I’m a Mangalorean Konkani person from Bangalore born to a Christian family. I can assure the readers that the hostility in Bangalore isn’t just to do with the lack of respect to the local culture. I’m from the state and learnt Kannada along with my mother tongue when I was four. But I always faced similar hostility all my life in the city because of my less-than-perfect Kannada. I speak it fairly well, but the locals can detect the non-first language intonation or ‘accent’ in my speech and have always made disparaging comments about it. The locals are too touchy about their singular, previously majoritarian identity being ‘overrun’. They see it as a threat and are not open to dialogue. I advocate learning the language for smooth assimilation. But the article also asks migrants to adopt some local traditions to show respect. These traditions are mostly rooted in conservative Kannada Brahmanism. The article really lacks this caste and religion-based nuance too. It’s undeniable that the pushback also has a lot to do with religious conservatism, caste, and language being so tightly knitted together.
Global changes are a fact. Since 1947, the south didn’t get its due recognition comparing with north. Language and culture are a open fact and as north expect south to speak its language, so is south. Most important is not to ignore the importance of local language, which is taken as granted by north. Respect for local language is what is the need .
I’m a Mangalorean Konkani person from Bangalore born to a Christian family. I can assure the readers that the hostility in Bangalore isn’t just to do with the lack of respect to the local culture. I’m from the state and learnt Kannada along with my mother tongue when I was four. But I always faced similar hostility all my life in the city because of my less-than-perfect Kannada. I speak it fairly well, but the locals can detect the non-first language intonation or ‘accent’ in my speech and have always made disparaging comments about it. The locals are too touchy about their singular, previously majoritarian identity being ‘overrun’. They see it as a threat and are not open to dialogue. I advocate learning the language for smooth assimilation. But the article also asks migrants to adopt some local traditions to show respect. These traditions are mostly rooted in conservative Kannada Brahmanism. The article really lacks this caste and religion-based nuance too. It’s undeniable that the pushback also has a lot to do with religious conservatism, caste, and language being so tightly knitted together.
Global changes are a fact. Since 1947, the south didn’t get its due recognition comparing with north. Language and culture are a open fact and as north expect south to speak its language, so is south. Most important is not to ignore the importance of local language, which is taken as granted by north. Respect for local language is what is the need .