Written By murali772 - 28 August, 2012

Bangalore language Citizen Reports chauvinism Language and Culture

Karnataka sports minister Appachu Ranjan said the government would welcome Mary to the city. For the full report in the ToI, click here

"I have come to Guwahati to take all of you back to Bangalore. It is as much your city as anyone else's," said Ashoka. For that report, again in the ToI, click here.

While the ministers have been making those welcoming gestures, the reality is that unless Mary Kom and the North-Easterners (and, not just them) choose to learn Kannada fast enough, life is not going to be too easy for them in Bengaluru. And, while it is quite expected of a person, who moves to a new place and takes up residence there, to pick up at least a smattering of the local language, in Namma Bengaluru, though, that by itself will not do.

Now, for example,

1) If Mary Kom gets into an argument with an auto driver (which is inevitable), and she wants to report him to the police (hopefully, she won't give him a knock-out punch), she'll very likely find that she is unable to do so since the number plates are made out just in Kannada (check this). And, this practice is not confined just to auto's; even large sections of government vehicles are carrying on in this fashion - perhaps a case of competitive chauvinism.

Well, the Traffic Police have now determined that enforcing the rules in this regard is their mandate (check this), and are perhaps set to intensify the drive in the days to come. But, whereas this should normally have been treated as a zero-tolerance matter, having serious security implications as it has, the approach so far has been rather lackadaisical. One hopes that changes.

2) Further, if Mary Kom and her lot want to set up say a "North-East Solidarity Forum", and register it as a Society, the Registrar of Societies, Karnataka, will ask her to produce a "memorandum of Association", made out in Kannada (check here). Now, this being a legal document, it will require the language proficiency of a "Kuvempu" to make out head or tail of the contents. And, God forbid, there is a difference of opinion between the Society members, say a year down the line, leading to the matter ending up in court, and Mary loses out because of some technicalities in the original documentation, I am not sure the courts will entertain her plea, at that stage, that she had no idea what she was agreeing to, with the documents being in Kannada. She may have relied on an English translation. But, the quality of court authorised translaters being what they are, the chances of discrepancies are huge, and the resulting costs huge too.

Some Kannada (over)-enhusiasts wanted the High Court proceedings to be in Kannada too. But, Justice Vikramjit Sen said something to the effect 'sorry - don't ask me to master Kannada at this stage of my life", and dismissed the case - check here

3) As she settles down, Mary, the fighter that she is, finds herself cheesed off with some government agency (which again is inevitable), and seeks information under the RTI, she will get a response in Kuvempu Kannada. If the fighter in her takes the matter to the Information Commission, asking for a response in English, citing the Official Languages Act (where it clearly states that English continues to be an official language of the state), the Commission will tell her (of course in Kannada) that a certain Muralidhar Rao has already tried that, and we have told him that the RTI Act doesn't cover the matter (check here), and, if she so wishes, she could go to the court.

I am now in fact looking forward to Mary joining me to further the remaining part of the fight.

The simple question I am asking is 'when a small country like Switzerland makes its official documents available in 4 different official languages, why can't Karnataka do it in English, an official language of the state, that is understood by a large section of the population'.

Muralidhar Rao

PS: This is not a Kannada vs English issue, nor a Kannadiga vs outsider issue. So, please don't bring these up in the debate here. Debates on those issues are on-going on PRAJA, and if you wish to contribute, you may access them here, apart from other blogs.

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