May 28, 2010

Why Chennai can't and won't speak Hindi

Recently, I’ve been barraged on facebook with status messages from my friends who when to Chennai for their summer internships. To summarize all the status messages in one line, people weren’t exactly happy with Chennaites not being able to speak in Hindi. To all those people, let me ask you a simple question –why should they?

People who can speak only Hindi expect that everyone else in India should speak Hindi and this is based on the assumption that Hindi is the national language of India and it should stand true to its name by being spoken across the country. Allow me to correct such beliefs by quoting that as per the constitution of India, Hindi is not the national language. In fact, India doesn’t have a national language and it doesn’t need one. This fact acknowledged by Gujarat High court as well. So it would be prudent to lower the expectations which were supported by a myth rather than a fact.

Now to the most important question. Why won’t Chennai learn Hindi? There is a two edged answer to this.

One – Love of Tamil. Do you know that Tamil is the only classical language (amongst the eight in the world) still to be in practice? Being more than 2300 years old, the language has stood its time and is currently spoken by more than 8 crore people across the world. It even has official status in three countries other than India.  Sanskrit, India’s oldest language and mother of Hindi couldn’t do that. Why? Because People just love the Tamil language. Fortunately or unfortunately, the language is very close to the people than you can imagine. And this reflects in being supportive any to Tamil community outside the country irrespective of what is right or wrong. Read this article by an American Professor why he thinks that Tamil deserves the classical language status.

Two – Fear. The more you love something, the more you’ll be afraid that you’ll lose it one day. And you’ll do everything at your power to protect what you love dearly. That’s what people in actual power in 1960s did by opposing point blank to the proposal of making Hindi as the national language based on the fear that nationalizing Hindi will slowly erode Tamil. A fair and a justified fear.

There are several points that I can put forward to enforce my side of the argument.

If you travel to Tokyo/Beijing, do you expect people to speak in Hindi? Obviously not Hindi when you can’t expect them to know English either! Will you complain that English is a global language and they should have known it? On the same note, why should you expect someone in Tamil Nadu to do so? Because, it is a part of India? The greatest strength of India is its diversity in languages and sustainable cultural diversity. Don’t try to nullify that strength by expecting the entire nation to speak in a single language.

If you are moving to a land that doesn’t speak the language you do, the onus is on you to learn the new language and not the other way around. When I moved to Hyderabad, I knew neither Telugu nor Hindi, but I managed to learn a bit of both. And even in Mumbai, I managed to survive with the half cooked Hindi I knew. Most importantly, you should have sorry-i-don’t-know-please-help-me attitude and not something like god-you-dont-know-hindi. The latter will get you nowhere.

And finally it comes to personal choice. Nobody in this country stops anyone from learning Hindi. It’s just people don’t choose to.

The above arguments are not only for Tamil. It stands true for other regional languages such as Telugu (another language that I’m very fond of), Kannada, and Bengali which are much older than Hindi and boasts of richer literature. These regional languages have stood their time too and I would watch with glee when they make it to the classical status as well. It's sad that Indian government has done nothing to further the growth of the regional languages across the country. And the state governments take it upon themselves to protect the language and their actions sometimes come as being fanatic (sometimes they really are!).

I do agree that not knowing Hindi does add to the communication problem when people from different region interact. But I would prefer the solution in the form of English rather than Hindi. My rational is that English is already the language of the world and it has reached almost every part of the world. So why can’t English be the unified language in India? Why Hindi when it’s penetration in India is less successful than English? Think and think hard!

And remember both our national anthem and national song are in Bengali!

1,104 comments:

  1. wow! that was a beautifully written post. and the arguments put forth are very convincing.

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  2. Somebody once said.. "We should make Hindi the national language.. Hindi for people of India to interact with one another and English to interact with the people of the world".. To which Anna commented.. "If you have a big dog and a small dog.. will you make a big door for the big dog and a small door for the small dog?"

    I have seen few status messages on FB.. and I was very close to losing my temper.. I've been traveling in North India as well.. I don't expect everyone to know English or Tamil.. I try to manage..

    Well written Thyagu.. Well written indeed..

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  3. Thyagu, thts one nice blog! Really liked the way u put things into perspective.

    Some views: India does not have a national Language. But, the official language of Indian Union is Hindi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_with_official_status_in_India).

    That being said, its totally acceptable that Tamilians respect their language so much that they would like to protect it!
    Any language should be looked at as something which has something new to offer you(either in the form of its history or how it survived times!) And many of Indian languages have a lot more to offer us (Bengali, Kannada, etc.)
    In my opinion, English is the only language which has adapted (borrowed from various languages) and would continue to be a widely spoken language.

    So, i second you in saying that English can very well be the unified language of India

    PS: Plz do not read the blog with prejudices ( Look it from a neutral perspective)

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    1. britto: so it is English an official language and is accepted in every state,ex:police station.

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  4. @vignesh, thanks!

    @RK,
    Going in the same style, we do need one dog to bark to the rest of the world. I prefer the dog whose bark reaches more :P

    @Britto,
    Nice link. It also gives a perspective of Indian confusion to choose between Hindi and English.

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    1. Awesome job writing this article! Very impressed with the way you have articulated your thoughts!

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  5. Great post :) Now, can send this link(to ur post) to all my hindi friends who ask me the same question :)

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  6. Well said! And spoken for all Tamilians who feel the same way.

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  7. FYI, Telugu and Kannada are also classical languages - Telugu is the most spoken language in the world when compared to Tamil or Kannada.
    Moreover, the love for one's own language is highly appreciated but not when it starts being an inconvenience to others. Remember Tamil Nadu is also in India and is not seperate country like Tokyo/Beijing(as you quoted).
    You can see why Bangalore/Hyderabad are more cosmo than Chennai. People should love and speak in their own languages and also try to co-operate with different state folks when you *KNOW HINDI*. I have minimal personal experience of being to Chennai and facing the problems practically but from what I've heard, people chose not to speak other language even when they know it clearly and can certainly help the fellow citizen.

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    1. since banglore accepted hindi kannada lost its status der....we tamilians don wan tat to happen for our language also....

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    2. Daccani is part and parcel of the deccan region - Hyd, Bangalore, Pune, etc.
      Please don't distort facts. I am a Telugu guy and I love both Daccani and Telugu more than Standar Hindi and English

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    3. And Keshava, if you had done some real research, you would see that Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam are languages having Tamil as their root language. Just like Hindi has Sanskrit as its root. This is not my saying, but scholars and researchers around the world have agreed on this fact. I mean the ones who have done some useful research.

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    4. I feel communication is all that matters. As long as you can communicate in any language, it is fine. But the problem arises the moment you show hostility to people who do not know your language, and disregard them.

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    5. Keshava, how does one's love for a language become inconvenience to others? You have not come up with any sort of explanation at all?
      Let me put it precisely, when people come to Chennai / TN from NORTH (mostly the educated one's have this DAMN issue who take it up to blogs & social sites) that Why does Chennai not speak Hindi? So their problem is COMMON MAN in Chennai (i.,e. Autodrivers, shopkeepers, milkman, fruit sellers, Policemen etc.. though cops might not fit exactly as a common man, but for sake of this arguement fits very well) to speak in THEIR language. I say WTF. When you're educated well enough why don't you learn a language and come? For the F sake of you, you need these common people, apart from their daily duty to learn your language???
      You (i'm not literally saying You, hope you get it) who complain are nothing but dirt.
      It is always a personal thing ,(in many cases occupational need) to learn a language. A state or a government SHOULD NOT ORDER its people to learn it. Such a Government is Fascist

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    6. Yeah Bangalore and Hyderabad are probably more cosmopolitan, but talk to any old Kannadiga and he'll tell you the city has lost the Kannada/south Indian identity it once had. If you're gonna argue saying that's the price you have to pay for industry, then look around Chennai. We have a lot of heavy industry as well as IT, and jobs continue to pour in. AND we've retained our linguistic identity in the process. Maharashtra and Karnataka have regional governments which started xenophobic movements and have beaten up immigrants from other parts of the country. We never have and hopefully never will do that, but we will also never apologize for our linguistic pride and identity, as long as it doesn't threaten to overtake national pride.

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    7. When he compared beijing tokyo.. he meant english not hindi.

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    8. @ksheva: how can u judge with what u ve heard?? And how do u know ppl in chennai knows hindi and they don't wanna speak in hindi.. Dont Bull shit if you don't know the facts.. There are very few schools in chennai that offer hindi as second language.

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    9. Your last statement is completely wrong.. I have many north indian friends .. I never tried to learn Hindi .. but in turn taught Tamil to each one of them. and they are pretty good in understanding Tamil now. :)

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    10. @Keshav: Where are you from? how many languages do u know? There is a proper discussion going on and your way of expressing ur view looks barbarian.. U think ppl cannot speak like how *YOU DO*?

      About me: I am from TN. I know Tamil, Telugu and English..

      Discussion: Are we trying to make Hindi the world language? Lmao.. I hope not..

      Consider that we all learn Hindi.. What if we have to travel outside India? we would have learn English to survive. And most of the ppl in TN can understand and respond to u in English. Why not make English the medium of communication.

      AND THIS IS MORE SPECIFIC TO YOU. SAY YOU ARE GOING TO THE US, UK, SPAIN, RUSSIA OR GERMANY.. WILL U BE ABUSING THEM FOR NOT LEARNING HINDI? IT IS YOU WHO SHOULD LEARN ENGLISH/SPANISH/RUSSIAN..

      We dont expect fools like you to learn Tamil.. Speak in English and even an OLD AUTO DRIVER in TN will be able to respond to you.. If u dont know English that is ur problem, not the problem with TN/Chennai..

      PS: I'm not telling anything new in this reply, just rephrasing some text so that stupids like u get the point and learn to speak/comment in a better way

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    11. @keshava - When there are a group of people and a person deliberately says he wont learn tamil and would converse only in Hindi and English, do you expect us (tamil, hindi and english speakers) to encourage speaking in Hindi?

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    12. I too know telugu is most spoken language then tamil, its becoz the strength of andrapradesh is more. those article relied on population... if u checked most spread ed language india is no language is compared tamil, except people assumes that hindi is india's national language... Think!!!

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    13. keshava - FYI, there are many places in Chennai that are as cosmo as Bangalore and might be little more than Hyderabad too.

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    14. Keshava,

      >> not when it starts being an inconvenience to others
      It would help if you could you quote with an example, when our love for language proved to be an inconvenience to you ?
      >> I have minimal personal experience of being to Chennai and facing the problems practically but from what I've heard
      This is precisely what upsets me most times. People who do not have good things to say about chennai base it on others opinions of chennai and not their own. Please visit Chennai, try interacting with a common man in English or try picking up a few words in Tamil (which can be done in a matter of one hour or two, on your way from Bangalore to Chennai ) , and then let us know your personal experiences.

      >> people chose not to speak other language even when they know it clearly
      This is the argument I keep hearing about how people in chennai know hindi, but not choose to speak it, and therefore are deemed non-sympathetic to a fellow hindi-speaking indian .Let me emphatically say that it is not true, we tamilians in Chennai or Tamilnadu do not know hindi, and it is high time people from other states understand that , accept that and start speaking in English as the author of the blog suggests.

      >> and can certainly help the fellow citizen
      As I said speak in a language we understand and we will be more than willing to help.

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    15. Telugus fasted to death and got A.P separated from Madras presidency.But what is the use? Hindi is the most spoken language in Hyderabad.

      The Union pushes just one Indian regional languages as official language and slowly wipes out other langauges.If others fall prey to that then why must Tamils ?

      Yes,Telugu and Kannada are classical langauges of India as per criteria of the Union Government of India .It's not as per international criteria.Soon more languges are going to be added to this list and it has no significance.


      Yes Tamil Nadu is not a country but a nation.A nation is a group of people having common language,culture and history.There are many nations in India like Telugus,Bengalis,Marathis etc

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    16. Telugus fasted to death and got A.P separated from Madras presidency.But what is the use? Hindi is the most spoken language in Hyderabad.

      The Union pushes just one Indian regional languages as official language and slowly wipes out other langauges.If others fall prey to that then why must Tamils ?

      Yes,Telugu and Kannada are classical langauges of India as per criteria of the Union Government of India .It's not as per international criteria.Soon more languges are going to be added to this list and it has no significance.


      Yes Tamil Nadu is not a country but a nation.A nation is a group of people having common language,culture and history.There are many nations in India like Telugus,Bengalis,Marathis etc

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    17. Telugus fasted to death and got A.P separated from Madras presidency.But what is the use? Hindi is the most spoken language in Hyderabad.

      The Union pushes just one Indian regional languages as official language and slowly wipes out other langauges.If others fall prey to that then why must Tamils ?

      Yes,Telugu and Kannada are classical langauges of India as per criteria of the Union Government of India .It's not as per international criteria.Soon more languges are going to be added to this list and it has no significance.


