Chennai - Speaking Hindi - An offense ?
November 8th, 2005 at 09:39pm
Back from Chennai trip. Glad to be back at home. Chennai sucks big time. Nothing about the whole trip was good, except for the company of people who were travelling along with on the train. i.e., some of my colleagues.
We boarded the West Coast express from Mangalore on Saturday night at 9.15 PM. The train was pretty much on time, but towards the end, it got delayed by around 1.5 hrs, due to (heavy) rains in the Chennai area. Its actually not heavy rains. If one compares the rains that Mangalore receives, its just normal rains. The problem is, there is absolutely no drainage system in Chennai. So, even if it rains for a couple of hours, many of the roads and low lying areas get flooded. So, due to the (heavy) rains, lot of the low-lying areas were flooded, and lot of chaos across the Chennai city. Luckily, our train didn’t stop forever.
We reached Chennai Central, i.e., our final destination at around 4.45 PM. It was damn cloudy, and was raining outside. We were around four of us, and non of us knew Tamil. Not knowing Tamil is bad in Chennai. And little did we know that speaking Hindi is a big offense in Chennai!. Majority of the Tamil people in Chennai have some major ego issue when it comes to language. At least, that’s what I felt. For example, one of the auto Rickshaw drivers refused to take us just because we spoke Hindi!. He blankly said..”If you know Tamil, only then I will take you” !! He even began to curse us when one of my colleague told he knew Hindi. Come On man….. Give me a break.
If you ask anyone … “Anna Salai …Where..?”.. they might tell you were it is. But if you ask the same question in Hindi… “Anna Salai Kaha Hai”, they might curse you!…… I am not exaggerating here. This has been our experience.
Most of the Auto Rickshaw Drivers are major crooks. Even though there were around 100 auto rickshaws just outside the railway station, we couldn’t engage even one of them. Either they refused to take us (because we spoke Hindi), or they charged around 3 to 4 times more the actual cost. The meter is present, but its always tampered, or they take you to the destination after going round and round the city. Oh.. there is also supposed to be a “Pre-Paid” auto rickshaw counter. But no one was in the counter, and the rickshaw drivers seemed too happy about it. (not that it works great even it was open). Its always better you have a fair idea of how much its gonna cost you before you engage a Rickshaw. Its also better you fix the fare before you sit on the rickshaw. If you don’t do so, you will be ripped off.
We were put up in the New Woodlands Hotel. We got the standard rooms since the deluxe rooms were all full. The rooms look pretty old. Kind of stuffy too. Not at all worth the money that you pay for. The fittings in the toilets were kind of rusted…horrible. May be the deluxe rooms are better, but I would not recommend this hotel to anyone. The Hotel serves only vegetarian food. Since it was raining (heavily), and it was kind of flooded, we ordered for food in our room itself. And we did a big mistake. We ordered for North Indian food. The North Indian food was bad as it can get. It was clearly done by some South Indian cook. We had ordered for a Paneer dish, and what came was….something like big pieces of Paneer dipped in something that looks more like sambar along with other vegetables. Somehow we managed to eat it. No other go, and we were hungry too. BTW, Food in Chennai is quite expensive!
The next day. i.e., Monday, the condition was much better. It wasn’t raining. But it was cloudy. Our work took more time then expected. Reached the room back at around 3 PM. Then we went out in search for a good restaurant. Found one. But the food again was not as great., But again, Hunger took priority over taste. :).
At around 5 PM we went to Spencers Plaza for some small time shopping. We spent around 1.5 hrs at Spencers, and came back.
We took the Mangalore Mail train at around 8.15 PM. The return trip was pretty good. The train was almost always ahead of schedule, and reached Mangalore 15 mins earlier.
One thing that I noticed in Chennai was, almost every other person you take services from is there to rip you. May it be a Rickshaw Driver or a Taxi/Cab driver, or a waiter at hotel or the room service guys. Everyone wants you to pay at least 2 to 3 times the normal.
One more funny thing is…..Even though speaking Hindi is an offense in Chennai, some of the Hindi Television serials like Kaun Banega Crorepati 2 etc is beamed in Tamil. Some TV Channels were also beaming some English movies with Tamil voice overs. What an Irony!
Many of my Tamil speaking friends too agree with the above mentioned reality/facts! I don’t have anything personal against the Tamilians or the Tamil Language. Yes, is a beautiful language. But its time that people open up and accept other cultures and language too. Its very essential if you want to be a part of the global economy. I have traveled to many of the places in South India. And except for Chennai, I didn’t have any problems when it comes to communicating with people. May it be Hyderabad or Bangalore or Cochin. If you speak in English or Hindi, people understand what you are speaking and respond back and try to help you in the best possible way they can.
But that’s absolutely not the case in Chennai!
Tags: auto, chennai, culture, hindi, language, Madras, offense, People, rickshaw, Tamil, tamilians
Entry Filed under: Travel
13 Comments
1. Madhu Bhat | November 9th, 2005 at 11:06 am
This has been my experince too. And the saddest part is that, people say that Bangalore sucks!!!!! I think Bangalore has been one of the most receptive, friendly cities ever. And teh worst part is when people say that Chennai is much better than Bangalore!!!
