Hindi and Kerala

Many times I was faced with the obnoxious question: Why Keralites don’t learn Hindi, it being the national language. Shouldn’t be Hindi made compulsory to every Indian?

I did a small research to find a few interesting things about this and I have included the same below. I have tried to ascertain the authenticity of the facts that I have mentioned. People who has the patience to learn till the end and is interested to verify the content from any sources, please continue as this is going to be a very long mail. Because I will be mentioning the clauses from Indian Constitution.

I don’t usually do this because for me the thoughts of regionalism, religion, color, creed etc is always and will be inferior to my nationalism. This mail is intended only to be reasonable with facts and clear some common misunderstandings. So, if in anyways this mail sounds pro-regionalist or offending to someone, please know that I don’t mean it.

To begin with, the below is from a mail forward that is been circulating since some time. Some of the data has become obsolete. Where ever the data may be wrong, I will be putting some remarks.

Why Malabaris are disliked by some people ???

Check out the following facts:-

1. Indian Defense Minister is from Kerala

2. Indian Foreign Secretary is from Kerala

3. Chief Justice of India is from Kerala (referring to K G Balachanran, former CJI)

4. Chief of "Chandryaan' , the Indian Space program is from Kerala

5. Chief Security Adviser to the Prime Minister is from Kerala

6. Chief of the new Federal Investigation Agency is from Kerala

6. Principal Secretary to Prime Minister is from Kerala

7. The only Indian to contest for the UN Secretary General's Position is from Kerala.

8. The chief of Staff for Security to UN Secretary General is from Kerala

9. Recent two of the Oscar Award winners from Kerala. (Rasool Pookutty and A.R.Rahman (Dileep))

10. Kerala is the only 100% Literate State in India .

11. Kerala was rated as the most baby friendly state with the lowest infant mortality rates and the best Health Care Model by UN.

12. The last Indian representative to the Miss Universe contest was also a Keralite (Parvathy Omanakuttan, 2008)

You know that coming from a small province our people did not climb the above positions thru back door, it is thru sheer competition!!

You will find Keralite farm workers, artisans, technicians, manual laborers, illiterates and semi-literates all migrating to all parts of the Globe.

When they start most of them only know their mother tongue.

Thru hard work, drive, enthusiasm, tenacity, persistence , humor sense they learn the trades and also , Hindi, English, Arabic and many other languages necessary to sustain them.

True that none of them speak Queens English, but most of the world do not do so as well.

The great Chinese Population, majority of the French, German, Arabic, East European and even good percentage of UK population do not speak English or speak only a version of it.?? Nor the vast majority of Indians can speak Hindi , our National language?

You can hate a race/tribe if they are dishonest, lazy , untrustworthy, uneducated etc. We definitely do not belong to any of this categories??

So why you hate us??….reason is simple, professional jealousy!!!

Keralites Mother Tongue is MALAYALAM (You can spell it from right to left & left to right) (*Malayalam is second language in UAE)* In your city, you have seen Keralites as narial Pani Wallahs, manual laborers and shop assistants only. When you come to Dubai you are amazed at their success, influence and the sheer majority irritates you, you cannot take it that those who cannot speak Queens English have become so successful?? You do speak English but your writing and spelling are a horror story!! So dear Friend, we do not apologize for our success, whether you like us or not, we are full of sympathies for you because your fishermen, laborers, artisans do not dare to come out of their villages, because they are illiterates, our men are not, they dare to come out and challenge themselves, become successful..

/That's What Malayali All Around the World./

This mail, part fact, part out of frustration by some obvious Keralite is not meant to ascertain regionalism above nationalism. This tells that the reason behind Keralite’s or for that matter, the so called “Madrasis”, for not knowing Hindi is purely practical. If they are put in Hindi speaking regions, they will learn it. They don’t limit ourselves to particular constraints of region or language or anything. All Keralites learn Hindi in school, they know how to read and write. What they lack is only the practice of speaking it on a regular basis. How many of us can tell that we remember everything we learned in school or college? We forget most of the things because we don’t use them, as simple as that.

