TamilNadu Express

TAMILNADU EXPRESS

(This write up is not to hurt anyone’s feelings. It’s purely based on the inputs from the passengers traveling in TN Express. Readers are requested not to take it in wrong sense.)

And finally my Diwali vacations got over. For me, it didn’t only mean change of holidays into work, or rest into pressure but change from one culture into another different (rather indifferent for me) culture. I boarded the train from Nagpur (my hometown) to Chennai, where I work. The train was as usual, Tamilnadu Express. The speciality of this train is that it is the fastest train in its class and is known for its accurate timing (at least from Chennai to Nagpur). It goes from Delhi to Chennai and vice-versa. Generally we have to reserve the tickets in advance before a month or two for getting it confirmed. But during that time one of my friend Rahul who lives in Delhi booked the ticket for me, as he was also going to travel during that period to Chennai. That time, he was on training in Chennai in a Software company. And because of that, I was happy to get his company in the 17 hour journey. Otherwise Every time I am prepared to travel quietly, listening to songs on my cell phone, because if the co-passengers are from south (especially Tamilnadu) they won’t speak to others in train and if the same are from north i.e. U.P, Bihar etc. then they will go overboard by abusing Non-Hindi people.
But this time my co-passengers were from both north n souths. After I got into the train I and my friend were having a chat, that time one boy of our age was quietly watching us continuously. I told Rahul,

“He must be a Tamil guy, not knowing Hindi”

“May be”- Rahul replied.

“I don’t understand why Tamil people don’t want to speak in Hindi, even if they know the language?” I just said what was on my mind.

“Frankly speaking they are scared that one fine day Hindi will overshadow Tamil, and eventually their culture and their own Tamil Film Industry. Precisely, the same thing what happened to your Marathi Film Industry”-Rahul

I refuted, “You are wrong Rahul, I mean it’s not the case what you think. Marathi people only promoted Hindi film Industry. That is why the centre of Hindi film Industry is Mumbai. Do you know who the father of Indian Film Industry is? It’s Dadasaheb Falke, He is a Marathi person. The first ever film made in Indian cinema was a Marathi Film, RAJA HARISHCHANDRA. And he wanted to reach to wider audience so he remade the marathi films Kunku, Manus, Shejari etc. in Hindi. Now it was Marathi Filmmakers’ onus to make films in their language, but they were happy with the traditional jobs and theatre, so the opportunity was taken by Non-Marathi Film makers like Gurudutt, Raj Kapoor and others.”

‘Hey I didn’t mean to offend your people Atul. I know you have been a Film Journalist”, Rahul tried to make me cool.

“No it’s not about offending, but everybody is emotional about their culture, and being a film journalist, I share the same vision with filmmakers like V. Shantaram, Dadasaheb Falke n others. He and many other filmmakers lived the dream of educating the masses and creating social awareness in them through the highly penetrating Hindi Film Media. Marathi people are not parochial to think only about their own state or own language. It’s exactly opposite to what Kannada people did two years back. They banned new Hindi films for the first six weeks to get audience for kannada movies. But our Vision is Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra, which means Nation First, not a state alone” I expressed.

The boy who was watching me and Rahul suddenly said, “Hey I never knew so much about Marathi Cinema, even though my mother tongue is Marathi”

“What! You are a marathi person??? Then how come your name is Sushanth, as I saw in the Reservation Chart, with that extra H?” my question.

“Hey I am born and brought up in Chennai, so it’s obvious that there will be the impact of Tamilnadu on everything. But I can speak and understand Marathi.” He explained.

“And what about Hindi?” Rahul asked anxiously.

“I can understand, also I can write to some extent, but I can’t speak fluently” –Sushanth answered hesitantly.

“This is the most common answer given by Tamil people, dude. But you know something, within six months the amount of tamil I have picked, my colleagues have not picked even 50% of Hindi as compared to that, whereas they are dealing with so many Hindi speaking people from their birth, only because of the insecurity.” Rahul

“I don’t think anybody is insecure of hindi overtaking Tamil and all, it’s a political gimmick, as every educated person know”-said Sushanth

Suddenly one uncle (His name was Ramkrishna) sitting beside sushanth, asked furiously, “But my question is when people in Tamilnadu are happy with Tamil and English then what is the need for Hindi in Chennai?”

