Mind Your Language, young man

I had quite an interesting talk this morning with a guy who I ran into at a bus stop. He turned out be a current student of MES KK, my old school, the one where I had spent the larger number of my school years in. One likeable thing about MES is that it has (or had - I dunno what its like now) this vast kaleidoscope of characters who thronged the corridors and classrooms. As far as I know, MES hasn't yet turned out those nation-upsetting personalities that a lot of other schools boast about but I can assure you that one Kishore Kendra alumnus can never represent the characteristics of the entire school of students because these characteristics are so varied.

The guy I met today was a fierce kannada rakshak. This particular breed has a fairly recent origin and has started garnering attention only in the last two or three years. These guys are sort of like Karnataka's answer to the Maharashtrian Shiv Sena. "Karnatakavu Kannadigarige" is their war-cry and their speeches are full of how 'outsiders' are flooding the state (and Bangalore in particular) and taking away our riches. In fact, the recent preposterous move to rename Bangalore as Bengalooru was largely thanks to their efforts. Bal Thackeray, watch out - there are some new sheriffs in town.

This dude I am talking about was going on and on about how english has become the mother tongue of kannadigas and kannada is now full of english words. I have to admit he's right about that. Bangalorean kannada nowadays is about three-fourths english and it does get rather irritating. He perked up when I told him so and then declared "English has to be banned in schools! Our good children pick up english before they learn kannada and then they discard kannada for ever! English has to be banned."

I pointed out that he was making this entire speech in english and he hastened to correct himself and switched to our mother tongue. Children in Karnataka have to learn kannada. It is more important than learning english. They can always learn english later, perhaps in eleventh or twelfth standard. But kannada must be the main priority. I listened to him politely and then quickly made my exit by leaping onto the next bus.

These people take things to the extreme and that's a fact. Whether its the Shiv Sena in Mumbai or the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike in Bangalore, their rant is the same - protect your culture by fighting outsiders. I agree about protecting one's culture but the solution doesn't lie in attacking 'outside' or 'foreign' elements. That's a stupid approach. There are 'outsiders' in Bangalore who fight to preserve the city's character and even though I am (in the eyes of the SS) an outsider in Mumbai, I love that place and dont want its culture to deteriorate. By attacking non-native elements, these organisations are only taking the attention away from the real problem.

And what is this real problem? The real problem is that kannada culture in Bangalore is deteriorating not really because of the outsiders (though to some extent they are responsible) but because kannadigas do not do enough to promote their own culture in a positive manner. A couple of years before, kannada activists attacked a multiplex because the multiplex owners didn't give a lot of importance to kannada films. These activists claimed that the multiplex owners, being 'outsiders', were trying to undermine our culture. What? Why on earth would a multiplex owner be so vehemently anti-kannada?

The only reason that multiplex didn't treat kannada films properly is simply because those films didn't deserve that treatment. I'm sorry to say this but most kannada films released that year had insipid storylines with uninspired acting that simply didn't interest a multiplex audience. If only kannada film makers made movies that would catch the attention of such an audience, then no activist would be needed to enforce anything through force.

That's just one example. How many kannadiga families today read kannada literature and encourage their kids to do the same? How many have read the works of Kuvempu or Bendre? The answer is, not many. Not many people are aware today of the rich heritage that this state has. The closest glimpse they would have got would have been in kannada class in school. I admit that until recently, I was one of those people.

If the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike really wants to see kannada flourish, they better stop wasting their time with outsider-bashing and concentrate on promoting kannada among kannadigas. More than the outsiders, it is the insiders who need to learn the language.