Now let us see what Constitution of India says: (Suggested reading pages 212-217)

Article 343: “The official language of the Union shall be Hindi”.

Article 345: the Legislature of a State may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State

Article 351: It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language.

So why can’t the Union make it compulsory for its Citizen to speak a particular language? Because, it will be a direct violation to the Fundamental Rights.

I also checked if Hindi is really the national language of India? To my surprise, I found that no where it is mentioned that Hindi is our national language, but is our official language. So what is the difference between National Language and Official Language? The national language defines the people of the nation, culture and history.  The official language is used for official communication.  While the national language can become the official language by default, an official language has to be approved by law in order to become the national language. All languages spoken in India, starting from the language spoken by the most people to that spoken by the least are our national languages. This is because all of them define the people of this nation, culture and their history, collectively.  India has no legally-defined national language; it has only 18 official languages according to the Constitution.  There is a special provision for the development of Hindi under Article 351, though. (taken from an article by Rishabh in http://www.merinews.com/article/hindi-our-national-language/126953.shtml).

Also an article worth reading that appeared in The Hindu: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article94695.ece

Such matters of divisionism was evident in B R Ambedkar’s mind when he took the responsibility of drafting the Indian Constitution. His speech in Parliament while presenting the same is worth reading for all Indians http://pragati.nationalinterest.in/2010/08/the-grammar-of-anarchy/.

You may google and find many articles conveying the same message.

As an Indian, I respect and accept all aspects of India. Hindi is a widely accepted language, but clearly not the National Language. My ability over Hindi is purely situational coincidence and personal interest. That may not be the case with others and we cannot blame them for that.

Politician twist facts for their advantage. As Indian, everyone has the right to work, or settle in any part of India or practice any profession or religion of his choice. He is even entrusted to preserve his choice. Read the constitution when you get time and you will find many surprising facts about our actual rights and what is reality now.

Your views on the same is most welcome.

My first steps to blogging

After the continuous pushing by my beloved brother, mentor and friend Mr. Praveen Krishnan, I made my mind to make a silent entry to the world of blogging. He says its a pretty good way to put my thoughts and confusions and still make money out of it. After all, felt his suggestion was good (no, not because of the money part). It always takes a Praveen Krishnan to make me start things.

First thing I asked when he pushed me is for a suggestion to my blog title. Very cleverly he asked me to do it myself as he thought I was good at it. That put me in unnecessary pressure. Am I good at it? What name will make him impressed. I was clueless, nevertheless I needed a name. I realized it do not have to be of some meaning or ideology. This needn't really reflect what I am. I had one word which was final - Krsna, from my last name Krishnan. Now I just wanted something to follow it. So came up with the idea of wits and nuts (ya, the same nuts 'are you nuts'?). Coz, I am sure bloggers may ask me that question, if anyone reads it. But whats is so good in nuts and wits. So I added some alphabets to make it look absurd and perhaps catchy. I mean, why do people blog? They want others to read it and in fact, they are marketing their ideas. I thought this name - 'Krsna's knuts & whits' will catch some eyes.

My God! there is no spell check seen below 'whits', so it has some meaning. My dictionary helped, it means "A tiny or scarcely detectable amount". So the selection of absurd words for my blog title didnt go as planned. Great beginning. There is nothing that excites me more than the first setback. That tells I am in the right path.

So, what am I to blog? Again, my brother says 'make sure your fascination with nationalism is written. ya fixation with Bhagat Singh & Bose be written.. Write about your confusion, loneliness and your moments in Saudi Arabia. Infact document your Saudi Life, all of it'. OK, thats a good start.

So am I patriotic, idiotic, sarcastic (cant think of other words that ends with 'ic' and reflects behavior, so stopping here) or all of it? He says write whatever u want, so I am here to begin a blog with my random thoughts and takes on everyday news.

Would you please give me a warm welcome for the future star of blog. Thank you.

Vipin Krishnan