Kannada’s Situation
Today : A Quote from the Editor
Because of
the broad mentality of Kannadigas, the Kannada
language in it's own state is not recognized
today. Many Kannadigas today think that talking in Kannada is a shame and
there is no use by learning Kannada. It has become fashion to communicate in
English, Hindi and any other language other than Kannada. And few kannadigas
pretend as though they have never heard a single Kannada word.
Also many
Kannadigas and even few non-Kannadigas think that talking in Kannada or
following Kannad culture is is anti-national.!!!. Kannadigas have lot to
learn from our neighbors Tamilians. Tamilians did a perfect job in
protecting their language.
Now there is
no point in blaming outsiders for our languages' downfall. We have to
take the responsibility for this. We Kannadigas keeping quite or showing
patience towards others' languages or accepting and learning other
languages is considered as our weakness by many outsiders today which is
very unfortunate.
Besiders these problems, environment in Bangalore and other border places
like Kolar, Belagaavi is also going against us. Excellent
Kannada movies are not getting good theatres. All shows in
Pallavi,Urvashi and other theatres, which is in center of the town,
is reserved for Telugu and Tamil movies. Karantaka is like villain at
national level when it comes to Kaveri water sharing issue. But the
fact of pro-Tamilnadu decisions by central govt is not known to all
Indians. And also
following the rules made by then British Govt. is completely favorable
to Tamilnadu. In such issues also our political parties have failed
miserably in getting the justice for our farmers.
These are
just few to mention here. There are many.
Who are responsible for this bad situation of
Kannada language?
Mainly
it's Kannadigas only. Most
of the times Kannadigas speak with the outsiders
in their language. So, why and where the outsider will find the
necessity to learn Kannada? He will be happier to communicate with his own
language.
Most of the
Kannadigas tell that they love their language
Kannada. But they should show it in some way by spending some money for our
Kannada language. But they won't. Then what is the use of saying "I love
Kannada”? They can spend some money for Kannada books, Music, Movies, etc..
Unfortunately Kannada press media is not giving any moral support for
improving Kannada in it's hometown.
Most of the times the local news papers won't support
Kannada in any manner. Every week they praise most of the Tamil,
Telugu, Malayam & Hindi movies and intentionally
write bad reviews for Kannada movies. They highlight the negative point/s of
Kannada movies if there are any and won't write a single sentence about the
plus points. Where as, for other language movies they promote even if it is
of "OKAY kind of movie". This is because most of the reviewers in these
newspapers are non-Kannadigas who can do
anything to promote their language in Karnataka. Why
such a kind of attitude among our Kannada press media? No one
questions all these things!! Most of the Kannadigas
are of "Chaltha Hai"
nature and not bothered about their language at all.
And most of
the theatres screen most of the times other language movies even if they are
below average. And these theatre owners won't give the theatres to even good
kannada movies.
And some
fanatics ask Kannadigas in Bangalore to learn
Tamil, Telugu,Hindi and they ask Don't you know Tamil ?
Don't you know Telugu ?Don't you know
Hindi ? What can we do for these
kind of people?
Who are Kannadigas?
Who are
Kannadigas? This is not easy to answer. Those
who are born in Karnataka are Kannadigas? OR
those who were brought up in Karnataka are Kannadigas?
OR those who can talk/write Kannada are Kannadigas?
None of this may be a correct answer. Then it is left to individual to
decide.
Bangalore
has a population of at least 50% other than Kannada
as their mother tongue. But next question is,
from how many years they are living in Karnataka? Among these how many think
that they belong to Karnataka? Unfortunately immigrants to Karnataka who are
living in Karnataka for the past so many years do not identify themselves as
Kannadigas. That is the sad part.
These
people still struggle to speak a few sentences in Kannada and they
communicate in their own language with neighbors, in stores, at streets, at
office and where ever possible. They live here but they don't want to learn
our language.
Few outsiders think that their language is the only
superior language in the world and they expect everyone to learn their
language. They basically try to override other languages and dominate their
culture. And finally they tell that we need to learn their language.
Shame on their behavior.
What should we do?
First thing
Kannadigas should do, is to stop encouraging
outsiders by speaking in their language. There is nothing wrong in learning
their language (Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, etc..) But
if we keep on encouraging them by speaking to them in their language, when
they will learn our language?
Language
can't grow or survive without people using it.
Stop
screening Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam movies until these states start
screening our Kannada movies in their state.
Buy Kannada
magazines, books, and papers. Don't always borrow it from neighbors. Spend
some money for Kannada language in some way.
Encourage
good Kannada movies. Don’t propagate that Kannada movies and music are
substandard. Check out our
“We Recommend” section of Sandalwood Arena column
to get an idea about our great movies!!! DON'T BE BIASED. Kannada movies
have won 8 national awards in the best film category.
Speak your
mother tongue (Tamil, Telugu or French) at your home. But do respect the
state language Kannada and give some respect to the place where you live.
We can't
prevent someone coming to our state in search of education, job, good
weather, etc...They are most welcome, but they should respect our language,
our culture, our sentiments and they should not try to impose their language
in our state. If they do so, don't sit and watch and encourage them.
Just ask
them one simple question - What would be their reaction if we do the same
thing in their state?????.
We are not
demanding Kannada to be the official language in Tamil
Nadu or France or London. We want Kannada to be the language of
Karnataka , that’s it.
-The
Editor |