      Yes Tamil Nadu is not a country but a nation.A nation is a group of people having common language,culture and history.There are many nations in India like Telugus,Bengalis,Marathis etc

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    18. Keshava, I have to disagree with you. The majority of the people in Tamil Nadu do NOT speak Hindi because they have not felt the need to learn the language, just as the majority of the folks in UP. More than the love of the language, it is what one stands to benefit.
      Usually, one takes great effort to learn another language to benefit oneself , not to benefit the others which is why, most of the folks in Chennai learn English. If you go further south, that need is also lost since they can very well do without English. One cannot enforce others to learn a language just because it is inconvenient for them . I don't see the need for Tamilians to learn Hindi unless they live in the North and you cannot see them complain about folks in Delhi not speaking English or Tamil. They very learn it well and speak the language. Just so you know, I am a Tamilian who knows Hindi and have also learnt Telugu after coming to the US. Again, I did it not for the love of all the languages I knew. I wanted to learn the languages because it would benefit me.

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    19. there is no need for us to learn hindi.. when tamil is said to be the oldest language in the world.. why should we agree for hindi..

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  8. Radhakrishnan Raman8:09 PM, May 28, 2010

    Awesome post!!!
    Can't agree more on your views...
    Just imagine... Someone goes to Delhi and asks an Auto-Rickshaw driver "Rashtrapathi Bhavan kku eppadi poganum?!" and complains that he didn't get a reply in Tamil. Isn't that crazy?!
    Anna also said in response to "more number of Hindi speakers" argument, "If we had to accept the principle of numerical superiority while selecting our national bird, the choice would have fallen not on the peacock but on the common crow."
    Once someone met me for the first time (in Bangalore) and spoke a long sentence in Hindi and I replied with a longer sentence in Tamil. Then he realized his mistake and started speaking in English... :) It's this blind assumption that the other person should be comfortable with the language that you know that causes the whole issue!!!

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    1. You talk as if Bangalore is Tamil property. daccani is spoken all over Deccan Region. It is natural to ask questions in Hindi in Bangalore, hyderabad, etc.

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    2. Sir u are creating differences in india only, we are all indians, and we should be able to communicate in one language. u can not teach everyone english in india, if u can then tell me how would you teach English every little villages.
      have u ever seen 2 persons from japan speaking in english among themselves when they come to india?
      u will never see this, they respect their 'one' language, and we indians should also have one. this is coming from a bengali.

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  9. Hi Thyagarajan

    I was forwarded this link by a good friend (probably our common friend) of mine, apparently in continuation with a debate we'd been having when we were together for the internship.

    First comes a disclaimer - my intention is not to impose on you my views, nor to satisfy my 'ego'. It is only meant to have a more informed opinion on something which I don't like at all - the apparent North-South divide.

    I have two fundamental doubts -

    1. What has 'Love for Tamil' got to do with not learning Hindi. I'm from Punjab, and I have a lot of love and regard for Punjabi, but that should stay as it is. It should not deter me from doing anything else. I don't really have a problem with the "can't" part of your blog's title, it is only the "won't" that troubles me.

    You may debate on it, but I think there's no point in comparing Hindi with any regional language in India, be i Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali or Tamil. I doubt if there is any purely Hindi speaking state in India, yet people in most states seem to know Hindi quite well. I do not know about the richness or greatness of Tamil, but I've heard about it from other Tamil-speaking friends of mine, and I must say it is a great and very respectable thing. SO? I can't see the relation between Tamil being a great language and a you not wanting to learn Hindi.

    2. Your second reason has actually made it easier for me to argue. This attitude stems from an insecurity that has been widely propagated by political leaders. When you write a blog on such an issue, I think it makes no sense to call 'Fear (of whatever)' as a justifiable reason for anything, however logical or illogical it might be.

    Why do educated people like us get drowned in an emotional debate such as this. I understand that North Indian people who have never met a South Indian guy before would make the mistake of expecting them to know Hindi the way they do, and I agree it is unfair. But I only get irked if a person who knows Hindi pretends otherwise, and forces others to speak in English, just so as to boost his ego. From among the few Tamil-speaking people that have interacted with, I'm sure everybody understands Hindi...although the level of fluency may differ. Some of them even know how to read and write in Hindi, yet love to pretend that they don't know the language. Statements like 'If you are talking to me, talk only in English', coming from people who are well versed with Hindi are what I find difficult to digest.

    If you stay in Delhi/Lucknow etc. as yourblog suggests...I'm sure you'd have realized that Hindi helps you communicate with people in most states, and people with diverse educational and social backgrounds. I think that's a good enough reason to know some bit of Hindi - and when I sya that, I only talk of it as a tool that helps you communicate. You may continue to love and respect your Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi and cherish its rich history and literature...and use it to communicate with people who know it.

    As for your argument about Tokyo/Beijing...I think you'd want them to speak in English once you go there. And I think China is fast catching up on English...

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    1. A brilliant reply. Even I am amazed as to what "Love for a language" means! I bet that 70% of the present generation have no clue as to what the languages history is. They speak tamil just because its their mother tongue and not because they fell in love with it #daaah!

      Language is just a tool for communication and not something to fight/argue about. Want to survive elsewhere then its good if you know the language, else have fun :-)

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    2. Well said !!

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    3. Then just start learning Tamil.. You will find it helpful when you come to Tamilnadu!

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    4. perfect reply bro !!!

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    5. well said...we are absolutely okay with people loving own language...and one definitely should, but why do people in tamil nadu hate hindi its okay if you cant speak but hating a language make no sense to me.

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    6. Thyagu and others have made a good argument as to why Tamils don't like learning Hindi. I want to add my thoughts here. I make my argument on two accords.

      Firstly, let us look at the premise from technical standpoint.

      Technically speaking, like Hindi, other northern languages like Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, even Bengali to a large extent can be easily classified as an Indo-Aryan languages which derive most of their roots from Sanskrit. Though there is a good influence of Urdu in Hindi and vice versa, you won't go wrong to say that Sanskrit is the mother of these languages including Hindi.

      On the other hand, Tamil (Tha-mi-L - Pronounce 'L' while folding your tongue and touching the back most part of upper palette) is the oldest and the purest of the Dravidian language and as you may already know is NOT a derivative of any other language. And other Dravidian languages like Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam (which is virtually Tamil) are of course derivatives of Tamil.

      This means that learning Hindi or other Sanskrit based languages is learning an entirely different language - Not like learning Hindi for a Punjabi like you are. Linguistically there are very limited common-ness between Tamil and Hindi. So, I am not learning it by choice. I would rather learn more literature in Tamil and that makes me HAPPY.

      Secondly, lack of necessity. There is literally, unequivocally and absolutely NO and NONE what so ever need for me learn Hindi. Associating Hindi to a Central Govt. job is an aberration now. Central Govt job was the only reason why anyone had to learn Hindi in the 50's and 60's and it is obsolete now. I can survive anywhere in India without Hindi and I am an example for that. Learning the regional language, however, is important to survive in a place happily and this is something lot of Hindi speaking people have to understand.

      High time you change your opinion.
      Believe me, though we can rub it on others' faces that we are too proud to even need any other languages, we won't. Again, there is NO NEED for that :).

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  10. Thyagu...very good argument and the blog expressed the feeling of each Tamilian and for that matter, it spoke for all the regional languages. When I started my intern the manager asked "why did you not learn Hindi?" My immediate and spontaneous reply was "Why should I?", for which he had no answer but simply argued with the dry statement - Hindi is our national language.

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    1. India has no national language . Most people in India don't even know about their own country and its constitution and keep ranting that they are patriots

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  11. Well written dude.

    @Saurabh: There is nothing wrong in people asking someone to converse in English, its probably wrong if they ask them to do it in their mother tongue :). When most of the janta are preferring Outside-India posting, why worry about Hindi or for that matter any other language apart from English. Of course people do tend to learn Spanish, french etc ... [Just FYI: I am equally well versed in Eng, Hindi, Tamil & Telugu and you bet the going is smooth all over India ;)]

    I think Thyagu's points are valid. He does support learning *all* languages and he was probably explaining it in the best way possible.

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  12. @Amritevil - That's not the point. The point is 'hiding' the fact that you know a certain language just because you think you don't need to learn it.

    And by the way, please read all the comments before mine. People quote some 'Anna' - due respects whoever he is - and talk about comparing a national bird to a national language. This is as absurd as it gets.

    I don't intend to say that Hindi is superior in any way, I'm not qualified enough in any language to say that. All I want to say is - give yourself a break! It is not such a big deal to know or not know Hindi as it is being made out to be. But if you were a non-Tamil speaking guy in Chennai, you would know what the so-talked-of FB status messages meant.

    Again, my objection is with the "won't" part, than with the "can't" part!

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  13. Keep writing something like this, you will become famous in no time. :P

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  14. @Sourabh: I think all your questions have already been answered in his post. Why would someone refuse to talk in Hindi, if he is well versed in it? I think he talks about 'learning Hindi' for the argument that it is our 'national language'. And if you do not know about someone, its better not to write/talk about them. (For example , about Anna. His original name is Annadurai for your information).

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  15. I totally agree that it's unfair for non-Tamilians to expect Chennaites to speak Hindi. But neither love for Tamil nor the fear of losing it is good enough reason for Tamilnadu government to not promote Hindi. This fear has not been there for English after all. And despite knowing Marathi, I find it frustrating when I'm not able to converse well with my Hindi friends which I'm sure is a situation every Tamilian would have come across. Knowing a widely spoken language (Hindi) within India is a tremendous advantage when Tamilians move out.

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    1. There are quite a lot of students from other states who come to Tamil Nadu for their studies (Engineering and the like), they live in this state for 4 years and yet make absolutely no effort to learn the local language. They still insist on talking in Hindi to the local shopkeepers and cuss at them in their language when people don't understand them.
      Why this double standard? We do learn Hindi when we move up north because we want to survive but the non-Tamilians who live in Hindi do not make the effort? (I am not saying everyone, but most of them don't do it. I meet a lot of people in my college like that)

      Asking us to learn the language because its the "National Language" is what irks me and most of us. It is not the national language.
      Most German people know English (Since English is a Germanic language) yet they will not speak English even if you talk to them in English.


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    2. What language films are most viewed in Maharashtra?
      What is the turnover of Marathi films per year?
      What is the lingua franca in Mumbai and Pune?

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  16. Thanks all for your comments. Very glad that this was fruitful discussion.

    @keshava, thanks to point out that telugu and kannada are classical languages. But as per wikipedia, they haven't been escalated to the 'Antiquity' status.

    @saurabh,
    My argument was never on the lines of 'people shouldn't learn Hindi'. The arguments were learn Hindi if you are going to stay in places like Delhi, UP and several other states which has Hindi as their official languages'. However, I don't buy the idea that someone in TN should learn it for the sake that someone from the northern states are going to come and stay in TN. If communication is a problem, I would rather chose to converse in English. Yes, English hasn't kicked off as expected in the 70s but things have changed dramatically in the last 10 years.

    And I do understand your frustration of people who hide the fact that they do know Hindi. As I see it, it is a different issue where people think speaking in English is superior to others. How many times have we done it when we interact with people who share the same mother tongue?

    And to clarify on the 'won't' part.
    Because it won't happen. As simple as that. Learning Hindi will purely be driven by necessity and this necessity is slowly eroding with the advent of English as one of primary languages of comm. The common sentiment is - I can adjust with English.

    And lastly, why shouldn't educated people get emotional? Wouldn't the world be dull at 100% literacy :)?

    @Rad,
    This is the first time that I heard the 'crow-peacock' story. Amusing!

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  17. Moreover, Tamil doesn't differentiate the pronunciation between "tha" and "dha" as it is the case for "pa" and "ba". Many of us Tamilians, I've come across pronounce the name "Padma" as "Batma" causing a big embarrassment to the concerned. A little learning of Hindi or a similar language would widen the language skills of Tamilians.

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    1. That happens the other way too. My name is Shiv"a"sankari, but ppl from the north call me as shivsankari (without the a). It is because it is usually Shiv there and whereas Shiva here (At least that is what I have learned from the various names using Shiv/Shiva).

      For that reason, every language has it. From my experience, I can cite a few : C in Italian is pronounced as Ch. Americans dont pronounce/stress the t's in the middle of the words in most cases. It is because of what you have been used to.

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    2. I think you have met a person who speaks bad Tamil :) Tamil do differentiate the pronunciation between Tha and Dha as well as Pa and Ba...

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    3. There is no short 'o' and short 'a' in Hindu. Tamil can be written only as TAAmil in Hindi.

      Hindi has no 'zha' [a kind of la].

      So you mean to say that all Hindis people must learn Tamil or Malayalam ?