Immediately Rahul replied, “Sir, Chennai is not only the capital of Tamilnadu but also a Metro city of our country named INDIA or Hindustan. And you asked why Hindi, because Constitution of India says Hindi to be the language of the secular state of India. I am a punjabi, you are a tamil and he is a marathi. So if we have to go by your logic then it’s very difficult to communicate with people from other states having different languages. And English is not going to help as 40% of our country is illiterate. And even in Chennai we can’t do only with English, I can give you so many examples, like Autowallas, waiters n all, nobody knows English well, only few words they can understand. Once I said the waiter that the tea is having more sugar. He added some more sugar in the tea, as he can understand only one word from my sentence, which is sugar, so he added it. It’s like that sir. That is why we have HINDI as a national language so that one doest have to learn other 32 languages whenever one shifts place for job or something like that.”

Sushanth was nodding his head as he agreed with Rahul and said, “That is the plight of Chennai man. See now I appeared for an exam which says Knowledge of Hindi and English is must. If I clear it and get a call I don’t know how will I clear the interview? The political parties can’t understand this na”

“What do you mean to say? We should undermine our language and learn other languages for getting jobs? Do you know how many persons sacrificed their lives in protests against Hindi?” One old man traveling with his wife suddenly expressed.

“I don’t know the number, but I know about the protests n all. But now the era has changed. What was right for preserving the language that time may not work now. If pakistan think about how many pak soldiers sacrificed their lives for conquering Kashmir, then they have every right to ask for Kashmir. But is it just??? Same thing is applicable to what a state like Tamilnadu or ULFA in Assam thinks. And by the way Tamilnadu may be the only state to learn English for getting jobs. Otherwise it’s very difficult to get jobs with tamil being the only known language.”

“But don’t you think our Tamil young guys are extremely well in English as compared to North?”-Old Man asked.

I took the opportunity to express, “I don’t think so. Which guys are good at English? Only the convent Educated, right? Then they are equally good in other parts of country. And I can’t understand why to an average Tamilian, the world is two dimensional? India for them only has 2 directions, north and south, there is no west or east India...they think Mumbai is in north India, and so is Kolkata, this is what a Tamilian girl told me herself. Whereas the fact is that Mumbai is West and Kolkata is East. And the convent Educated guys from these cities are equally good in English as Tamil guys”

Rahul Continued my point, “And Uncle, you mentioned about Tamilians’ fluency in English .I would say it is not english but TAMILish...have u ever heard these words like petrola, hundredaa, HechDFC… only tamilians have this peculiar accent. The only saving grace to this is that the convent educated guys don’t hesitate to speak English, just because there is no third language for them to speak.”

“No, but why should anybody force third language Hindi on us, when we are comfortable with two languages?”-Old Man’s question.

Sushanth jumped to express, “I don’t think, it’s about forcing uncle, but it’s about learning a language which 70% of the same country in which we live can communicate. And the whole resentment about Hindi is because an average tamilian, say like me, cannot communicate in Hindi, and a person from any other state in India except Tamilnadu is not supposed to know Tamil, as it is a regional language. All other states can have Hindi as a subject in schools, why can’t Tamilnadu have, simple reason, just to oppose, another reason for gaining votes. Just think, if your children learn the language in school, they will not find it difficult to survive anywhere in India. The people from Tamilnadu, who have stayed elsewhere in India, understand this point and they are enrolling their children in Hindi teaching schools. Why should a sane person be willing to restrict the growth prospects of their own children, just for the political reasons?

Before Sushanth finishes, suddenly Rahul asked Mr. Ramkrishnan,”Ok sir, you tell me now, as you said your elder brother stays in Delhi, doesn’t he understand the importance of Hindi?”

“Of Course, he has to. He is staying there only, but….”

