It was late evening when i was taking a stroll in the university campus with my Orissa friend. I opened up the long time paradox that was running in my mind for discussion. The excitement to contradict fascinates me, so i asked him, "Did you happen to read about the latest news on 100 years of Indian cinema?" He nodded his head in agreement. My next question was, "Did you see the list of 100 best Indian cinemas of all time". And this time he said "No". And the narration of our evening walk goes like this.
I was surprised and agonized, when i found that, only 7 Tamil movies made to the list of top 100 Indian cinemas of all time. It was the same for Bengali, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi and Malayalam. When there was only one North-East Indian movie in the list, the selection looked more like a formality. The criteria on which they evaluated the best movies are certainly unknown. If one goes by the fact that around 40 Hindi movies were selected because of the sole reason that it is the language of majority in the country, then the selection looks more biased and prejudiced. And this is defaming the literary and art which was patronized by the Bengalis and Tamil movies which are known for their novelty. It’s no doubt that the hegemony and dominance of Bollywood is erasing the contributions of other states and languages. Especially the Dravidians find it difficult to accept this overlooking and in no way they are wrong. Aren’t they?
I recently read an article on a blog, "Why Chennai can't and won't speak Hindi?' The author articulates two contradictory reasons for Tamil people`s resistance to learn Hindi. Firstly the love of Tamil and secondly the fear of extinction of their language. In early 1960`s, when an amendment to make Hindi as the national language of India was passed, there was huge uproar in many of the southern states. Arignar Annadurai, the then chief minister of Tamilnadu, asked the committee, if Hindi is made as the national language on the basis of majority of people speaking, why was Tiger and Peacock made as the national animal and bird respectively and why not rats and crows, as they are larger in number. I admired his sense of Correlation and the logic behind it.
Well, I reckon the need to learn other languages; esp. Hindi has become vital in India and none can deny that fact. Government jobs (civil services) and also multinational companies appreciate and value candidates better, if they are familiar with the local languages. And in this globalized world, it has become common to work in a multi-cultural environment. Being in love with the local language is appreciable, but resisting to learning the other languages sparks the ignorance and prejudice of the Tamilians. Because schools in Kerala have made Hindi as a mandatory subject and it is almost a similar case in Andhra Pradesh. Politicians try to spur this issue and create an emotional ego among the people. Sanskrit the mother of Hindi has become almost non-existent today, while Greek and Latin have also met the same end. That might be the reason for fear among Tamilians which might end up in losing their identity. But when a population of almost 7.5 crores speaks Tamil, i think that fear is absurd.
Since Tamil is one of the oldest languages in the world history and civilization, the state should hold more world class conferences, seminars to promote the language on a larger scale and strive to get the accreditation and credit this language deserves, rather than holding a myopic view and let the fear sink in. How many parents and schools today in Tamilnadu take pride in teaching Tamil language is a question that would go unanswered by many. I also wonder, how many of today`s youth in Tamil Nadu could read and understand the world class Tamil literature's like Tirukkural, Tholkapiyam and Pazhamozhi. People are definitely not going to lose their identity because of others presence or threat from other cultures, but when they don’t know who they are, what they are, that is when their identity gets lost. False pride is the truest character of ignorance.
It is certainly, not just the North Indians stereotyping the south people. Many a times, i have read the people in Chennai, even if they know English, they never reply back to North Indians in English. Indians call their country as the land of unity in diversity, but i have experienced more of diversity and hypocrisy rather than unity. The only way to end this hostility is to live in each other’s place, feel the experience and start respecting each other’s cultures and traditions. And this is going to happen more in the coming days, as there is a major population shift from one city to another to explore the opportunities and enhance the broad minded approach to accept and live as a world citizen.
It was a great walk and talk, though I despised myself mentioning him as a friend from Orissa and not from India. The hypocrisy runs within us deep and ugly, it might be easy to say, all Indians are my brothers and sisters, but it’s difficult to live that way. When we do that and respect people from other states then we can become not like US or China, but like India. An India which Mahatma Gandhi and Abdul Kalam dreamed of. Jaihind!
“We know what we are, but we know not what we may become” – William Shakespeare
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