Jaya Bachchan, at the music launch of Drona said tht the movie was in hindi and hence tht hindi should be spoken... she then added tht since they are from up they should speak hindi...
so wht is wrong in this? beats me... ask raj thackeray... raj thackeray went on record to say tht jaya bachchan saying tht was an insult to the marathi manoos...(manoos meaning man... or aadmi if you please....)
excuse me... i may not be well known but.. what a load of crap.... i'm half marathi and i dint find wht she said even a wee bit offensive.... so wht if she wanted hindi to be spoken in a function in mumbai... its her city too... who the hell is anyone to say anything abt it?
language is supposed to be a medium of communication... so where does the marathi vs hindi part come in?
we live in a country that propagates atithi devo bhava... meaning guest is like god... so more often than not, we go out of our way to make sure that anyone who comes home is made to feel welcome.. so how come this rule does not apply to bigger "homes"? if raj thackeray(i mention raj thackeray co he made the recent remarks but isnt this applicable to most of us?) considers maharashtra to be home, and anyone who's not marathi to be an outsider, then shouldnt he be welcoming them instead of shooing them out? why this shor sharaaba abt marathi? our country is a multilingual country and is counsidered a whole... not just states meighbouring each other,, the same rules apply to every state, to every city, to every town.... so why distinguish?
i stayed in hyderabad for 12 yrs... and i refused to speak the language..... many of those who know me find this very odd... i can understand telugu, read telugu, write telugu(to a certain extent) so why dont i speak it? ive lived there long enough to have picked it up....
fact is... i dont speak telugu coz i dont want to.... there is a certain dislike for it... why?
because when i moved there, it was difficult to understand anything... noone made an effort... ppl continue to talk in telugu regardless of whether the other person can understand or not... as a 10 yr old in such a circumstance, it is easy to develop dislike something.. and so i did... as i grew up, i realised tht it is not just the kids... everyone does this... the minute ppl know you dont speak a language they try and confuse you...
why do i hv to learn a new language to fit in? its not like i dint try... i distinctly remm trying to learn to speak and being laughed at... this put me off forever... when you go to an english medium school and are proud of it and we have a language in which we can speak then why do i hv to learn a new language? i dont hv anything against learning the language mind you... its just the principle.... did the other person ever say... oh you're marathi... why dont you teach me some? yes they did... you know who did? my friends who were non telugu.... telugus... almost all of them, are extremely clannish in behavior and will treat you like an outsider no matter what....(i hv met some who are very very sweet tho....)
i know wht it felt like to be an outsider all the time... its not nice.... and i wouldnt want to face it again....
now tht i'm back in bbay, it feels nice to be in a place where you're not an outsider... but wht do i see? tht ppl are treating others like they are outsiders... how many of us make an effort to accomodate an outsider in our midst? is saying something secretive or nasty or just plain gossip so necessary tht it cant wait for sometime? why do we endorse a person's outsider status using language? why not just forget the language and make new friends? why remind someone tht he or she is not at home? and wht abt the ppl who are not marathi but consider bbay to be their home? how can anyone call them outsiders? bbay is considered to be a melting pot of cultures.... one tht is a microcosm of all of india... every community in india has a representative here.... so why spoil it? why not focus on the niceness in us all? why not be welcoming? why do you want to criticise all the time? is it so difficult to praise someone? or do you want to be clannish,(sorry couldnt find a better word here....) and then finally end up disintegrating this melting pot of ours?
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1 comment:
I agree with you.
While describing india to other nations, we take great pride in being a country with a wide variety of cultures, customs and language. And we're struggling with a civil war of sorts internally.
I remember being ridiculed for trying to speak Hindi, I had really hated that language untill I met you :) and you taught me without being condescending. Its a story I like to narrate often
Love you Devi :) We need more people like you in the world
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