3M comes across a lot of articles by Hindi speaking writers and bloggers who genuinely believe that not knowing Hindi is ‘anti-national’ for an Indian… They believe that entire country should converse in Hindi and propagation of other languages will lead to ‘Balkanisation of India’. But Jayati Chakraborty’s article – ‘How to tackle multilingualism?’ set me thinking because it was written by a ‘non-Hindi author’. The title itself smacks of linguistic prejudice. Why do you need to “tackle” it? Can’t you build on it? Why is conducting business in the local language “parochial”? When ‘National’ Conferences are held in Hindi is it not inconvenient for those who are not conversant with the language? We all know that Hindi is not our ‘National language’!
One of 3M’s acquaintances was once posted in Siliguri (West Bengal) and his wife faced a similar problem. But by the time they shifted back to Mumbai in 3 years, she was not only conversant in Bengali but also learnt Rabindra Sangeet. That is called “assimilation”!
When a person migrates, he weighs the pluses and minuses before taking the leap. Adjusting to local language/ culture is part of the migrant’s life. And this happens all over the world. Expecting the locals to adjust to the migrants… it happens only in Maharashtra!
One of 3M’s acquaintances was once posted in Siliguri (West Bengal) and his wife faced a similar problem. But by the time they shifted back to Mumbai in 3 years, she was not only conversant in Bengali but also learnt Rabindra Sangeet. That is called “assimilation”!
When a person migrates, he weighs the pluses and minuses before taking the leap. Adjusting to local language/ culture is part of the migrant’s life. And this happens all over the world. Expecting the locals to adjust to the migrants… it happens only in Maharashtra!
3 comments:
Expecting the locals to adjust to the migrants… it happens only in Maharashtra!
Well said!
The only thing Maharashtrians lack is Bussinessmen
This happens only in Maharashtra. In no other state migrants-especially from UP and Bihar- are allowed to harrass and terrorize the local people.
Most marathi people are more than eager to speak in Hindi..they don't have any affinity for their mother tongue. They will go and spend money even on the flop hindi movies but will not care to watch marathi movies and plays- though marathi literature is one of the best literatures in the world.
So it is not a 'hindi-related' problem. When the sons of the soil are happy to kick 'maay marathi' out of maharashtra, why blame the 'bhaiyyas'?
Agreed. They are happy with Hindi as a primary language in Maharashtra. Who's to blame then?
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