The language Barrier - More!

Well… I had received quite a few responses majority of them through chat J about my thoughts on Karnataka making it mandatory for school to have their medium of communication as Kannada. This is just a continuation of what I said earlier and thought you would bare with me reading this further J

1. First, Bangalore is unique in its nature compared to other cities in India… almost all the place in India is unique one might argue. I agree with that but most of those cities still holds the majority of their own people who is there for decades or have centuries of relation with the city. Bangalore … soon going to be Benthakaluooru… was always a place where 90% of the people were migrants from the time of British Era. I still feel majority of Bangalorean’s are from elsewhere originally with their own culture and history associated with them. For me, who has connection with this city for last 9 years, would still love to celebrate Onam than any other local festival in Bangalore. What is democracy if an individual cannot practice his culture…? India is secular – Remember.

1. I might not completely agree with the point that a culture can be protected only through the imposing the language law. As I said above, Bangalore was never known for its language – rather, it was known for the mixture of culture here and the welcome feel of the city. This particular feel itself I guess is challenged with such laws. Again, even if my kid who might need to learn Kannada for her studies, might be reading a Harry porter book than a Kannada novel.

1. I agree with one of my friend that when you are in a place you have to abide by the laws there. My intention is to question that particular law itself. J Just because Chinese people eat snake you do not have to eat them as well when in China. Have you?

1. What best the government should have done here is to have all the schools have the options for their students who would like to learn Kannada. This would’ve been a more sensible decision. Converting from English to Kannada is not just a problem for kid, also the teachers working in such schools who hail from different states of India.

Forcing the law over such issues might complex it further than helping it. After all, what is the government trying to protect their language from – English? If yes, it is a nice thought just out of place. It is ideal to have these thoughts but not realistic. Let us face this fact, no matter how great one’s regional language is, English is a global medium of communication if not except for few countries may be. And one of the many reason why you would be reading this blog too J