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  18. @Thyagu.. I was actually talking about the door and not the dog. The big door is sufficient for the small dog and the big dog.. :)

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  19. Nice to see all relevant arguments summed up in one post. But whatever you say, the north indians dont seem to make any sense.
    So, just ignore them, and be what you are. Chennai may not be as cosmopolitan as other cities, but is that not the speciality of Chennai? Why should Chennai be another Blr or Hyd?

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    1. This is a nice comment. I agree. Chennai need not run after any status and can be as it is.

      Delete
    2. I am proud that Chennai is that one city with flavor locked.

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    3. All that any city needs to be is accepting and welcoming

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  20. A very concrete idea put inside an articulate box (the unseen one). Cheers to a thought provoking blog. Looks more like a tribute to all the sleepy, beautiful languages and a wake up call.

    Always had that question on the tip of the tongue - Why should they?
    Read it here. Feels good.

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  21. I find the arguments very lame. When you say that Chennai won't learn Hindi because of love for Tamil and go on to talk about Tamil being a classical language, I feel amused. Which person doesn't like his native tongue (of course, there would be exceptions)and which language is not good? Do I speak English because Hindi isn't a great language? Love for one language shouldn't blind you to other languages.

    That apart, I do not think one has to learn Hindi. It should be your personal choice which language you want to speak in. And hence, there is nothing wrong in Chennai not learning Hindi.

    What is disturbing though is the hatred/dislike for Hindi and a conscious effort not to learn Hindi. I have come across several Tamilians, who in spite of knowing Hindi, pretend that they can't understand it. And if there is come conversation in Hindi, they are quick to request that it be translated in English for their benefit. It is this which irks me a lot - I haven't come across any other community which is so disrespectful to another language.

    And a possible fall-out of all this could lesser integration of Tamilians with people from other part of India. Many of my friends in the US say that Tams there tend to be a very closed community. They prefer to recognize themselves as Tamils rather than Indians. But then everyone to his own tastes and preferences. We shouldn't expect you to respect Hindi and you shouldn't expect us to not dislike the Chennai attitude and find Chennai a boring and difficult place to live in. After all, it's the choices that we make determine how we are perceived.

    Btw, I would have preferred this blog to be written in Tamil - am surprised that in spite of being able to speak such a rich language, you prefer to write in English. Doesn't that say something?

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    Replies
    1. @anuj
      FYI , the above explanation is for people who don't know tamil and ask why Chennai cant speak tamil.
      That's why it is written in English.
      If it was for people who can undersatand tamil, then it would have been written in tamil.

      Delete
    2. Very Nice Anuj! Loving one thing doesn't mean you should hate others! This has been politicized for some time in the state
      and the so-called-intellects seem to blindly follow them

      Delete
    3. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/exclusive-survey-india-best-cities/1/251353.html

      ur comment is just so lame bro...ur style trying to imitate the author with a bottomline similar to his is a perfectly mistimed joke ("MOKKA").

      Delete
    4. If it is written in Tamil u wont get a chance to put ur comments here right thats why it is written in English for Northies to read and understand {Chuckle} lol!!!!

      No one here said that you should not dislike Chennai... either learn or leave, simple that's how we handle things... we know and we will try to adapt based on the need, you guys don't ask us to adapt... cos in simple terms 'Who are you?'

      Delete
    5. He wrote in English so that he can communicate to non-Tamil speakers. Again you may argue why English and not Hindi? This brings us back to square one. A guy from Punjab attempting to learn Hindi is easier than a Tam attempting to learn Hindi since Punjabi and Hindi belong to the same language tree. It is easier and more useful for Tams to learn English as it gives a global link language. "Hatred for Hindi and conscious effort not to learn Hindi"--maybe for a few but not the majority. Atleast the hatred is not there. Tams try to learn Hindi when they go out of TN. Only in Tn, we get irked by the fact that people want us to learn Hindi coz they can't speak Tamil.

      Delete
    6. If he has written in Tamil, not everyone can understand.
      Also English is like already integrating with Tamil with most of us don't know the terms in Tamil.

      Delete
    7. well said dude. totally agree

      Delete
  22. Lovely n rich discussion! The comment just above this one closes on a beautiful note about the post being written in english rather than Tamil...

    ReplyDelete
  23. My comment was too big and is hence there:

    http://thegreatthree.blogspot.com/2010/06/thamizh-hindi-no-wait.html

    Specially dedicated to the three people who oppose the author's argument.

    ReplyDelete
  24. @Anuj: Exactly, very nicely put;

    I second this guy

    ReplyDelete
  25. @Aswin
    You completely missed my point. I am at a loss to understand how you concluded that it's only Hindi I want to converse in. In fact, more often than not, I find myself talking in English. And if I happen to meet a South Indian, I never ever begin a conversation in Hindi. I am happy to assume that they would be more comfortable talking in English. And from whatever little I have seen, I know that most of the North Indians would talk to South Indians in English, provided they (NI) know English. I can vouch for the fact that all the North Indians I interact with do not mind talking to Southies in English - they would never insist that you talk to us in our language. And it is this consideration and respect for others and others language that I am advocating.

    However, there may be occasions when talking amongst ourselves we use Hindi and then if a Tam (who knows Hindi) insists that the conversation be in English for his benefit, it hurts. Our only request to such a person is not to fake ignorance of the language. However hard you argue, you can't justify such an attitude.

    You must introspect why people complain only about Tams. Go to any other state in India and you won't find such a prejudice against a language. A villager in AP may not understand Hindi and you may not understand Telugu but he will not hold it against you that you can't understand his language - in fact, both the parties will try their best to understand each other. Unfortunately in Chennai, it's often one way - you may try to understand what he is saying (also because you need to understand), but the other side won't unless you speak the language he speaks. And that is what people complain about. No one should mind if you do not know a language, what people find painful is a conscious attempt to wreck a conversation by refusing to understand what the other side is trying to say.

    I know these arguments are futile. You will treat everything I say as an insult to Tamil language (that's what the aggressive tone of your reply suggests). I have seen semi-literate people in both North and South India trying their best to converse in their broken English with a foreigner tourist and feeling a sense of satisfaction on being able to guide him in his language. Unfortunately, when we talk amongst ourselves, we become too egoistic to respect each others' language. And in the process, we are missing out on whatever little/more our rich languages can offer to each of us. Am sure Hindi literature will for ever be shunned by Tamilians and we North Indians will never get to savor the richness of Tamil language. But then we can't complain. When we write such blogs and post such replies, we ensure that our dislikes (or hatred?) for each others' languages are perpetuated.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Dude,
    I am afraid I don't agree with your idea here. A refusal to learn the national language expressed in a language that does not even belong to this land... If you think about it, I could probably doubt your allegiance to the nation itself. Each one of us speaks a different language in the state that we come from. I am a proud Andhraiite, who loves Telugu and an equally proud Indian who is comfortable using Hindi. To communicate with the people of my country I will choose Hindi over English or Telugu anyday.This not just in the northern Hindi belt but also in Western India or North East, such is the importance of a national language. How can you let your regional fanaticism cloud the simple fact that as a nation we need atleast one common language. That common language better not be English.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry @Kalyan, with all due respect, there is some misinformation. Hindi is NOT THE national language. Please refer to the Constitution. English and Hindi are the official languages of the union government of India. There are 26 national languages in India. Hindi is just one of them. All over our country this detail is taught wrongly by people. Which itself indicates there is something wrong.

      Delete
    2. @Kalyan, with all due respect, you are misinformed. We are all taught a wrong information through out our education. Please refer to our constitution. Hindi is NOT THE national language. There are 26 national languages, Hindi is one of them. English and Hindi are the official languages of the Union Government of India.

      I learnt this only when I read the constitution. This very wrong teaching itself means something is wrong!

      However I don't agree with the author of this original post myself. I will post that separately.

      Delete
  27. Its really apalling to see the 'reasons' put forth in this post. To begin with, the title of the post - "....and won't speak Hindi" itself conveys the attitude that Mr. Author is unwilling to analyse the issue with a neutral perspective free from his previous biases.

    Now coming to the post, agreed that Tamils love their language, agreed that Tamil is one of the most culturally rich and diverse languages in the entire world but is it a justification to limit your horizons to other languages. Going by your 'logic' then why learn English too? I have lived in many states and I also love my mother tongue Hindi. But this profound love for Hindi did not stop me from learning Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada. In fact from my personal interactions with people in Kerala and Karnataka I found them quite willing to learn Hindi. But unfortunately I cannot say the same for Tamil Nadu(obviously barring a few exceptions).

    My 2-month stay in Chennai was enough to sense a perceptible dislike(for the lack of an euphemism)for Hindi speakers in Chennai. Like many of the previous posts said, I am concerned about this habit of knowing Hindi and yet declining to speak in Hindi to mitigate the other person's discomfort. That probably explains that Chennai doesn't have the same diversity as other metros in the country.

    We should understand that love for our regional language is not mutually exclusive of the love for embracing the cultural diversity that India has to offer. If the young-generation 'intellectuals' like Mr. Author will hold such rigid views, then it does not augur well for our 'Unity in Diversity'.

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    Replies
    1. Well you yourself have the answer for your comment. You 'have lived in many states' and have learnt the languages. Point is, the Tamils who have been to other states have indeed learnt the languages. Not all of us have been to other states however. In fact, some of us are not even fortunate enough to visit all the parts of our own state. And very, very few people know hindi and not speak in it. And if that is the case, then I should really congratulate them. What bites you man, if they choose to converse in their own language, IN THEIR OWN STATE? I mean, if they had spoken in Tamil, despite knowing Hindi in Delhi or some other hindi-speaking state, your anguish is justified. But why is that we can't choose to speak our own language, in our home? Why do you expect us to learn something for your comfort? After all, you're trying to speak in your mothertongue in our place so why can't we speak in our mothertongue in our place?

      (When I say you, I say it to all the people who are with the same mindset, not just you)

      Delete
  28. Nice discussion going on here. Dellit you have got good points.

    But, I would like to support Saurabh on this. My point is this:

    1) We need a national Language : This gives us an identity.
    2) The national language cannot be English. This is because when I go abroad and talk with Indians there in English, I feel very strange. Come on guys we are of a same country. Something should be unique about us so that we can communicate without foreigners knowing what it is. It gives a feeling of nationality and the feeling that yes this guy is from our country!(Same reason why tamilians or telugu guys are dying to speak in their own language when they meet someone similar)
    3) Lets make Tamil the national language: Its ok with me, but we need a major education reform

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You got a great point!
      Saying Big Yes to English and No to Hindi, is just opportunistic.

      Tamil as national language - bold idea :)

      Delete
    2. We are not a nation but a country.So we cannot have national language

      English is the language of ANGLO-INDIANS who are very much Indians.English is a official languages in Kerala and north eastern states.So it is not an alien langauge

      Tamil need not be made a national language.Tamils don't believe in forcing their langauges on others.

      All the 22 languages in the 8th schedule of the constitution must be made official languages of the Union

      Delete
  29. I wonder why somebody wants to learn English but not Hindi.see its very good that one should respect his mother tongue but since we all are Indian we should learn the national language.You are saying that people coming to TN should learn Tamil.can you expect a tourist to first learn Tamil and then book his tickets to TN for his short stay .Absolutely ridiculous.My mother tongue is not Hindi but iam very fluent in Hindi.I respect it as much i respect My mother tongue.And moreover its shameful on part of all Indians that till today we prefer to be kannadigas,tamilans,Maharashtrians or bengalis but wont it be fine that first we should be a Indian and then whatever .If you are ready to learn English but not hindi it just show how much you respect India.My dear friend love your nation first be a indian.Speaking in Hindi will noway bring disrepute to you or your mother tongue .And our national anthem is not in Bengali my dear friend.pls speak only in Tamil when other person is also a tamalian ,but if other person is not a tamalian then keep your mind open and try to communicate in whichever language both of you are comfortable with.
    Love for Tamil by all tamilians is really appreciable ,hats off but the haterated for Hindi is not justified.Language are meant to communicate love and blessings and not hate-rate.
    Jai hind.

    ReplyDelete
  30. You cant hide your rationalism by writing such bolgs..
    every individual in TN doesn think like what you hv written.
    whereas ppl coming from any other state our treated as foriegners. ppl studing or working here as discriminated which doesnot happen anywhere else in India.
    no one compalins abt Tamil language but everyone complains abt ppl speaking tamil knowingly infront of outsiders who dont know tamil.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hmmmmm....Agreed with ".... cant speak hindi"..."but wont speak hindi"...That some attitudde... Talking about love for tamil... how many of the Chennaites talk tamil... First learn tamil atleast... I am a Chennaite my self.How many people understood the dialogues in the movie "Ayrathil Oruvan" starring Surya's Brother.

