marathi-speaking locals to converse in Bihari.
Gurcharan suggests that it is good to exploit this innate ability to speak different tongues by equipping children with the ability to speak English instead of tiring efforts to make them learn chaste regional languages.
He is basically right, though I would not go to the extent of vouching for Hinglish, or Kanglish in class rooms as the medium of instruction. Also, he is thinking of empowering children to be economically independent, employable in a global work place and so on.
But, URA as a writer is worried that “writing” in regional languages including Kannada would also suffer if English is perceived as an all important communication tool. I think those with an innate talent to write or create would seek out better reading and learning and opt for language studies as well. I think he is worried that if only the spoken word exists, soon it would be only the illiterates who would speak the regional language. I think his fears are unfounded. English is a MEDIUM of instruction. Learning it as a language (literature) at a later stage is a matter of choice. Most parents (even in nuclear families) do take the trouble to teach children the mother-tongue. The three-language formula will see to it that grammar is also taught, learnt and understood. That is enough of a grounding.
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Well said Yella Ok. You need not agree with URA, but you cannot call him an idiot, because his opinions are deeply meditated ones and their purport is far reaching. If I have a pea-brain, it doesn’t mean that the world is a hen-hole. Does it? VM and PFIER seem to understand public debate as a slanging match of one-upmanship over regurgitated opinions.
When one intellect is hated so much by public, we should understand that there is something genuinely right about that person. So with URA.
His language concerns are well known and so are his concerns against militant vigilantism. Self-evidently, today, the soul of Kannada is intact in the deep-set villages of Shimoga and Mandya and not in the midst of Bengaluru. Isn’t it?
VM and PFIER, please understand that an “observation” is different from “aashaya”.
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Raviji, thank you. I have made this point before and at the risk of sounding like a stuck record, I need to repeat myself.
You may disagree with Dr Murthy or anybody else, but I think sheer civility of debate demands that we not call call him or anybody else an idiot just because they hold a view contrary to ours. It is disheartening to see so many debates on Churumuri replete with labels like “fool”, “idiot”, etc. Why is it so difficult for us to debate without getting personal or foul-mouthed?
Dr Murthy has spoken of the existence of three langauges in a person: maneya maathu (language of the home), bidi maathu (language of the streets) and attada maathu (language of the loft). It will be a pity if we disprove him and use only one of the three, and reveal our intolerance under the cover of anonymity.
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Dear Yashica,
We all have a problem with public debate. Information is available freely, cheaply and in many processed forms. It only takes one to align to a particular ideology (not a difficult thing at all) and the whole world is one’s tea cup. Sadly, all issues, irrespective of their gravity, are dealt in the same tone, language and rules of engagement (read bi-polar opinionating).
Thanks for bringing up the three language idea of AK Ramanujan (URA really elaborated on it effectively). There needs to be (and I am sure it is happening on better forums) an educated and intelligent debate on the role of our mass media (tv, movies) in retaining the soul of Kannada.
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“All languages in India will survive, one feels, if there are people who speak only that language.”
“I sometimes think that our languages have survived because of such (backward) people who knew only that language.”
I wish URA had talked about a practical way of encouraging writing in ones mother tongue, rather than finding some lame excuse & stupid reason. Come on, most good writers in Kannada know more than one language.
See see the above 2 lines and tell me what is Mr URA trying to say?
I agree with VM regarding URA in this matter.
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paciFIER, read the whole piece for god’s sake… if you stil agree to call anybody idiotic, or what he eats or such junk.. god help you.
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what IS da point? I thought URA said if we speak only Kannada in Bangalore all the “outsiders’ IT wallahs will also learn to speak Kannada. In the above example it is the “ulta” meaning according to his theory the vegetable vendors should have learnt the local language , na? so plse Acharyare tell us, guide us, lead kindly light … should I speak to my vegetable vendor in his Bihari or my Kannada or in Narayanmurthy’s English?
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If there are people to speak a language, the language will survive. There cannot be a much more mundane, self-evident idea.
