The Mother Tongue
Three years I have spent in Chennai. I think the thing that I miss the most about Bangalore is the language. People say the weather of Bangalore is great, that it is the happening city, etc. But for me , it is home. Place where people talk the same way I do and with whom I can talk in a way I can feel comfartable.It is not that I never get the oppurtunity to speak in Kannada at all. There are a lot of Bangaloreans here. All speak the same way I do, but it is not all the time. No matter how comfartable I am in English, there is a certain freedom, a certain flow that is there when I speak in Kannada. It is true what people say, "You never realize the importance of something till it is no more there." When I was in Bangalore, I didnt realize what mother tongue meant to me. Now I do.
Some people try to copy Western culture, and start speaking like foreigners. My room neighbour is a standing example for that. To all such people who have lost touch with their mother tongue, I urge you to get it back. It will be very easy. You dont know what you are missing. The freedom of thought, the freedom of expression you get can never be achieved with any other language, no matter how hard you try. Im not a Kannada scholar and dont aspire to be one either, but I think I can express my thoughts best in Kannada itself.
There is a good Birbal's story regarding this. Once a very learned scholar came to Akbars court and challenged all the Pandits to try and find out what his mother tongue was. Scholars of various languages questioned him till the end of their wits, but still werent able to guess what this fellows mother tongue was. Birbal had stayed out of this and when Akbar asked him to try his hand, Birbal asked for one days time. That night he sneaked into the scholars room and sprinkled hot water on him. The very next second he knew what his mother tongue was.
All this just leaves one thought in my mind. Being just 300 Km from home , in the same country, if I miss small things like not being able to speak in Kannada regulary, I wonder how people living in foreign countries would be feeling......
posted by Mahesh.R @ 10:52 AM
5 Comments:
Yeah, tell Maro to learn German, he still can't speak it.
Nice post!
Even I miss the dig-shrouded atmosphere... and I detest people who talk as though they are foreigners...
Namaskara saar,
naanu nimma abhipprayavanna samarthasteeni.nanigu normal aage, pseud haakde mother tongue alli maataadavare ishta.aadre illi vand point ide......swalpa janagala maneli naanu nodideeni makklu appa amman joteloo englishnalle maataadtaare,so avar yashte try maadadru avar kaili avar appnaane mother tongue maataadakke aagalla.and when they try to speak in their mother tongue it sounds terrible
nimmavane aada,
Manohara
I don't really know if that's true. You still do speak to people in Kannada, like Muggu, Baba and the rest of the group. I speak to my parents in Tamil almost everyday. I don't really feel a difference. And don't even think of saying it's because we are in Tamil land, because you know as well as I do that that's not really it. In fact, Hindi and Telugu are more commonly heard than Tamil. I don't think language should be that big a deal. I also don't think that you should be too concerned about what people speak, whether it's me trying to speak Kannada (:P) or Maro not trying.
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