It happened the other day...
A coworker...
Off on a marketing quest into the rural hinterland...
Foxed us all...
The travel agent especially..
When she asked whether her tickets to Kolam were booked???
Kolam???
Yes!!!
As in the decorations with rice flour that South Indians like to draw...
At the entrance to their homes???
No!!!!...
As in...
Kollam...
The new name for ye olde Quilon!!!!
Duh??!!!
And to think that this atrocious mangling of a South Indian tongue..
Came...
From one who has spent at least 15 years of her life...
Holed up in a plantation in the Anamallais..
Often with only Tamil-speaking coolies for company!!!!
Strange!!!
Ever so often...
I wince.....
Especially when I hear one from the North of the Vindhyas..
Refer to Madras..
The city of my birth...
Not even as Chennai....
But as Ch-NAAI!!!
Why is it that North Indians can never learn to speak Tamil????....
Sorry...Tha-meeeel....
Or is it Madrassi???
Why can't they learn to pronounce the words properly????...
Or just learn to handle Ch-NAAI-speak???
Even those...
Who have lived in Chennai for four or five generations...
Always...
Deliver their lines with an accent...
Which can only be the stuff of comedy...
In Tamil films!!!!
Is it that they cannot...
Or that they will not...
And if not...
Then why the heck not????
Surely...this is a mystery...
Ripe for investigation!!!!
At the other end of the spectrum...
Are those South Indians...
Born and bred...
Up North.....
Who go all out...
To tell you that it is not..
Pa or ba..but pha and bha...
mit-tha-i not mittai!!
How could you not know???...
Or handle something as basic as that????
This coterie wonders!!!!...
Lapsing at every opportunity into that lingo ..
That bonds them...
This cabal....
Takes pride in getting its Hindi accent just so...
As if being able to do so...
Somehow...
Puts them in some kind of an uber class!!!
Is it that the South Indian languages are hard on the tongue???
But hey!!!
Then what about other languages???
Like Thai??...
The language spoken in Thailand???
With its rising..falling...rising-falling...falling-rising tones???
They should suck at that ...
Right???
But no!!!
I have heard Sardarjis...
Even those who have just stepped off an Indian Airlines flight...
Hold forth in that complicated tongue...
As if it they had learnt it at their mother's knee!!!...
Then why does Tamil..
Get the cold shoulder???
Could it be that the North Indians...
Are only Tamil-challenged???
But South Indians...
On the other hand...
At least..
Those of the born there-bred there variety......
Are not similarly...Hindi-challenged???
I think at least some of the SouthIndian attitudes to Hindi
Have been shaped by a yester-years movie..
Called Padosan...
In which Mehmood...
Plays a South Indian brahmin dance teacher....
The North Indians just loved it!!!!
But it was really...
A cruel portrayal...
A humiliating one....
Vicious...
And very tasteless...
And insensitive to the feelings of those from the South...
It left an indelible impression on the psyche...
Of all South Indians living above the Tropic of Cancer!
And it is my humble opinion...
That ever since then...
South Indians born in those climes...
Want to disassociate themselves....
From the Padosan-south Indian accent...
And stereotype...
So every time they deliver a dialogue...
In flawless Hindi...
They are actually saying..
And reiterating...
Hey...
But I am not THAT guy...
With the funny accent...
Don't ridicule me...
I am perfect...
I could be you...almost!!!
As for the North Indians...
It begins from the days of the Ramayana..
When the area South of the Vindhyas...
THEY say..
Was inhabited by a simian breed...
They seem to believe that the language of those..
With that sort of an ancestry...
Does not deserve respect!!!!
After all..
Why should the fair descendants of fair Aryans...
Learn the language of the darkee race???
It must be inferior...
So let us give it scant respect....
Seems to be the prevailing view!!!!!
As for me...
I always feel proud...
That we resisted the imposition of Hindi...
On us...
Tamilnadu ....not Thaa-mil-naddu...
Is the only state ....
In all of India...
Where school kids have a choice!!!
They do not compulsorily have to learn Hindi...
And given the slovenly treatment of our tongue...
By those who descend on our cities from up North...
I think it is only right!!!
Long live Thamizh!!!
And Thamizh pride!!!
Didn't expect THAT from me now...
Did ya???
Ah HA!!!
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About Me
- Life Unedited
- I love my family, a few close friends, my earlier profession of journalism, Franny and Zooey, watching movies, Jay Leno....mulling about Madras, nostalgia
3 comments:
Another good one, Madras Girl. You know I cant figure out if they behave this way out of fear (these Southies, so much more smarter than us; lets be more loud-mouthed and North-y or we'll get swamped) or just arrogance (India is North India isnt it? Who cares about South-Wouth?). In a way I am glad they dont know enough or arent comfortable enough to really maul Tamil the way they do English (that really calls for capital punishment). And yes, we were the only ones who stood up to them; hence our generally better knowledge of and fluency in English - better jobs, IT, etc. Why oh why cant the South secede?
The battle for language was lost by us decades back. I think in the process we got rather isolated. Hindi has spread its influence all over India and Tamilnadu is like Astrix's village- not yet conquered.
TN is a remote corner for any average North Indian, and what is the incentive, for an average North Indian, for mastering a language which is not essential for living in this country.
I like to add a point here: Tamils have a predilection for perfection. And we tend to criticize a person who takes baby steps in learning our language rather than encourage. If a person cannot speak good English, for example, he/she becomes an object of ridicule. As you say great number of our people take pride in their fluency in Hindi and authentic North Indian accent and make fun of others who are not so good.
The problem, I guess, is genetic.
The crux of the issue is how well an idea is communicated rather than express to impress.
Yes, our English is so English that I have begun to think that we have stolen the tongue altogether from the original speakers.
Similarly, our Hindi too, methinks.
Whenever I speak in Hindi to northies,due respect accorded to allNorthies,there are raised eyebrows at my fluency. I promptly remind them that it was indeed imposed upon us against our will and with our penchant for perfection, we have mastered that language as well.
It will please you to know though, that in my wanderings around the world,i have been accosted on most unexpected occasions, with a 'vanakkam' or a 'rombo nandri'
delivered in perfect tamil by caucasians,europeans and the like.
And as for our cuisine, the thair vadai or sambar or idli,dosai molagapodi are big hits and requested frequently..and our silks and jaris and even simple saris are deeply apprecaited...so also our splendid temples..
Are you from Chennai they ask..if yes, you must be the computer wizard..brainy..
So the sniggerin ignoramuses can just continue to do so ..nothing lost on our side.
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