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  32. Thyagu.. wateva is told is correct.. dnt learn hindi.. but learn english man.. u ppl dnt knw even a bit in english.... SHAME on u ... most of the big states and cities in india knows english.. dnt crib bout other countries... even the remotest places like arunachal pradesh knows a bit of english... and most of the BIG companies in chennai speak english not tamil.. why dont u make a seperate country called as tamil nadu dude...Then u ppl can njoy ur tamilship..I respect tamil nadu and tamillians and they get a good respect in other states.. but wen a north indian goes to tamil nadu.. they are treated like shit... and even if they know english or hindi they wont speak that with u ... LAME !!! They make fun of hindi language !!.....u ppl dont want to accept other language and ther culture but u want all ppl shud accept urs.... and thats why most of u ppl have miserable condition once u get out of TN... RESPECT OTHERS.. U WILL GET REPECT TOO!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. come on. i am from tamilnadu. born and brought up there.

      read your paragraph. had you typed it in word there would have been red underlines all over the place.

      and yes. i accept that we might have a harder time in other states. but then, tamilnadu is efficient enough without hindi that people actually wish to migrate there. lets take a roll call of the states where hindi is spoken. and then compare it with gdp. end of the day, money matters. we are good at that.

      tamil was the mother of three other languages. we are proud of that.

      fyi: i know tamil, english, mandarin and hindi. hindi is as alien to me as english is. atleast english is going to help me in life.

      Delete
  33. Thyagu.. wateva is told is correct.. dnt learn hindi.. but learn english man.. u ppl dnt knw even a bit in english.... SHAME on u ... most of the big states and cities in india knows english.. dnt crib bout other countries... even the remotest places like arunachal pradesh knows a bit of english... and most of the BIG companies in chennai speak english not tamil.. why dont u make a seperate country called as tamil nadu dude...Then u ppl can njoy ur tamilship..I respect tamil nadu and tamillians and they get a good respect in other states.. but wen a north indian goes to tamil nadu.. they are treated like shit... and even if they know english or hindi they wont speak that with u ... LAME !!! They make fun of hindi language !!.....u ppl dont want to accept other language and ther culture but u want all ppl shud accept urs.... and thats why most of u ppl have miserable condition once u get out of TN... RESPECT OTHERS.. U WILL GET REPECT TOO!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @guitarguru, your tone shows that they totally annoyed you. I am deeply sorry about that. I am a bloddy madarasi too! I don't speak Hindi. But I got plenty of friends and well wishes who speak Hindi but not Tamizh. It is because of that I crave to know Hindi.

      In India, we are all hypocrites. A foreign national understands us so well compared to how we understand each other. So unfortunate.

      I am a big fan of Patel who is the real founding father of united India. And I am totally against separatists in down south. I am deadly against several congress people who are the reason for it.

      The language issues we see in this discussion is just a side effect of our political misfit.

      Delete
    2. Nice English by the way "guitarguru".

      Delete
  34. My Mantra is simple "Learn a language if you need it" - Sometimes we need to do things the 'Sehwag' way :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. @all those who are against the author and against Tamizh:

    1. When the author says 'Fear' he is 100% right. After all, we dont want Tamizh to go the way of Sanskrit!

    2. "Only TN is opposed to Hindi" - FYI, even after all the 'opposition' to Hindi, TN has still NOT made Tamizh compulsory in schools whereas the so called 'Hindi accepting states' such as Maharashtra , WB have done so. Also remember the famous incident of Shiv Sena calling Tendulkar a traitor because he said he was an Indian first and then only Maharashtrian. Every state has its regional bias. Not only TN!

    3. "Other states know and understand Hindi but not TN" - Do they really? Approximately 45% people know Hindi - which is Haryana, UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, Delhi put together. So apart from these, all other states do not speak Hindi as they form the remaining 55% of India. I have experienced this first hand. I have travelled a lot in Maharashtra and apart from Mumbai (and its proximity) and Nagour, Pune etc its all Marathi. I dont complain. Instead I try English or at worst, sign-language!

    4. "People in TN hate Hindi" - Maybe 1% of them who might be politicians. Its wrong to generalize with a figure as low as 1%. I have known lots and lots of people who have enrolled in Hindi tuition centres because they wanted to learn Hindi.

    5. " If the young-generation 'intellectuals' like Mr. Author will hold such rigid views, then it does not augur well for our 'Unity in Diversity'." - If TN accepts Hindi, what will happen to the 'diversity'? Slowly but surely it will erode.

    6. " if there is come conversation in Hindi, they are quick to request that it be translated in English for their benefit. It is this which irks me a lot - I haven't come across any other community which is so disrespectful to another language." - In my one year stay in Mumbai, its generally been the other way around.

    7."Should Tourists coming to TN learn Tamizh and come only then?" - Yes. Don't we learn German, French when we go to those places? Show the same respect to a language in your country!

    8. "Tamils not open to Hindi literature etc." - Requiring people to know literature might be a bit too much. Even I dont know lots of literature in Tamizh. So why don't we start with other art forms - Movies and Music. How many Tamizh movies do North Indian people know? Contrast this with how many Bollywood movies South Indian people know. You will understand who is not accepting whose language.

    To conclude - let me say that, in this one year in Mumbai, I have learnt a good amount of Hindi, whereas my roommate hasn't even learnt a single word in Tamizh. I think it shows who is more interested in learning more languages!

    Comments are always welcome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ""Should Tourists coming to TN learn Tamizh and come only then?" - Yes. Don't we learn German, French when we go to those places? Show the same respect to a language in your country!"

      We need to learn all the Indian languages is it?? If I memory serves correct there are 20+ are so.

      Don't argue just for the sake of arguing...

      Delete
    2. Dude...u summed up very well..especially the last point...dat happened in my case too during my stay in college..

      Delete
    3. Dear Anonymous, if you bring your room mate to Chennai, in just one month, he will learn some decent practical Tamizh. It happens when there is a need. I dont see anything wrong in your room mate.
      Love shall multiply NOT divide us

      Delete
  36. Hey I stumbled upon your blog reading abt Illyaraja. Now you are getting me hooked on to other interesting stuff. Good write up mate. For certain points I do agree on what you say, but lets not call ourselves 'hindi haters' I don't think that is the case.
    I live in Shenzhen and there is not an Iota of english here still they are pretty well established globally. So like u said its on the person to learn the language of the destination place or find other ways out.
    @ Last Anonymous - some good points
    @ Kalyan.R - I personally have nothing against any of the language.. they are all equally important .. even the ones that we dont know about (probably spoken by some tribes) I must say they have their impact someway or other.. and BTW Hindi Is NOT we all repeat is NOT the official language..why do you think out currency notes have 15 languages depicting the value. Technically there are 22 languages "official status" in India..and we don't use the term official (all these are googeable facts-see wiki) the constitution states that supreme court proceedings has to be in ENGLISH (which is not one of the lang with 'offical status')

    Plz all of you call it truce and lets appreciate existence of every other language. No one, and I am sure I can speak for most the sane crowd here (except some psycho who things everything else except what the like must cease to exist) NO ONE hates other languages.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I'm a Telugu guy and live in Hyderabad. I don't agree with Thyagarajan's views. Let me take the example of our archnemesis Pakistan. The national language is 'Urdu' but it's not the official language. The official language is English. But the simple fact is that Jinnah decided he needed a glue to bind the people together. Urdu is also spoken (if indeed poorly) in Afghanistan and Iran which came to me as quite a shock. In India, Hindi has the spread that no other language has. The northern states don't speak the standard register but the dialects. Even in Delhi nobody speaks the standard Hindi as a native tongue that is one of the official languages. They rely on their dialects like Bhojpuri and Maithili and Standard Hindi for outsiders of middle-class. My native tongue may not be Hindi but it has the spread that many other languages don't have. In a way it's like English. It belongs to nobody but is spoken by many. Except Tamil Nadu Hindi is popular everywhere. There's at least a semblance of comprehension. Even English can't boast of it. In the future to survive, cities have to be cosmopolitan and Chennai is no exception. English is there but it might be replaced because it's controlled by market forces. But Hindi will stay. But it won't be able to do it on its own. Another international language might take the place of English and sit beside Hindi in the pantheon of India's multiculturalism.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jaane do bhai. Ye logon ku jitta bole to bhi samaj mein nai aata. ek baar madras gaye tho g.... pe dum hogaya mereko. zindagi mein kabi nai jaaunga.

      Delete
    2. MANA: ARROGANT Attitude.. The debate has been goin for more than a year now and you coming up wth your comment in Hindi..

      Delete
    3. MANA: ARROGANT Attitude.. The debate has been goin on for more than a year now in English and you are coming up with a comment in Hindi.. Hw sick of you?

      Delete
    4. kaun bula raha hai tere ko? wahin reh apne north me!

      Delete
    5. I am sorry Mana, if you feel that way. Each city is a reflection of your own. if you are friendly, it will be friendly too. And please understand communication starts from body language and then from your tongue. if your body language gives you away, you can expect no respect here. Hope to see you soon in Chennai.

      Delete
    6. very Good.. Good Riddance!

      Delete
    7. tum madras ki acchai me b apna ego g---- me leke ghumoge to g---- me dum kya g------ fatt b sakta hai.

      try to post in english dude, if u can understand english read this last line.

      Delete
    8. In most of the eastern, north-eastern, western and southern states, only a few percentage of people speak Hindi. And as you said, even in the northern states, many people stick to their dialects and can somewhat converse in Hindi as the dialects are very close to Hindi.

      Why Tamils or any other language people should be at a disadvantage to learn Hindi/speak Hindi especially when they do not have to go outside TN/their own state ?

      Let the necessity drive the outcome. If say a vendor/taxi driver loses business because of his/her not knowing another language and if that person thinks it's worthwhile to learn the language then they will.

      While I agree that Tamils are proud about their language and there could be some people who would not like to talk/communicate in Hindi even when they can understand because of their ego, most such cases happen among taxi/auto drivers just so they can charge higher rates. And believe me, this happens to non-chennai Tamils too.

      At the same time, I've first-hand experienced discrimination and rudeness from Hindi-speaking colleagues too. So, it's rather every individual's attitude and it would be grossly wrong to clump together a whole state based on certain individuals' behavior.

      Delete
    9. Bro/Sis,
      I disagree with Thyagu's views
      I disagree with your points either (with all due respect)

      //In India, Hindi has the spread that no other language has//
      As you rightly pointed, Hindi is most spread language in India, but we are not talking about the Standard Hindi here. Bengali & Telugu (standard) could be the actual most widely used language in India.

      //Except Tamil Nadu Hindi is popular everywhere//
      This is caused by Central Government's wrong doing. They must have cared to learn about all States in India, deviced an Integration method that works for all of its states. Negligence, arrogance or even ignorance will lead to issues that will kill make progress delays for centuries.
      You know Tamils say NO to Hindi, ever wondered why they WORSHIP Bose, Bhagat and the likes? Ever wondered why the make non-tamils as their CMs or Super Stars? If their heart is so open to certain things why NO to Hindi? Who caused that resistance? Do you know the history?

      //In the future to survive, cities have to be cosmopolitan and Chennai is no exception//
      It depends what you mean by survival and what as existence. Chennai is a Telugu city :) The name Chennai is from a Telugu King. TN brought that name back replacing English name Madras. They did not pick a new Tamil name. Sorry many Indians do not understand TN. They are not against Hindi. They are against signs of suppression, oppression and arrogance.

      Delete
    10. you guys will get fucked up in Chennai (Madras) bcoz of your fucked up attitude. I have traveled many places in India and have survived without knowing hindi. Language is never a problem to anyone. Its up to the individual who considers it as a barrier. "zindagi mein kabi nai jaaunga" - Look how Tamil people have developed and reached different places they have gone. Stop complaining first and look whether you guys are correct first.
      P.S: Dont think that all Tamil ppl doesnt know hindi.

      Delete
    11. @ mana: Anonymous took the effort to put forth a comprehensive argument, to the best he could. That anyone might appreciate but a comment like this just shows weakness, so for the sake of fellow bloggers supporting learning of multiple languages please do not ever comment on any post

      Delete
  38. Hey, nice site you have here! Keep up the excellent work!

    Unified Communication Chennai

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  39. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  40. just for sake of 8 crore tamil speaking people, can't change the mind of more then 80 crore people of knowing hindi .. to make tamil as national language..! really a bullshit for the guy who told to make tamil as national language..
    don't know when u Tamil guys will come out of boundaries of the pocket with this diversity of thinking that tamil is the only language..
    Tamilnadu is not the only state in india.. india has other 28 states also but no one has that much cheap thinking like you guys...
    Un-officially in india there are more then 4k languages including different versions of Hindi..
    If i will start arguing about hindi , u guys will not have any thing to say..
    Hindi is in Bollywood,Cricket,news,85% indians and NRI peoples ,Sports every where and TAMIL IS NO WHERE :D :D
    To be very frank..!
    Other then "AP","karnataka","Kerala" and "tamilnadu" (South states).. go to other states of india.. and try to live there for some time .. u will know the importance of HINdi.. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Go to any state in India and try to live in a rural place just on Hindi and you'll know the truth.