I interrupted Ramkrishnan’s answer, “But he doesn’t want to tell this to an average tamilian, right? I think this is the truth. Because whenever I travel in TN Express, Tamilians who knows Hindi, will neither speak in tamil nor in hindi with their co-passengers, as if Hindi speaking is a sin for a Tamilian. But as soon as the train reaches Tamilnadu Border, i.e. Gummidipondi, they start speaking in Tamil in a louder voice to indicate that now we are in Tamilnadu and all the Hindi speaking people have to be quiet. But they won’t try accepting that if they are sitting from Delhi then almost all the time they have to accept Hindi as the mode of communication.”

“I am not that keen observer like Atul, but one thing I have seen is that because of such behavior of some Tamil people, rest of the India has a very bad image about Tamilians. I remember when my tamil friend Raja, who studied Hindi in his School came to Mumbai with me. He looks like a typical Tamilian, dark brown face with a Moustache. Once he was talking on phone in tamil near a tea Stall, and after the conversation was over, he ordered tea in Hindi. The Chaiwala was astonished that he knows such good Hindi and he told Raja that generally Tamilians are very ***** as they don’t want to speak Hindi. That day Raja witnessed that how much people hate the mother tongue obsession of tamilians. And Raja acknowledged that, it is due to the vested interest of Tamil Politicians. Actually he was astonished with the way people enjoying their life with a smile, in Mumbai. He told that in Tamilnadu the people are very conservative, even in smiling. They are more inclined towards saving money in Gold n all than to show off, that is why a person earning 50 thousand rupees will eat and wear the same thing as a person earning 5 thousand rupees do.” Rahul quipped.

“Now this is too much, you can’t force your lifestyle on everybody. South Indians have their own style of living and there is nothing wrong in that. Regarding teaching Hindi in schools, yes I also feel that my children should know Hindi so that they can shape their career anywhere in India or Abroad. Especially after seeing my brother’s sons I have decided to send my son to North, I mean out of Tamilnadu, for higher studies.”-Ramkrishnan shared his feelings.

“That is a very nice decision. Once your son comes out of Tamilnadu, he will understand another facet of India. It will help him not only in India but all over the world.”-Sushanth.

Suddenly the old man said, “Actually India is very much known in abroad also. My daughter is in U.S. only. Two months back I visited her place, that time her neighbor asked me, “
You are from India, is it? Yesterday only I watched a recent Indian movie, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, have you seen it there? It’s a Hindi movie.”

I said, “No, actually I can’t understand Hindi.”

That lady was shocked, she asked, “But Hindi is your Language only, isn’t it”

I did not know what to say, I said, “Yes, but I live in Tamilnadu, where they speak only Tamil and English”
So she asked, “So you are not living in proper India, is it?”

I refuted her statement and said that Tamilnadu is a state in India only, but somehow I could see that she was not satisfied with my answer.

That was the only time in my life, I felt I should have known hindi. But I don’t have any regret about not knowing it. Still as Sushanth said Govt. should be more open in these things, as day by day the world is coming closer.”

“Exactly! That is what we want to say uncle, We stay in the same country, share the same interests like movies, cricket, Game shows etc. but just because of language we are separated. Tamilians switch off the TV if the commentary starts in Hindi, I have seen this myself. They want to see Shahrukh in KBC, but they want it to be dubbed in Tamil, why? Just because they are not open to our National language. Again here the question is not whether Hindi is our National language or not, but the question is language more important than a united country?”- I iterated.

Sushanth started clapping after my so called ‘lecture’ and Rahul said, “Boss College college mein seminar dekar tu bahut achcha speaker ban gaya hai(You have become a good speaker by delivering seminars in colleges)”

The old man told Ramkrishnan, “Really everybody should think about it, like these young men”

By the time the discussion finished it was dinner time. After finishing the dinner everybody went to sleep. And when we got up in the morning our Tamilnadu Express had touched Tamilnadu, i.e Gummidipondi and within an hour it reached Chennai Central at 7 am sharp.

- Atul R. Thakare, Nagpur
atulrt@gmail.com