Almost Always The Truth

This blog is about small incidents which have occured in the life of Neel Arurkar. Neel also writes about his family and friends in this blog.

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Saturday, March 12, 2005

L'attitude Difference

Does the difference in latitudes contribute towards the difference in attitudes. Yes, if I compare the experiences I have had in these two cities. Geographically speaking Bangalore(12°57'N,77°37'E) and Bombay(18°54'N,72°49'E) are two cities about a thousand kilometres apart. Bombay is the commercial capital of the country and Bangalore is the software hub of India. I need not speak about Bombay and the opportunities it provides, but considering the fact that the software industry is one of the important contributor to the Indian economy, Bangalore is an important place on the map of India too. But the key difference between these two places, apart from the fact the Bombay is humid and Bangalore is cool, is that Bombay is a cosmopolitan city and Bangalore is a pseudo cosmopolitan city. People just start speaking to you in Kannada. Whether it is at some shop, restaurant or city buses, people will always start speaking in Kannada. And even if you start speaking in Hindi, which is the national language, people still speak to you in the local tongue. This must be beacuse they either dont know to speak the national language or they dont want to speak it. This would never be the case in Bombay, where no one will assume that you speak the local tongue. The bus conductor would always say " jaldi chadho" and not " lavkar chadha" (or bega, bega, bega as Bangalore bus conductors might say). Sometimes I feel that a survey of how many people in the city, whose mothertongue is not Hindi can understand and speak Hindi, should be conducted across cities in India.
To conclude, I would like to say that I am expecting some harsh comments from Kashyap who hails from Bangalore. But the truth is that Bangalore will take another decade atleast to become a truly a cosmopolitan city, a fact which most Bangaloreans are not comfortable with.

12 Comments:

Blogger Baejaar said...

A bit curious - what was the original comment which Lech posted?

Anyway I hate this debate but to set some things straight, it is not as if a city is considered to be a cosmopolitan one only if they speak "the Hindi" more than local language. Cosmopolitan city is the one in which people from different regions and culture converge and co-exist with the existing local culture. Bangalore is a melting pot for different people like me, u, Lech etc. Please dont compare with Bombay. There Hindi (which is "a" national language) is understood by 95% of the population. Here the majority dont understand Hindi. To know the true Bangalore culture and customs just step away from BTM, Koramanagala and walk into the dwellings of the real, good old Karnataka. To admit frankly I dont know kannada to the extent which u do. But I dont mind people conversing in Kannada. I think everyone should try and preserve their local culture and heritage including local language. If people start conversing in Hindi alone, few decades down the line, kannada would disappear. So let us treat our host Banglore as a confluence of people with varied and rich views/culture and heritage.

Hmm. Sorry if this comment is longer than the original post. But as u r aware of I dont have much work right now and so I couldnt resist it.

Mar 13, 2005, 11:35:00 PM  
Blogger Neel Arurkar said...

"But I dont mind people conversing in Kannada"...Neither do I. But I expect that people talk to me in Hindi when I talk in Hindi(thats when they know Hindi ofcourse)
PS: When and why did you feel the need to learn Hindi?

Mar 13, 2005, 11:44:00 PM  
Blogger Neel Arurkar said...

In addition to my last post. It has been inappropriately stated by me that Hindi is 'the national language'. I modify my statement by hereby stating that Hindi is 'the official language' of India

Mar 13, 2005, 11:53:00 PM  
Blogger Seema said...

i don' see why ppl always expectations from others. i mean nothing wrong in expecting ppl who know hindi to speak with u in hindi, but then, y doesn't one try to learn the local language? it isn't very difficult to do so. there's always been a debate on the BB on this issue. ppl always have to say that they r being ill treated or other things but never think 'y not reduce trouble by learning kannada?' if u've stayed for say a yr or so i guess its not gonna be difficult to understand it, unless u make efforts. if ur gonna leave the place within 6 months or so, there's no need. i'm a kannadiga who converses with ppl in hindi or english n surprisingly have never have faced any problems.

May 10, 2005, 5:04:00 AM  
Blogger Neel Arurkar said...

Hey fullmoonearth,
I agree one needs to learn Kannada if he/she is living in Bangalore for a long time. I too have picked up quite a bit, though I am not very comfortable when it comes to speaking. I have attended the Kannada Kali classes conducted by Fellow Infoscions. If you go through my posts, you will find many in which I have something about Kannada. For example, there is one about the first complete Kannada sentence I understood.
One point I would like to bring notice of the readers hear was that most people down south do not understand /make efforts to understand Hindi.
I have always spoken in Hindi and not Marathi in Bombay when I was unaware of the tongue of the opposite person.
Anyway, I did not mean to offend any Kannadigas

May 10, 2005, 5:21:00 AM  
Blogger Seema said...

sorry, i had never intended to publish the post. jus composed it n i dunno where i went wrong that its been posted here. its taken me quite some time to find the original post coz i actually was planning to delete it if its been posted. but now that u've seen it, n it was intended esp for u, i don' think i'll delete it. n the thgt of deleting it came after i went thru some more posts of urs mentioning u r learning kannada.

May 10, 2005, 5:40:00 AM  
Blogger Neel Arurkar said...

Hey FullMoonEarth, there is no sorry needed. When I write 'controversial' posts, I am open to bouquets and brickbats. Keep reading my blog. By the way, you dont seem to have a blog.

May 10, 2005, 5:56:00 AM  
Blogger Seema said...

nah! i was jus curious abt ur post on the BB so browsed ur blogspot. some of the compositions r really nice, but some give an impression of urs as a rebellion.

May 10, 2005, 6:24:00 AM  
Blogger Neel Arurkar said...

Thanks. Are rebellious posts not nice? :-)

May 10, 2005, 6:42:00 AM  
Blogger Seema said...

they're nice, no doubts n i hope they have an effect on the readers. its important for people to be aware of the happenings in and around them. i've been getting response for my comments almost instantly, do u have an option to get them mailed to ur ID or do u hang around here often?

May 11, 2005, 5:04:00 AM  
Blogger Neel Arurkar said...

Yes!! I get them mailed to my id. Do you have access to the internet after 5??

May 11, 2005, 5:11:00 AM  
Blogger Seema said...

yup, access to net only before n after working hrs

May 11, 2005, 5:18:00 AM  

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