      Delete
    2. Tamil is no where? Bollywood movies are nothing but dance and music these days. And I hate Cricket messed with anything else..
      We WILL learn Hindi if we live in Northern states. Please try to learn the local language if you are in South.

      Delete
    3. Yes you are right.
      If you go outside south India, you better know Hindi, not only to survive, but also to give back the arrogance they show you. Especially Delhi. I know it is their history that had made them so hard and I respect that. And it is the history that south India is so mild. The point is when we are all going to understand each other... It is that day we are a one nation.
      I wish we had potent leadership since the beginning to make that happen.

      Delete
    4. dude U need to improve ur reading skills of "English". The author or the Tamil people never said abt making Tamil a national language. It is always the other way around, making Hindi a national language. Yeah Tamil Nadu is not the only state in India, likewise, hindi is not the only lnguage in India. I am from chennai, I speak tamil but my native is Telugu which i dont speak at all. In tamil nadu, there is no restrictions for people learning hindi. My niece and nephew learn Hindi from a private tutor, like this there are so many who learn Hindi. Even in all "private schools" in chennai, hindi is learned as a third language until 5th grade for all and also you can chose hindi as a second language without learning tamil. Most of my friends took hindi as second language and learned tamil as a third language until 5th grade. Remember English is the first language here in almost all private schools and many Govt schools apart from Tamil medium govt schools. Learning hindi is always not a problem in Tamil nadu and it wont be in the coming days. I dont know if this is the case for other states and I wont comment abt it since " I dont know abt it".

      The only reason for not making Hindi a national language is bocoz, it will take over all govt run institutions to use hindi as a medium of communication (eg written test for variuos govt positions, in schools etc), and this make people not to learn their own regional language, which is already happening in many places.

      Commenting about some of the stupid comments that you have made.
      Bollywood - the term which i hate to the core, becoz it just caters to Hindi cinema and no other languages. Yeah Tamil is nowhere and thats the reason people of tamil nadu are trying to protect it. Once it is gone u cant get it back, like Sanskrit and u can use only in temples.

      You said "don't know when u Tamil guys will come out of boundaries of the pocket with this diversity of thinking that tamil is the only language.." Isn't this ironic, u guys saying Hindi alone to be a national language.

      As far I am concerned I dont want Hindi to be a national language nor ENglish, we dont want any. I believe in survival of the fittest, whoever wants to survive will learn additional languages be it tamil, hindi, german or English. I just dont want it to be imposed on people who dont want to learn it. This is a democracy where People can learn whatever they want. Btw, Iam trying to learn Hindi from a fellow friend and my frnd is learning Tamil.there are so many people I believe who are dong the same. No other country can boast of so many languages other than India, its a boon and also a bane for us.

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  42. We don't need Hindi in TN. We live a peaceful life and why the North Indians want to ruin it? Please leave us alone. If you want to come to TN learn Tamil and come rather than making us learn a language which is not needed in South india. Tamil is way superior than hindi.Tamil has more Interntaional access than Hindi.Tamilis very sweet and comforting unlike hindi which is hated by many.

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    1. dude ... u sound lyk a bitch.people like u bring bad name to us tamil .
      stop yapping like shit.

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  43. GROW UP KIDDO..!

    "We live a peaceful life and why the North Indians want to ruin it? Please leave us alone"-- Ans of this one is .. its not a question of north indian or south indian btw people from east/west even south requires hindi to communicate with u "narrow- minded".. because u don't know english nd hindi u don't want to know.. its not like only north indian people only want to stay or comming to TN.. i think its one nation called "INDIA" and everyone has rights to go and stay in any part of india.. it can be other way round also ... where u people may require to go and stay in "MAHARASTRA", "gujrat","punjab","west bangal" or any where, where u will go and speak only tamil say "anna-ra", "anna-ra".. and people will laugh on u... its not like hindi or tamil is superior btw the question is there should be a common mode to communicate .. and i think hindi is the best since 85 % of indians know it... and if people will start learning all the regional languages where ever they are going.. their whole life will go in learning only.. they don't have any other work or what..??

    "Tamil is way superior than hindi.Tamil has more Interntaional access than Hindi" :- ----- "CHEAP mentality" answer of this is just "LOL".. may be don't know other languages like "bangali" or "telagu ", "marathi".. just go and google it..

    I don’t have anything personal against the Tamilians or the Tamil Language. Yes, is a beautiful language. But its time that people open up and accept other cultures and language too
    Its very essential if you want to be a part of the global economy. I have traveled to many of the places in South India. And except for Chennai, I didn’t have any problems when it comes to communicating with people. May it be Hyderabad or Bangalore or Cochin. If you speak in English or Hindi, people understand what you are speaking and respond back and try to help you in the best possible way they can.
    But that’s absolutely not the case in Chennai!

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    1. very nice man it was a kind gesture of urs to reply coz i think these south indian have some personal grudes from north indian or may be they are having north indian boss god please give peace to there sole and finally end this north and south ...... because you dont need british people to divede you all you r self divided man "JUST GROW UP"
      NO HARD FELLING FOR ANY ONE

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    2. well said !!! i lived in Chennai for 12 years and one thing i have learnt is these people have there own misconception. I accept tamil as a great language but the way they are egoistic as they have found the language is not what i like about them. They have a misconception and hatered towards people of the north. They think each and every north indian must eat pan masala

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    3. rightly said. the people who say dont need hindi in TN have not gone beyond their streets or even houses to see what the actual fact is. When you go to bangalore which is less than 9 hours from chennai you will not know how to communicate with other people. And how come it is the fact that you are so willing to learn english while there is a hatred towards our countrys own language hindi. Even within tamilnadu go to places like national institutes and you will get to see the reality.

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  44. Very well reasoned article. I'm not a Tamil but I perfectly understand where you are coming from. As for English as the common unifying language, it already is. It is the language to fall back on and is taught in schools. Being an anglophile, I can't disagree with anything you've posted here.

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  45. Just went through this! Just awesome! :)

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  46. I bet ... you cant even speak English properly....

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  47. इतना तो मुझे पता है की आप लोगो को अंग्रेजी का उच्चारण भी अनुरूप प्रकार से नहीं आता... बाकि सब श्रोतागण सय्यम रखे .... गंद न फेलाए ....

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  48. 99.9 % of the comments are in English :) ..why ?

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  49. The reasons given by the author seem really lame and I feel pity for the justifications expressed. As written by many, Hindi is just a common medium of communication. When people from Chennai go to any other part of the country, they surely face embarrassment for not understanding Hindi which is an accepted medium of communication across the country. hindi might not be the official national language, however it has just evolved to be the most common medium of conversation. Some things are just decided by the society and dont need to be 'nationalised'. So, Chennaites need to accept this fact of facing problems while speaking with people outside Chennai.
    The argument regarding 'Fear of tamil getting eroded' is nothing but childish to the core. No one (other than Tamils themselves) cares about all the statistics provided. Everyone loves their mother tongue irrespective of the fact how many people speak that language. And speaking in Hindi has not eroded Gujrati out of Gujarat, marathi out of maharashtra or bengali out of Bengal. Every state has their language. So this 'fear' is just to mask the fact that you wish to have tamil/ english as the common language of communication and actually erode Hindi. And this concept itself is cheap to the core. I myself, though being a non-tamilian am a great fan of tamil culture, music, film industry and many other things. This maturity of accepting others' culture is unfortunately not so prevalent with Tamilians. I am not saying all... have many Tamil friends who have learnt Hindi with conscious efforts. Its just your statement that "chennai wont learn Hindi' is objectionable and shows the cheap and narrow mindset. Grow up.

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  50. The reasons given by the author seem really lame and I feel pity for the justifications expressed. As written by many, Hindi is just a common medium of communication. When people from Chennai go to any other part of the country, they surely face embarrassment for not understanding Hindi which is an accepted medium of communication across the country. hindi might not be the official national language, however it has just evolved to be the most common medium of conversation. Some things are just decided by the society and dont need to be 'nationalised'. So, Chennaites need to accept this fact of facing problems while speaking with people outside Chennai.
    The argument regarding 'Fear of tamil getting eroded' is nothing but childish to the core. No one (other than Tamils themselves) cares about all the statistics provided. Everyone loves their mother tongue irrespective of the fact how many people speak that language. And speaking in Hindi has not eroded Gujrati out of Gujarat, marathi out of maharashtra or bengali out of Bengal. Every state has their language. So this 'fear' is just to mask the fact that you wish to have tamil/ english as the common language of communication and actually erode Hindi. And this concept itself is cheap to the core. I myself, though being a non-tamilian am a great fan of tamil culture, music, film industry and many other things. This maturity of accepting others' culture is unfortunately not so prevalent with Tamilians. I am not saying all... have many Tamil friends who have learnt Hindi with conscious efforts. Its just your statement that "chennai wont learn Hindi' is objectionable and shows the cheap and narrow mindset. Grow up.

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  51. A well written article, but sir i think the problem here is that in india its very difficult for everyone to learn english and converse in english.
    You gave an example of biejing/tokyo, that when we go there, we dont expect them to know hindi or english, but atleast a person in japan, whether he is from tokyo or hiroshima, they will be able to communicate with each other.
    this is not the case in India, we can not do this. villagers from punjab and same from tamil nadu, shoud be able to communicate in a common language.
    i have seen so many people from japan, when they come to India, they never communicate amongst themselves in english, always and always in their regional language.
    imagine a person from bengal and a person from Tamil Nadu from a same company, went to some foreign country say Thailand for some work, and they have to communicate in English, as they one knows bengali and other knows tamil. how do they proclaim themselves as indian when they have to speak english(and i dont rate english anywhere near any of our indian languages seriously).
    You went to big cities like hyderabad and mumbai where majority of the people know english or hindi and can understand, and by the sound of it, u seem to be a profesional working for some company so you might not have went to some small village, but let me give u an example. my friend(a punjabi, working in chennai) had a govt bank exam in some very remote village of tamil nadu (i dont remember the name of the place), it was 400 kms from Chennai, so he needed some place to rest, and asked some 100 local guys for a hotel nearby, or a place to sleep, or some kind of restaurant, he tried as hard as he could, but couldnt explain them. In the end he found the bus stop, that too by luck and went back to Chennai widout any food or sleep.
    even i had a road accident in bangalore, and the person knew very well that i dont understand kannada at all (i was very new to bangalore) the person was speaking good english, but spoke kannada to the people close by and make them believe that it was my fault in the accident, which I felt so bad about.

    so i just want to say, that i am proud of the diversities of indian culture, but one doesnt feel like he is at home and can not connect to people if he can not communicate with the people around.

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  52. Well written!!
    I am a north Indian residing in Chennai for almost 2 years and managing with English and broken Tamil :)
    I don't have any problem with people loving their language and preserving it.
    But, one problem I have felt in Chennai is even when people know Hindi and understand that I don't know Tamil, they won't speak Hindi. They would rather watch me struggle.
    This is something which hurts.
    The other thing I have noticed, common in my office, and more so in my team which has all Tamilians and only one non-Tamil me; even when everyone knows English here, they generally talk in Tamil, and I have to remind them everytime that I don't understand Tamil, please use English, still I don't see any change in attitude.
    Is this behavior correct? Is this a way to show pride and love for your mother tongue? Is this a way to preserve your language?
    Can the author of this post answer this?
    Thanks a lot and sorry if I have hurt anyone's feeling but whatever I have written is 100% correct as per my experience.

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  53. Well written dude!! To everyone who has commented against, Lemme tell you something.. When we are at Tamil Nadu we don't need any language to support our conversation.. once we are out of state we have all capacity to learn a language if its truly neccesary!! Past 8 months at bangalore i never wanted Hindi or anyother language to support me even at my workplace!!

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    1. 8 months is hardly any experience to talk about...
      But just think why is this problem only with Tamilnadu and not any other state..
      and now dont say that you love your language etc..everyone does..just the mentality that has been imbibed is wrong..

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  54. Not sure why but I know few Tamils who dont prefer Chennai as work place,hence move to either Blore or Hyd and you find them speaking in good Hindi.
    So where is the love for Tamil now!!!
    Tamils in Chennai will make you relaize everyday that "You dont belong here","You are not welcomed",thats not the case with other cities

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  56. The article is well written and I understand the point. But I do not agree with it completely.

    The 2 main reasons noted for not learning a new language are 1) Love for the language, 2) The fear that if you learn a new language which is more popular, your own language will vanish one day?

    1) Love for your own language - Everybody loves his own mother tongue. I am a Gujarati and feel very happy when I speak to someone who knows Gujarati. The love for your own language is not a special case with Tamil only. I still adopted learning new language mainly because Hindi has its own beauty too and its very popular apart from English in most of the country. At the end it will help me to communicate with majority of people in India so its your decision at the end to help yourself or not.

