Category: Worldly Matters

Let’s see. Today’s “standard” Kannada might already be classical!

I’ve been on Orkut for a while (two years?) and have discussed this with various co-Orkuteers.

Some insisted on not trusting me initially and later understood what I was harping on (example, Mahesh BS). While some took me for a purist-Dravidian-troll trying to “cleanse” Kannada (I’m not a purist-Dravidian-troll thank-you-very-much) and ask me too read literature such as “tamiLu talegaLa naDuve” (<– Woah! for once that title is entirely in Kannada!)

Yes, that’s what I’m talking about. For the past few days I’ve been hearing about some Kannada-related functions going on in south-west Karnataka and people on the news channel talking about “shAstrIya sthAna for Kannada”.

I keep telling people that today’s “standard” Kannada used by the Government or by most Authors contains more Sanskrt in it than Kannada itself. It’s true. And guess what, not everyone understands that sort of a language. You probably do – if you’re a Kannadiga and are reading this then you’re fortunate enough to be here on the Internet and you’re not the type of person who wouldn’t understand the “standard” Kannada.

So, coming back to the topic, there’s no need for the Government to grant a classical-language status to Kannada, it already is! 😀

Why? ‘Cause Sanskrt is a classical-language and today’s “standard” Kannada almost means using the Sanskrt substitute instead of a native Kannada word. Quite logical ain’t it? 😀

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The funny part is, people tell me that the Sanskrt words add to the vocabulary of the Kannada language and that it enriches it! Right. I believe that languages develop over time and isn’t handed down by God. While others would want to believe that God gave Sanskrt to a set of people and it became the mother of all Indian languages.

Gah, who cares. Some do. “Kannada rakshaNa vEdike” I heard (giggle, what a name, there’s just one Kannada word in the title and they’re out to protect Kannada, hah!) The problem with Karnataka is that the territory is huge and the population density is somewhat low compared to the neighbouring states. There are about > 70 million Tamilians and Teluguites and ~ 46 million Kannadigas ( ~44 million Malayalis). Bangalore being the centre of the southern part of the country is flooded with people of all kinds. Last heard only ~35% of the city’s population was Kannada. It all shows. There’s a lot of inferior-complex flowing in the Kannada people who go to lengths to show something.

Talk about FM radio stations now. I’m confused, is that a primarily Hindi radio station that plays Kannada with Kannada RJs or is it a Kannada station that’s playing Hindi? In any case, from what I’ve heard, Kannada stations are OK with playing Hindi music and NEVER play Tamil or Telugu. Why? “Ever heard of a Tamil station play Kannada?” Phew. Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka – the land of Kannadas – has ~35% Kannada population and there’s a *size*able Tamil population here. Show me one place in TamilNadu or Singapore where you see the other thing – a large Kannada population. Ah yes, so, which Hindi station plays Kannada? “That doesn’t matter, Hindi is *the* national language”. Boy, people never understand do they. I wish I was born a Tamil in TamilNadu where Hindi TV/Radio wasn’t broadcast when the Cable TV boom or the FM Radio boom hadn’t arrived.  Because of those days where the only language that came on television was mostly Hindi in most parts of the country, one generation had taken for granted that Hindi is *the* national language. I wonder what they thought about the languages printed on an Indian currency note. Nobody thought that *those* were the *recognised* national languages?