Robert Zydenbos wrote: "Muslims in Kerala speak Malayalam, those in Tamilnadu speak Tamil; (b) what is 'local'? Urdu is basically northwest Indian and well rooted there, as Rohit Chopra already mentioned. " What about the Muslims in Karanataka and Andhra Pradesh? They all speak a (very gracious) Deccani Urdu. Shailendra Raj Mehta Purdue University