    2) Fear of loosing the language one day? - Name one state who has lost its language by adopting to speak Hindi. Gujrat, Bengal, Maharastra, Andhra are the prime examples. The fact is the rich culture of any state will always stay intact specially if you said that the people love their language in TN. They will never stop speaking it. I feel this is the biggest myth you should take out.

    I have another 2 points to clear,
    As you mentioned about indian constitution. Cricket is also not the National game but it is the most popular one and is embraced by the whole nation. Chennai is the prime example here with their CSK fans. I feel there is a similar case with Hindi also. If you do not accept, it will be your loss.

    About your idea of Making English as the National language, I am not very supportive there too. This may happen in future when majority of country will speak in English and its popularity will take over Hindi. But at present, most of the people in India will prefer Hindi over English (Bear in mind, the middle and lower classes in India who are majority of population).

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  57. And yet we wonder why there's no harmony in our country. Another sad post promoting regionalism and people lauding it like its the verse of God. It even pains me more to see how educated is the author and majority of people commenting here are. Sorry dude , you are just as bad as any other anti-national elements trying to divide India on regional , communal and lingual basis.

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  58. DO you know, when auto rickshaw came, people who were earning their living by horse driven coaches had fear that they might lose their business. So they stick to what they had, the whole market changed and they stood to their decision. Finally they became jobless because now nobody want to travel in those coaches.

    I just want to tell you that your love for Tamil is justified but people change with times and you cannot push your language on people coming to your city. Do you think rest of South Indian states do not love their language? Do you think it makes you proud when a person coming from another state is not able to understand what is written on the bus or inside a shop? Or does it show your love for Tamil language to him?

    If this is what makes you proud, keep it up....you guys will have the same end....with no one there to hear.

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  59. Please go on... I am having so much fun... I may not live to see the day but there surely will come a day probly 1000 years from now (I wonder if people will still speak to communicate) there will be just one single universal language (may not be english or hindi or tamil) you know why? cos there will be so much to speak and share and so less time to learn that no one will waste time in learning another language... also the boundaries will get diminished and world a small place to live in... shanghai or chennai will make no difference the language of hunger will take people anywhere and quicker... you cant resist it... what has happened to sanskrit will eventually happen to all languages except the one... so please continue this discussion and dont mind my post... I am having so much fun... :D

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  60. telugu is spoken by more people than tamil. and the wont speak hindi is also the reason why chennai can never be cosmo like bangalore and hyderabad. the people there have not stopped speaking their mother tongue, have they,

    the writer also mentions that when he went to mumbai, he managed with hindi - why not learn marathi. i have lot of friends from tamil nadu and they do acknowledge the fact that the main reason is how dmk started it all to get votes and the trend continued.

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  61. all said and done, just get to basics. the universal language is miming. other languages developed just to reduce the time and effort taken to convey a message. if TN Govt promises everyone in TN a job and a career, then this theory can be widely accepted, or even worshipped, why not ??? unfortunately reality says a big " NO NO !!! " to this.

    if people move out of their comfort zone, they'd have to adjust to the surrounding. which not oly refers to climatic cnditions, but language too ... a country has a national language because it wants its people to move around. It wants a diverse society to exist within its territories. how can this be achieved without a common medium for communication.

    imagine if P.Chidambaram didn't learn hindi like every other person.

    all i shall say is to take it as a challenge and learn hindi. It does not mean that u r gonna forget tamil ,, !!!
    vaazhga tamil ... let it be in our hearts. you don't have to show your love for the language just by talking it always. as it is you don't keep hugging your girlfriend or your wife 24x7 to express your love. think rationally.

    this can come only through awareness and hindi is the most easiest language to learn.
    come on people, stop complaining and pulling ourselves down forever.

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  63. every non tamilian wants tamils to be flexible and accept hindi whereas they dont want to be flexible in learning tamil..how lame..if u want 8 crore ppl to to learn the language of 80crore ppl then v must look at the option of the 80crore ppl learning learning english which is turning out to be the language of 800crore ppl. We just go with the maximum if u want us to go with the numbers.

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  64. so much for a language huh... well, to solve all language problems, lets start using Dumb charades.. nai?!? in that way no one has to learn anyones lingo.... whatever happened to - all for one, one for all?? we are not Hindustan for no reason.. lets accept is... every language is great.... Jaihind

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  65. First of all let me introduce myself. I am from Madhyapradesh, a core Hindi speaking state and have been living in Chennai for past 2 years. I speak and understand Tamil almost fully (at least for having a normal conversation. Also trying on learning the script too). I am a proud Indian, a MPian and a Madrasi (I assume by Madrasi we mean people living in Chennai and not Tamizhians). Whenever I talk to a person speaking Tamizh, I try to have a conversation in Tamizh. Having said that, I love my mother tongue Hindi but that never deters me to learn a different language. I see your argument all about Tamizh is classical language and Sanskrit not being spoken... all are correct. I totally agree. 100% true. But your argument saying 'Sanskrit, India’s oldest language and mother of Hindi couldn’t do that. Why? Because People just love the Tamil language.' doesn't make much sense to me. Firstly the question and answer are not related to each other. Secondly, if you mean to say that people didn't love Sanskrit and that's why it became extinct or got transformed into other languages, that would be pretty lame to argue. Nobody would have thought like, 'Oh Sanskrit is so complicated or lame language, lets transform it to some other language'. Everyone love their native language irrespective of the fact if it evolved 2300 yeas back or merely 200 years back, whether its classical or not. For God's sake, it is their mother tongue. It is the language in which the person thinks. Next, I ask a counter question in response to your second argument which says that people have fear the Tamizh will be lost one day if people learn Hindi. Tamizhians know English (I assume). Is Tamizh getting lost? If yes, then you should be more afraid of a foreign language than an Indian Language but you are obviously not. Hence your argument is gone. If no, then your argument is blown up again.

    I completely agree that onus lies on the person going to some other place and learning their language. I think those living in Tamilnadu or for that matter any other Indian state, should give a sincere try to learn the native language. It opens up the people to you. I have tried this myself. I try speaking in Tamizh and people have started replying back in Hindi or at least trying their best(sorry me if that is a reason for worry to you).

    One more thing. Some Hindi speaking people have commented that they have faced a situation in which few Chennaites knowing Hindi did not speak it. Well, that is sad if it happened but all I can say that it never happened with me during these entire 2 years of stay here in Chennai. People would love to reply in your language if they know it. I have seen it and personally experienced it myself speaking Tamizh.

    Lastly it is a matter of choice. I made a choice to learn multiple languages for two simple reasons. First it brings closer me to the native language speakers (and hence to the people of India). I would love to talk a Andhra person in Telugu or a Bengali person in Bengali. I believe merely North India is not my India but rather all the states combined. And if I have to learn other language to get closer to more and more people of India, I'll do that. If Chennaites think otherwise, fine their choice. Second, I would prefer to talk to an Indian guy in an Indian language than any other foreign language (I wish I knew to write this reply in Tamizh,, but someday I'll :P).

    Lastly I would say not to let ourselves be blind. Just don't let those politicians win by making us fight over languages. Any national interest and integrity is over and above any language.

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  66. Dear All,

    I love Tamil, but I am against English, let all learn their own mother tongue, why to learn Hindi?

    Make your language a knowledge resource, I will tell you one thing if we keep supporting English then one fine day we ll be their slave, slowly that's is what happening.

    People always think in their mother tongue. So, learn in your mother language you can reach heights and this will bring our nation a great glory.. Why to fight learning other language?

    THIS IS A REQUEST TO ALL INDIANS, LEARN IN YOUR MOTHER TONGUE MAKE YOUR MOTHER TONGUE A KNOWLEDGE RESOURCE.!

    LET TAMIL NADU BE A START. ALL MY TAMIL FRIENDS WHO ARE EDUCATED, PLEASE MAKE A COPY OF YOUR PROJECT WORK IN TAMIL OR AT-LEAST EXPLAIN SOME OF THE BASIC CONCEPTS IN TAMIL (CONCEPTS IN WHICH YOU ARE EXPERT) LET IT BE A PARAGRAPH, BUT PLEASE TRY DOING IT. This way we can make both your nation and your language proud. :-)

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  67. LOVE THIS TO BITS! You robbed my thoughts completely! SUper!

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  68. Perfectly said!! I also request all the state government to make it a rule to write both in their own regional language and in english for better understanding of the shop names and hoardings for people who visit.. Applies to all the states

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  69. Hindi is spoken by less than 40% of India's population. And if people have a problem with Chennaiites not speaking Hindi, they can go to hell.

    And just to answer some buggers who say people don't speak English in Chennai, people in Chennai speak MUCH BETTER English than for instance in Delhi. And we don't NEED Hindi to survive. Hell, Hindi doesn't even belong in our language family!

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  70. In Tamil Nadu, it is not the love for Tamil but the hate for Hindi that exists!

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  71. Now that sounds really stupid . . Given a chance I would be happy to learn French, German, Chinese etc., People who are not interested to learn come up with excuses. . and every human will blame. . Even an Indian going to China blames that no one speaks English in China. .

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  72. The problem with your argument, even though I agree with everything you state, is that you are trying to, subtly all throughout, prove that Tamil (Or telugu or kannada or any other regional language for that matter) is better than Hindi. And there goes the spirit of unity in diversity. We're all Indians, we're all free to speak and profess the language of our choosing, but when you say we don't need Hindi, you're undermining the great cultural balance of this nation. Dont do that.

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  73. d author of this post is a dick.....it is because of this attitude of tamils....bangalore has almost surpassed chennai in almost every aspect.....seriously the author is not only a fool he is chutiya also.....he has tried to justify that in his post

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  74. Argument is pretty flawed! English cannot be the lingua franca of India with the kind of literacy rate we have. Hindi is spoken by many people who do not have basic education. There is no harm in knowing a language that majority speak! Both the fanatics who say why should I speak to you in Hindi when I know Tamil and the migrants who expect Hindi in non Hindi speaking states are naive and foolish. Educated class cannot write such stupid reasoning!

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  75. I read the blog, the argument is well justified for the question "Why should we learn Hindi ?". I don't intend to comment on any language.In my opinion I recognize myself as the citizen of India first and the state later. I see my country as the land of diversity with 28 states, 7 union territories and 21 recognized languages. We cannot expect people to learn all the languages and this was the thought behind keeping Hindi(because a lot of people were able to understand & speak) and English(regional languages shouldn't be discouraged, thanks to Tamil movement particularly) as the official languages of India. Knowing English by default has given us an edge in the era of globalization or at least English is not constraint.

    In India we don't speak purely hindi,tamil or telgu but its always hinGLISH,taNGLISH etc. Paradoxically we in our country tend to communicate in a language which is not mother tongue of any. I ask people does this not affect any sentiment. If a state teaches english it should simultaneously emphasize on Hindi as well. The lower income people can't understand Hindi and English but if they need to migrate to some place for better opportunities language should not be a constraint for them.

    Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune ......none has hindi as the vernacular but one can survive knowing Hindi. I see language as a tool to communicate & mingle. The present day reality is HinGLISH fits to hold people. I am happy with it even though my mother tongue is NOT HINDI. Honestly I don't know who are the real Hindi speakers.

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  76. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_anti-Hindi_agitation_of_1965
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Hindi_agitations_of_Tamil_Nadu

    Suddenly this post has gone viral on FB. I have been staying in TN from past 6 years and i'm sad to admit but yes, my view point changed from the time i came here. I have been hated just because i thrive from a hindi speaking state of this country. Being conservative and able to protect someone's heritage is commendable but closing up to other languages and culture just shows the over protective tendencies. The whole politics of this state revolves around the language and people unknowingly let there emotions being used by the petty politics being played upon by the politicians. In past 6 years i have learnt a lot of tamizh and i can tell one thing for sure, at the ground level people are ready to learn hindi too in this state. There are a bunch of few who are ruining the chances of co existence and harmony. If one goes by the comments on this post, one would realize that how people are misguided every now and then. People please at least go through the above two links and realize that why exactly is this distance between these two languages. If one uses there intellect they would understand the root cause of this. Although this post wasn't worth that some one would waste there precious little time on commenting here but then i thought maybe i should.

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  77. Dear Thyagarajan
    Great attempt. But your insecurity shows up in the last few lines where you voice your opinion that you would prefer English (or probably any other language, for that matter) as ligua franca but not Hindi.
    But, I'm happy that not all Tamil people would do so much not to pick up a little Hindi or any other language apart from Tamil/English.