I think Churumuri is mischievous for reproducing URA’s inane proclamations and getting us all to rush to defend him, oppose him, vilify him, whatever. Thus the man gets his dearest wish: to be in currency although his time and ability to mold a generation’s thinking are long gone.
Isn’t learning to speak a language a little more demanding than dealing with tharakariwalas and walies. Speaking a few words related to weight, size, and price does not qualify as learning a language. The process is called “chaukaasi.” Surely one small contingent–notice the reference to women–of Biharis cannot supply all the vegetable needs of Mumbai. It follows that there are some people from other language groups involved in the trade. That should lead us to the conclusion that Mumbaikars have to learn not just Hindi, but also Prakrit and Latin. By the way Bihari dialects are godawful, but it is heartening that Bambai log learn so many of them in their cosmopolitan biosphere.
Anecdotal, unverifiable comments are always better than truths arrived at through systematic cogitaion. I recently heard a Kannada critic say that Bhyrappa’s “Aavarana” is a damn good novel. Now I know every Kannadiga has read or will read the book.
All right, Kannadigas. Don’t blame Laloo for his alleged calumniation. Be happy in the knowledge that Biharis not only take railway jobs from Kannadigas and but they also deprive Shivaji’s descendents of a way to make a living by selling vegetables. All without buying railway tickets.
As for some other observations by the Guru in Dollars Colony, I say we should spend more money on educating the economically disadvantaged people who speak only Kannada and teach them to speak Prakrit and Latin. They should probably learn Russian too.
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@PFIER – I agree with VM that someone is idiotic. But it is not URA.
Your last comment is like Ashwatthaama Hataha ………….. kunjaraha. selecting parts to understand what you like to understand. URA is only trying to convey an act of self fulfilling prophecy where a person who only know one language tends to make others learn his language. Thats it. No more, no less.
He is not saying one should not learn english, that one should only speak in kannada, etc. If you have the patience to read his full article, he goes on to say how people in Bengalooru and in karnataka have spoken multiple languages and how imposing only one language is not good.
Now, dont start daydreaming that because of the ashwatthaama hataha …., you are a pandava and ohters are kauravas!!
@PTL, While I generally appreciate your overall concern for KKK, I have to point out that “If there are people to speak a language, the language will survive. There cannot be a much more mundane, self-evident idea” view of yours is only superficial. URA is trying to undersstand till when will people speak a language and stop a language. That is the difference between your and URA’s perceptions. URA’s goes a bit beyond yours.
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I believe the fault line lies in our notion of a language. If Kannada has to survive the onslaught of other languages, other cultures, globalization, market proliferation, it will. If it can’t, it won’t. Simple. yes? maybe not. However, our reaction to these issue stems from a freeze-frame version of a language’s existence. Kannada has changed, adapted, morphed, modified and survived. Do we have a say in how Kannada would remain in say, 100 years from now? Maybe yes, by the way we sustain it today.. but I can definitely have an opinion on how and what kind of Kannada must be sustained today, and also have innumerable complaints about what is actually being retained and sustained. That doesn’t make the issue any more lighter or more complex.
That is exactly what the issue is. How are we responsible to have a say in how to sustain the soul of Kannada. If URA does think it in one way, and I am sure he puts a lot of efforts into his thought process, I respect that, even if I don’t agree with everything he says. Even PTL here has some very valid points, though I donot agree with them completely. That doesn’t mean we keep questioning one’s motives, intentions etc.
My appeal is for all to focus on the priorities. We can have light hearted banter about URA’s dollar colony house and Shah Rukh Khan’s gayness, but the issue being discussed should raise above our qualms.
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The statement ‘they refuse to learn any other language’ is mis leading.
It implies there is a deliberate attempt on their part at not learning a new language.
And that too from an illiterate. backward untouchable!!
If the state of the languages depends so much on them, then why don’t the concerned go out and make them, touchable, forward and well off?
Or is it another way of saying that migrants are to blame for the poor state of languages?
