cash cows, i[...] c[...]

[Narayan S. Raja]

On Mon, 18 Nov 1996, Robert Zydenbos wrote:

> Anyone who has had an even cursory look at the history of Tamil (sub-)
> nationalism will know how much Hindi is hated there. I understand that there
> are no longer Hindi news broadcasts on t.v. in Tamilnadu. I do not know whether
> this change occurred before or after the Hindi Pracharini Sabha in Chennai
> (this city used to be called Madras) was bombed. "Hindi imperialism" is a term

[...etc...]

I am from Tamil Nadu (just want to
establish my impeccable non-Hindi
credentials here).  I always felt
that being anti-Hindi was a convenient
tool for politicans to whip up emotion,
rather than something that most people
in TN are really concerned about in 
real life.  

Of course, it does say something that 
emotions CAN be whipped up about this topic.  
But, for that matter, in India emotions can 
also be whipped up on for being anti-Muslim,
anti-MissWorld, anti-Brahmin, anti-Harijan,
anti-PizzaHut, anti-English, anti-immigrant,
or, indeed, anti- almost anything.

The mere existence of an anti-X emotion
does not mean that it is either justified, or
deserving of sympathy.

Incidentally, as a pucca Tamilian who is
currently busy teaching Tamil to his daughter,
I have nothing against Hindi.  I think learning
more languages is a Good Thing.  Fanaticism is
a Bad Thing.

fact that ENGLISH is doing far more damage to
Tamil than Hindi ever could.  Just go to Madras
and see whether you can buy decent books in
Tamil for children.  See how many "educated"
people can conduct an intelligent conversation
in Tamil.  Not many.  And I can tell you that
it's not Hindi that they're speaking.  It's English.

Of course, I have no hard feelings about English,
either.  Just pointing out that politicians in
S. India have picked on Hindi just because it's
easier to whip up emotions on that score, not
because Hindi is really doing any damage to anyone.

"Hindi vaazhga"    :-)  :-)    (Hindi zindabad)  :-)
Tamizhum vaazhga.


Narayan Sriranga Raja.
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