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  78. the problem is with TN as a whole , i don't see other states like Karnataka , Amdhra , Gujrat make fuss about hindi , its only TN which has problem , the base of not learning hindi is not love for tamil but fear of loosing the language to hindi , moreover this article cites example of Beijing --one must remember china is a country and TN is not ,
    yes i know TN means = "Tamil Country" , this article somewhere advocates that TN and Tamil is different from India which i don't think would be possible .... all the very best to so called Tamil patriots with their effort to fulfill their hidden agenda of being different from India. you guys are not celebrating diversity but instead wanna show case that your different from rest of states and country as a whole.

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  79. I've seen most states in India, and if one language works in cutting across communicating with people all over India Hindi works in most cases, where English wont. There are some unique states in India whose language is fundamentally different like Kerala/Karnataka/Tamil Nadu, due to which Hindi is not spoken in all pockets. BUT, while I generalise here, I see that Kerala and Karnataka can still adjust, but the Tamils never do. Not quite able to find a reason why we cant toe the line where majority of India receptively toes. Not the time to ask a question like why cant a Delhite speak Kannada or Tamil, since it simply is not a language spoken by majority of India. Rest of India needs to accept that Southern dialects are different from Hindi, and its going to take some time before they adjust, and TN folks must realise that joining the gang in speaking Hindi is helpful, if they ever travel outside of Tamil Nadu. Exploring the midpath helps Indians in these pockets communicate better.

    I am a Tamil Guy, who has spent most of my life in Chennai. I respect Hindi and would like to abide by the fact that Hindi is the most suitable language to communicate. My final word is Tams should stop giving excuses of culture and classical languages and get on with learning Hindi.

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  80. Simple cause ENGLISH is a foreign language atleast HINDI is Indian

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  81. Dude! It's simple ! Inside the country for fellow ppl Hindi ws chosen for a common ground.. Talk in Tamil to someone who knows it..talk in Punjabi who knows it.. Talk in Oriya to someone who knows it.. N goes for all the languages ! Talk in Hindi if someone's from another state.. Simple.. Don be ridiculous by saying ur gonna lose out the language jus coz one expects a metro to converse n help by talking a common language n clearly no need of worrying when there are so many ppl across the globe conversing in the local language ur proud of..

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  82. So to all these anonymous and other annoying ppl around here... Its my prerogative to learn a language or accepting another culture not yours... If I need I will, and I don't see a need so I won't and not interested too.... either learn or leave and leave all these BS about it is widely spoken across India so you should learn.. we know to survive and we did survive for ages.. btw we are doing well without knowing Hindi... if you find Chennai to be boring no one is holding ur collar to stay here.... leave as simple as it is... btw we are speaking a language born in this country not a borrowed one... PERIOD....

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  83. HAVE the attitude of just learning n conversing in a new language n quit whining like kids.. Ur not losing by learning another language

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  84. I am a tam/bong who knows hindi and lived in Madras for most of my life so I will try bridging the gulf. Think there are two issues here, the first one with regards to identity and how the tamils want to maintain one by "not letting hindi enter". Well, there is some basis to it given the history behind the anti hindi riots etc but its not as militant as some of you are pointing it out to be. Yes, most of us do not learn hindi simply because its one language too many to learn in school, plain and simple. When people from the north come down to madras we think the best option forward is english because we do not know hindi, thats it. Why are we not learning hindi? apart from the emotional answers around the fact is we have not had the need to. Our english has held us in good stead in most aspects of life and the few instances where it has not have not been big enough to warrant a change. So there is no point in changing, the few of us who learnt hindi are gonna remain and it will be an advantage in some instances. You might hear occasional bluster about the richness of tamil over other languages etc, the veracity of which i do not have enough knowledge to comment on (neither do most people). The practical reason for most of us not knowing hindi is just that we are choosing the optimum mix of languages that are good for us while being Indian as well as being Tamil.

    As to people not being helpful in Chennai even if you speak in english. I think thats just wrong, as in its as good or bad as any city, for every instance that you point out someone being un helpful i have also heard heart warming stories from Chennai even from Europeans. I think this is just a bias that stems out of the entire "they do not know hindi" thing.

    Finally, "hindi so that we have a national identity etc". This is plain bull.... first of all"identity" is something that changes faster than one thinks anyways. Second the languages are the least of our differences and our identity as an Indian lies in the cliche of our diversity, it should remain so. We have progressed a lot being the way we are in terms of our "individual identities", differences and all, why strike up a needless emotional ruckus on learning one language over the other? English seems to be work. USE IT. In your personal time learn every language under the sky or do not, your choices come with their own advantages and disadvantages.

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  85. Mahesh babu - lol ur equally annoying ! Ur attitude , it sucks so pathetically that even a leech wouldn suck on u! Grow up

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  86. wow.. what a waste. I actually thought someone had come up with an answer.. I found a person who will ,for the love and fear of losing a classical language not learn another language but expect every one else to learn his and on his visit to China, take the time and effort to learn Cantonese or Mandarin to get to his hotel.

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  87. Sandeep raghunathan - very well said ! That's the attitude everybody should carry !

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  88. extending the analogy, thyagarajan, you can probably say we ain't so india-centric cause we just love tn so much...i don't know what happened in 1960 and i don't really think it really matters in 2013, common life. put simply, you need a national language apart from a universal one to connect. it may not be official, but the majority language can be embraced unofficially. why need enforcement when it's a personal choice you can make? i know a few decent ppl like that..if learning another language erodes your mother tongue, you have insulted your tam pride writing in english...ppl cite constitutional right and their joy of basking in the glory of 'tamizh mannu, tamizh paasam, tamizh uyiru' just to veil the truth that tn simply scoffs at hindi...being indifferent to learning it is okay, but scoffing...kerala can be as bad as us at hindi, but they don't scoff like our political parties or film industry does...and please, ever heard someone say 'me no learn hindi cuz you no learn gujju or bong'. just here. if you don't want to learn, fine...northies are no saints, i know. but your excuses are so damn pathetic. 'ppl in chennai can't speak hindi' can be a prick; you can expect that given the rest of the country does...what's sad is ppl don't say- sure we can! we watch hindi movies too!....rather they swell up their tam pride and defend their anti-hindi stance with supreme gusto in lame reasons....or if you what dignity means- yes, we don't. 2 languages are enough. nuff said. no lame excuses.

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  89. The arguments put forth are mostly fallacious:

    Reason 1: Love of Tamil. That doesn't stop people from learning English. It's ironical how the blog that claims that Chennaiites love Tamil is published in English. And what does Tamil being a classical language have to do with learning English instead of Hindi? In any case, Sanskrit shares a lot of History with Tamil.

    Reason 2: Fear? A quick toggle of the TV channels today shows what the state of Tamil is. If we ever had to fear for it, now would be a good time.

    And as far as choosing English over Hindi goes for communication, English is NOT the language of the world. Far from it. For every person who speaks English, there are 3 who speak Mandarin. It's not even second. That would be Spanish.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers) It's only that the colonial period has brainwashed us into thinking that English is "superior" and the language of the world. But this still does not answer why you *might want to* learn Sanskrit/Hindi. First, the rich literature of the ancients (including Vedas, Puranas and Sutras) that have formed the basis of our social strata are in Devnagari script. It's probably a good idea to understand and preserve them, for they are our heritage. Note that this does NOT mean giving up on Tamil. Quite the contrary. The same exact reasons apply to why we must learn and appreciate our mother tongues too.

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  90. Your hatred for Hindi stems from your idiotic hatred for the people of the North. You type in English to reach a wider audience, and not Tamil - cheap hypocrite, that's what you are.

    NORTH people's expectations for others knowing Hindi or having basic familiarity with it is because of its larger user base and popularity (just like English's overwhelming ubiquity) - there are no intentions of taking over your land you silly niece-marrying b-grade movie producing pedophile twat.

    Get over it.

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  91. This argument makes NO sense! Learn a a language closer to your state and not a language which is spoken bu foreigners. That being said: How do you expect an uneducated or probably a person who doesnt know English to come to Tamil Nadu and communicate. Are you saying he / she should learn English first and then think of coming to Tamil Nadu! Trust me, promoting Hindi and Tamil together will not harm any state.

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  92. Nice post. I dont opine on the view why Chennai shouldn't speak Hindi. However, there are some technical mistakes:

    "... that as per the constitution of India, Hindi is not the national language. In fact, India doesn’t have a national language and it doesn’t need one."

    Article 343 of Indian Constitution says otherwise. http://www.constitution.org/cons/india/p17343.html

    Some of my views:
    Since India has so many states and each of them have several languages/dialects, the extreme love of individual languages over the national language could very well increase inconsistency. Think about tourists from inside nation.

    Why would Chennai speak English instead?
    Why learn a language which has been imposed on us by some race who ruled us for only 250+ years?

    According to 2007 native speakers census - 4.46% of world population speaks Hindi. The next Indian language to follow is Bengali at 3.08% followed by Punjabi, Telugu, Marathi and Tamil. Imagine if these speakers refuse to speak Hindi in their respective territories - what would happen to people from other states in India who do speak Hindi (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Chattisgarh, UP, Uttaranchal, Haryana) and come to these places for jobs? Isn't this constraining yourself than being more open - the diversity point that you raised in your post?

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  93. Nice post. I dont opine on the view why Chennai shouldn't speak Hindi. However, there are some technical mistakes:

    "... that as per the constitution of India, Hindi is not the national language. In fact, India doesn’t have a national language and it doesn’t need one."

    Article 343 of Indian Constitution says otherwise. http://www.constitution.org/cons/india/p17343.html

    Some of my views:
    Since India has so many states and each of them have several languages/dialects, the extreme love of individual languages over the national language could very well increase inconsistency. Think about tourists from inside nation.

    Why would Chennai speak English instead?
    Why learn a language which has been imposed on us by some race who ruled us for only 250+ years?

    According to 2007 native speakers census - 4.46% of world population speaks Hindi. The next Indian language to follow is Bengali at 3.08% followed by Punjabi, Telugu, Marathi and Tamil. Imagine if these speakers refuse to speak Hindi in their respective territories - what would happen to people from other states in India who do speak Hindi (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Chattisgarh, UP, Uttaranchal, Haryana) and come to these places for jobs? Isn't this constraining yourself than being more open - the diversity point in your post?

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  94. I know 5 languages and my brain did not explode, so "can't" and "won't" are not valid arguments. I am still willing to learn more languages. What is wrong with learning Hindi? I have traveled to many states in India and except for Tamil Nadu, everywhere else people speak some hindi at least. Like other commentators pointed out, Tamilians are eager to learn English but are scared that "ationalizing Hindi will slowly erode Tamil". Tamil language has some kind of immunity to English, but not Hindi.
    PS my mother tongue is Bengali and even I cannot speak Hindi very fluently.

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  95. We don't know English?? What a joke? May be you are talking about the auto walas..Try to speak to auto walas in your place in English..:) Most of the North Indian ppl I know struggle a great deal speaking English..We would learn Hindi when there is a necessity..
    We do acknowledge other languages unlike North Indians FYI.

    "
    and if people will start learning all the regional languages where ever they are going.. their whole life will go in learning only.. they don't have any other work or what..?? "

    Seriously dude? You won't learn the language of the state you go to, but u want people who stay in their state to know other language..What a funny guy

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  96. Any individual should be allowed the freedom to follow their own culture, language and religion. Just because majority of a country follows a culture, language or religion, the minority don't have at adopt it.

    If a Tamilians don't want to learn Hindi, so be it. If they pretend to not know hindi, so be it. I am saying you should not get irritated, you have all the right to get irritated with your friend.

    Breathe and let breathe.

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  97. we are not bothered does chennai need to know hindi or love to speak tamil what's more important is chennai needs to learn ENGLISH pls for God sake promote ENGLISH more without this u will be rejected in companies ignored by your fellow mates most importantly u cant educate your own childrens So Start learning ENGLISH.START LIVING.

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  98. we are not bothered does chennai need to know hindi or love to speak tamil what's more important is chennai needs to learn ENGLISH pls for God sake promote ENGLISH more without this u will be rejected in companies ignored by your fellow mates most importantly u cant educate your own childrens So Start learning ENGLISH.START LIVING.

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  99. we are not bothered does chennai need to know hindi or love to speak tamil what's more important is chennai needs to learn ENGLISH pls for God sake promote ENGLISH more without this u will be rejected in companies ignored by your fellow mates most importantly u cant educate your own childrens So Start learning ENGLISH.START LIVING.

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  100. I just want to say one thing...

    Learning a language is pretty tough. It takes dedication and effort. Why would I go through all that just to please someone. If my wife wanted it, or if I lived in a hindi-speak area, its a different issue. I am not going to put myself through so much hassle to learn Hindi. If I live in the south and some north indian dude works with me, I expect him to learn the local language.

    English makes sense for business purposes. The entire world speaks it (People in the north included). Why cant I just speak to my north indian friends in english?

    I live in the US, and all my north indian friends rattle on and on about why i dont know hindi. My answer is simple, I am busy and i dont really care about learning another language. I know 4 languages. I have no space in my brain for another one.