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>> He told me that some people from Bihar came to Bombay to sell vegetables. They speak only their language, they refuse to learn any other language.
These people (read Biharis) have the support of the central government in publicising/mandating learning Hindi.
>> So all our women who go to buy vegetables, because they want to buy fresh good vegetables, have learnt to speak their language.
This is quite true, specially in case of Karnataka and Kannadigas, people here take pride in speaking other languages, and feel low speaking their language.
>> And who are these people who know only that language and no other language? They are not literate, they are backward, they are untouchables and also people who have not come up, in the modern sense, anywhere.
Not at all true. I did not understand how did he come to this conclusion, or added this line just to please his ‘pseudo-secular’ sponsors.
All non-Hindi speaking states should follow the footsteps of Tamilnadu – that of opposing ‘forceful’ learning of Hindi; look at how outsiders will be to learn the native language there.
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By URA’s logic the english speaking people who migrated to the United States were the illiterate, backward, untouchables and also people who have not come up. That’s why USA speaks English, not german, italian, spanish or Hebrew. If it were for Bhaiyyas alone, by URA’s reasoning, the city should have spoken Maithili or Bhojpuri.
Hindi serves as a link laungage beyond the Vindhyas. The Gujjus, the Panjus and the Marwadis, everyone who who is from beyond the Vindhyas uses Hindi as a link language, just as English serves as the link language down south.
Kannada, or any other language for that matter, will survive as long as there are people who teach the language to their children.
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@Taleharate, if you try to juxtapose the current global situation to that existed in the heydays of migration into America (ready 16-20th century beginning)and try to bring in URA’s logic, the argument will become just what you like – Taleharate.
However, I agree that Kannada will survive if it is taught by parents to their children.
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Dr. URA, just because some Bombay housewife learnt Bihari so she can deal with Bihari vegetable vendor, if all the Infosys and Wipro people start coding in Kannada you think entire USA will learn Kannada just because they have to deal with Infosys ?
URA, your time has come. And gone. Now you also go. India is a country for youth. India is NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
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I am glad that so many posts at Churumuri bring us back to Kannada. Before we can a solve a problem, we should know one exists.
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I propose that English of whatever brand replace Kannada in Karnataka. Eventually we will all learn to speak, write, and read it. Then we will have no reason to worry about what is happening to our own language in our state in our own county in our own continent on our own planet. What has Kannada done for us? Why must it or Karnataka survive?
Modalu saakashtu anna, batte, nela. Aa mele bhaashe geeshe. Namma nela jalagalannu ithara bhaashikaru kolle hodeyuthiddaare antha rampa maaduva modalu, aa bahupaalu nelajalagalannu thamma angayyalli ittikondiruva Kannada khadeemaru nammellara ulikege enu maadthiddare antha kelikolluvudu lesu. Ee kelasa maadoru yaaru? Hege?
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i have circulated ur article on the media terror on muslims in bangalore with the following note, keep up ur great work in the cause of truth and justice:
Peace loving, law abiding citizens who mind their own business are being victimised, again and yet again. And in that process the real culprits go scot-free. And they go unpunished, and the nation and its mission to check terror becomes the casuality. Nobody seems to be seriously interested in eliminating the terrible scourge of terrorism from our soil, but just need an alibi to perpetually harass Muslim as if their destitution and backwardness is not enough. The media is obsessed with its own harangue against those who have no power, media or even proper access to lawyers. In this jungle of lies and fabrications, courageous reports like this one (see below) by Gauri Lankesh, are something that citizens interested in constitutional rule and democratic values should sit up and take note. That is in self interest as what happens today to the hapless, defenseless Muslim citizens can happen to others tomorrow. Terrorists are the best friends of those who wish to see the Muslims finished. Thats is why the cases such as the bomb attack on RSS office in TN or new bomb planting in Coimbatore, in both cases the efficiency of TN police superiors have exposed the scheme by anti-national forces to malign Musmlim community and to frame innocent Muslims citizens. Fareed.
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