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  101. To the people who think that all people in chennai should learn and understand or atleast speak HINDI, I would like to ask one small but logical question. I had seen few comments saying that people from Punjab love punjabi but do learn HINDI for conversing with others. How different is Punjabi from HINDI????? If you would ask me this question ....

    Answer : Not very different. As i have stayed in delhi for 2 years + i would say that .

    Now compare the same with TAMIL , Can you releate few common words between them or atleast same pronounciation . You ll never find ....

    So now kindly understand how hard it might be for a person from that part of the country where you dont hear this language nor have common words to understand.....

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  102. Any individual should be allowed the freedom to follow their own culture, language and religion. Just because majority of a country follows a culture, language or religion, the minority don't have at adopt it.

    If a Tamilians don't want to learn Hindi, so be it. If they pretend to not know hindi, so be it. I am saying you should not get irritated, you have all the right to get irritated with your friend.

    Breathe and let breathe.

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  103. These are my personal opinions, nothing personal or offence

    First, the resistance to Hindi in TN is caused by North. The impression and bitter state stays for ever and makes it more and more hard. Hindi was not associated with Good Intentions in TN people's mind. It is associated with Force, Oppression, Arrogance and Dominance. And politicians in the south exploited it.

    Second, a real Tamil scholar will NOT be proud of the Tamil language {skills, knowledge, vocabulary or pronunciation) of majority Tamils today. Lot of original Tamil vocabulary is used today beautiful in Malayalam/Telugu while majority Tamils are not even aware of those words. Several song lyrics written by Tamil-rich poets are NOT well understood by common people in TN. I had to refer to a dictionary (I am ashamed but honest).

    Third, many of us are using this language issue to kill our friendly spirit. We are dividing ourselves by defending our stand and complaining others. Whereas we are one nation and we cannot afford to let politicos, fundamentalists, extremists and separatists to play games with us. End of the day man-to-man we don't have any bad intention or motives. We want to live happy healthy with our family and friends. We will learn any language that takes us towards that. We will fight anything that threatens our Identity, life and way of life.

    Four, if and when TN has a true Tamil Leader like our Great Kamraj, He/She will nurture Hindi in certain level within Tamil Nadu. Because such leaders will NOT want to isolate TN from India. Rather want to qualify a cream in the state to go beyond TN state and occupy chairs (!) across the country, serve, contribute and influence. He/She would continue to keep Tamil & English as the medium of education, but Train all officials in their state on Hindi (not because centre forces, because TN wants to do it). Train all candidates to civil services thoroughly on Tamil so that they can shine across country.

    I am a small man in this huge nation. But this is what I think.
    Only together we stand tall.

    Thanks

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  104. Ego is human nature. To say my religion is the best, my language is the oldest and is the most beautiful, my car is great etc. Ego is not the quality of a person with wisdom. I am from North India and I speak Hindi, assamese, Tamil, bengali and I do not care which language is 3000 years old and which one is 2000 years old and how many people in the world speak which language and where it has official status. All I know is that I am from India, and Hindi is an official language and believe it or not, hindi speakers in India is higher than tamil speakers.. I am talking about native + non-native speakers (like me) and we do not live in Singapore or malaysia. many north indians go to Chennai, specially to Apollo hospital for treatment and they have a hard time communicating .. I still remember the crazy trouble me and my mother had when I went to chennai for the first time. I had the opportunity to live in TN for 5 years and without any ego(unlike many north indians or non tamilians who indeed do not care to learn tamil and sometimes even make fun of the language), i learnt the language to make more friends, to enjoy the culture and to talk to the locals in a language they love. But not every student, patient, tourist gets the chance to learn Tamil. Considering everything I wrote above, I think it is really important to forget the ego that you have and learn Hindi, as that will do good and not bad. Learning hindi will not make your brain to forget tamil, the brain has a capacity more than you can imagine. there are people who speak 10-15 languages. So, with due respect, see the bigger picture and then spread the correct message.

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  105. >>Why Hindi when it’s penetration in India is less successful than English? Think and think hard!<<

    Are you saying that English is much widely spoken in India than Hindi?

    Our limited life experiences allows us to believe that the bubble of high class or middle class, professional class which comprises of less than 20% of India's population is the only face of India. Yes they communicate in English, hinglish, Tanglish whatever.

    There is an other part of India, less developed, less fanciful, let lustrous, less penetrated by English, not very urbanized class of Indians which depends on Hindi as the connector language among Kannadas, Telugus, Marathis, Bangalis, Punjabis etc. Lets not forget them.

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  106. I don't find a need for anyone to speak Hindi. Last time I checked, India is a free country and people can speak any language as they wish, having said that:
    1. I am a north indian myself bought up in Chennai and never complained that people don't speak Hindi. I know what I was getting into when I decided to go to Chennai and chose to learn the language to speak than to whine about it.
    2. Love towards Tamil is appreciated, but refusing to speak in English just to help a fellow stranger is being a douche-bag. Personally some of my colleagues and friends don't even speak in English (even though they were educated in English medium) to participate in a conversation or to help a tourist (from North India).
    3. Lately my FB status were filled up with updates from all my student friends in Tamil Nadu who were protesting against the Srilankan Genocide. I was glad to see students uniting for a noble cause but updating Facebook, Twitter with Tamil Images and Status is not really helping you. Internet is a global phenomena and if you want to be heard in global space USE ENGLISH as a communication medium.

    Having said that, I really think Tamils to no care about to whining baby who complains that no body is speaking hindi. Let them go back to their home where every body speaks hindi.

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  107. This is the worst article i ve ever read.One thing is conform that the writer is from south india because people from south india only think this way.Why will i talk in english in india ? who told you that hindi is not our national language, google it dude. its not harm that you love your mother language but you should know your national language i.e hindi. Go to spain,people love spanish. go to italy, people love italian. and in india half the population dont know hindi. So stop giving such fucking excuses

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  108. >>Why Hindi when it’s penetration in India is less successful than English? Think and think hard!<<

    Are you saying that English is much widely spoken in India than Hindi?

    Our limited life experiences allows us to believe that the bubble of high class or middle class, professional class which comprises of less than 20% of India's population is the only face of India. Yes they communicate in English, hinglish, Tanglish whatever.

    There is an other part of India, less developed, less fanciful, let lustrous, less penetrated by English, not very urbanized class of Indians which depends on Hindi as the connector language among Kannadas, Telugus, Marathis, Bangalis, Punjabis etc. Lets not forget them.

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  109. Everyone should know Hindi. Thats it ! TN is a state not country. If you are so much into your people, your language, just dont be a part of India. We will be very happy !!

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  110. It is not about love for tamil that matters at all. I go with what Saurabh says ...If love TAMIL why do we need English ??
    English is to converse with the mass..
    Hindi is also to converse with the mass..
    A true tamil lover will never lose his identity even if he learns 100 languages!
    I understand one should nt be looked down because he doesnt know Hindi ( like most of the North Indians do..) I have experience it myself. It was not my choice I didnt get an opportunity to learn Hindi like other South Indian states had..
    I feel it is a good thing to know any new language..

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  111. I agree with Saurabh.. Why do we need English ??to Communicate .. If we are really patriotic about our language we ll still preserve it even if we learn Hindi .. Knowing a new language always helps!

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  112. Guys we should of course respect languages. But Hindi is the common language. i have see my friends from Karnataka, A.P. , TN , Maharashtra, Bengal interact and talk in Hindi coz that is the only common language we understand. i mean everyone understands their own language but Marathi ( like me) cant understand Bangla. so we instead talk in common language i.e. Hindi. Hindi is the common language understood by people of many different states. But i dont why author has such animosity against hindi. I have been to Kolkata for a day . the people there helped me even if i spoke hindi and tried to understand. But when i went to chennai for a day people were unhelpful because i spoke hindi.
    It is not that only aim of non-tamil speakers or non-TN people is to anhilate Tamil laguage. man that language is tough.

    also as Indians we are willing to learn firangi language like English, but we will hate a language of our fellow country men, even though that is the binding language for people of different states.

    so of course one should learn different languages, but please also see that gujrati, bengali, punjabi , hyderabdi people understand hindi. why not interact with people of our country without creating conflict of languages. Let us not repeat mistake of division in our country again.

    Bharat Mata Ki jai.

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  113. Bullshit at its best!! This is like saying, I think participating in Olympics will be a danger to Cricket. So lets not participate at all. Buddy, tell me one thing, which is the most spoken language in India? This is the Govt report http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement6.htm and you can clearly see that there is one language Hindi, which more than 40% of Indians speak. Lets take view it from an educational view. I think you all must be aware of Navodaya Schools(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawahar_Navodaya_Vidyalaya). If you aren't then Central Govt has opened Navodaya schools in each and every district of India except in Tamil Nadu. Central govt is ready to invest 300 crores in Tamil Nadu for their education. But Nah, its TN.. Lemme tell you an interesting fact. In North India it is compulsory for Navodaya Vidyalaya's to teach one of the South Indian language(decided by an independent committee) till 9th std. Similarly in South India it is compulsory to learn North Indian language on most of the cases its Hindi, very few teach Punjabi n so on. Love of Tamil is understandable. Everyone loves their mother toungue. But why are you boycotting other languages? Since 2004 Central Govt is trying to convince TN govt for Navodaya issue. But TN govt never understands. More info here http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/29/stories/2004092902560500.htm
    I travel a lot!! I have been to 12 states in India. And I must say my time in TN was the worst. I will tell you 1 of my experience in TN. I wanted to go to some place(I dont really remember the name of the place) and I went to a bus stand. I tried asking many guys in English that which bus would take me to the desired place. Finally after asking 10 men I asked a little school girl, and thankfully she just pointed out to a cluster of buses(which was little far). I thanked her and I went near those buses. There were 3 buses and I had no clue which one is mine. I asked drivers and the conductors of all 3 buses, and no response. I just told them the name of the place and they didn't tell Yes, they didn't tell No. They didn't even make a hand sign to say either come in or they could have even showed me the correct one. They just uttered some Tamil at me. I was desperate and I did have the sorry-i-don’t-know-please-help-me attitude. After a while 1 of the bus is about to leave and there comes a young college boy, I asked him which bus goes to that place. He spoke in English, I must say better than me, though the accent was different. He asked me can't you read that board? and pointed out at the 1st bus. I told him that, it was my first TN visit and I told him that I speak 6 different languages and I will learn Tamil soon. I dunno what happened to him, suddenly he started shouting at me in Tamil and all people are looking at us. One 60+ year old man came and told him something and he left. I was literally angry. But that old man asked me something in Hindi "Kahan jaana hai" and I told him the place name, he pointed me to the bus which was about to go. I never had this problem in my life. People not knowing other language is fine. But not helping others and not speaking in English despite knowing is what is called the Attitude difference. It's so sad to see that Thyagu speaking for them.

    All I want to say is that, we love many things in our lives. But hating their counterparts is not wise. And Thyagu, do you seriously think all the other states and union Territories in India do not love their respective Languages?? Think and think hard!

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  115. i disagree with many north indians here... and one guy up there.. how u can tel that tamilians have bad english.then what are north indians upto.. they dont have any communicative skills!!! .. tamil is a pure language...not a copy of any other language like hindi and sanskrit.. and infact tamil is the oldest language in the world

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  116. I know Tamil but I WONT speak it!

    I am from Bangalore and speak 5 different languages, Tamil and Hindi being two of them. I have to agree with some of the posters on this blog that the state of TN is biased beyond belief. When people from TN come to Bangalore and cannot utter a word in any language other than Tamil, we the local Bangaloreans, speak back to them in Tamil. Tamil. Not Hindi or English. Ironically, when in TN they expect everyone to speak in Tamil.

    I work in Chennai and refuse to speak Tamil even though I know the language specifically due to the above mentioned reason. I force the people to talk to me in Hindi/English and even Kannada if living in the Porur area. Almost every other person knows Hindi in Chennai and will speak if there is no other way to communicate. It is people like the OP writing such a blog that makes Tamilians look bad. Your love for your language will result in the ultimate demise of your people. When Tamilians who cannot speak any other language other than Tamil, leave their beloved state to find work else where, they are wallowing in their own misery due to their own ignorance and inability to learn any other language.

    You can keep your language and your state to yourself. Chennai will never be a Bangalore or a Hyderabad. There is not one thing here that is appealing to me as a South Indian; as an outsider in my own country.

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  118. according to my perception hindi is forced everywhere,recently i went to navy SSB interview and people there were commanding &instructing in hindi which most of the south indian people cant understand,when we complained to give the commands in english,the people there didnt give a damn abt it and scolded us..is it the way to deal with people? they re considering not learning hindi as sin..only if the people like this change ,then only
    unfair treatment and bias will vanish..according to me, english is a must know language whether in officials education or other places only english is gonna help not ur vernacular...

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