2. Venkatakrishnan | November 9th, 2005 at 2:59 pm
Hi, First of all let me start by saying that your blog is EXCELLENT! and lot of meticulous work behind it. Some blogs make interesting reading and some are informative. Keep it up !! Coming to the “Chennai …”, your write up sounds as if I am reading a BBC or CNN news item - meaning as written by somebody alien to India. You have not understood your country in the perspective it should be understood. I have been in your position when I visited Kerala, in and around Bangalore, WBengal, Pune etc. Do you agree that the buses there do not even have English name boards? I remember how I and 8 of my friends had a tough time in Bangalore busstand trying to board bus for Madikere - we could not read the bus name boards because we did not know Kannada - With my little Telugu reading knowledge I mapped the Telugu letters to Kannada letters and guessed the names. In chennai all the bus boards have both English and Tamil names written. Can I call Kannadigas as fanatics? No. It is the way they have chosen. I can only wish that all of us understand each other (language speaker)’s plight. Understand that whereever you go in India, you will see the same Indian culture with a slight bit of difference here and there..for the matter of cheating, costly items, autorickshaws etc., it is the same culture across the entire country - only Mumbai autowalahs return you the paise change - otherwise they are also not saints. I am not condoning the callous attitude of others - they are driven by their circumstances. As for the language in Chennai, my dear friend, what you said is true, but, how do you expect auto guys to speak Hindi - a language that has no connection with Tamil - but, Chennai has a lot different language people living here and Chennai has a track record of never trying to drive out other languagers (unlike Bangalore driving out Tamilians). And, with your limited experience in chennai and that too a chennai reeling in a spate of rains, dont estimate the place. I have a lot of colleagues from other states praising chennai (believe me, I am surprised and shy too for I think some of that is exaggeration). On the other hand, yes, chennai has its own minus points as does every other place. We have to highlight everything and not paint a bad picture with a miniscule experience. Hope you understand my point. For your information, I am a Telugu speaking Chennaiite who has visited all south indian states (cities), lived in Mumbai for 5 years, visited Delhi, Calcutta etc.
3. KJ | November 9th, 2005 at 3:56 pm
yes i know, my elder bro is stationed in Chennai & he was also spking abt the attitude of Tamilians towards Hindi spking ppl.
Disgusting naa?
:-)
4. Amit | November 11th, 2005 at 12:35 pm
Having travelled a bit on my own, I find that making an attempt to speak the local language, even if it is only a word or two, works better. (Even if the phrase is “Sorry, I don’t know the language!”)Maybe the people react better when they see that the outsider is at least making an attempt and usually, they then themselves make an effort to use a language that both can manage. Another useful tool is body language and gestures. Combined with broken words (and a LOT of smiling!), it works communication wonders!
5. Arjun | November 11th, 2005 at 10:23 pm
@ Amit : I fully agree with you!. In fact we did that. And thats how we got a Auto Rick!! … We tried to speak in broken Tamil….. “New woodlands Polaam…” … etc., Did some home work before leaving.. learning some basic words……..and yes, the local people respond to it. But the point I am trying to make is, along with the broken Tamil, if you speak even a single word in Hindi (even by mistake),…………thats the end.
Somehow I felt that people (atleast the local folks that I interacted with) are not very open when it comes to Hindi. They are ok with other languages. English too is ok.
BTW, i have been to Chennai couple of times before, and this has been my experience. Its not that this is the first time I am going to Chennai.
But I strongly feel that it wont last long. With the kind of globalized environment we are into, the next generation of folks would be a different breed altogether. But definitely the other parts of India would have a leading edge!
6. Ranjith | November 11th, 2005 at 11:31 pm
Well yes iam from chennai and yes from ANNASALAI :D and ppl and politicians here are crap ! they only want TAMIL just bcos of VOTES ! f**k them bro .and yes everyone will rip you if you are new to chennai beware !
7. abr | November 16th, 2005 at 6:22 pm
Was just wondering how knowing hindi helps in globalisation?
8. Arjun | November 17th, 2005 at 10:30 pm
@abr : Ok., literal terms, globalisation is not the correct word. I agree.
But, Hindi is our national language. No matter what part of the country you are in, you should atleast understant hindi. Or atleast, not ‘hate’ hindi.
9. kn | November 18th, 2005 at 9:21 am
i have to agree with Arjun here. I had the *priveledge* of being in Chennai for 7 months. I never once felt at home. I know many Tamilians who are born and brought up in Blore and believe me, they wouldnt want to go to Chennai themselves. And coming to the point mentioned in one of the comments “Chennai has a track record of never trying to drive out other languagers (unlike Bangalore driving out Tamilians).”- Well my friend, there are things done implicity and explicitly. Chennaites dont have to do much to drive people away, their attitude is enough. In Blore, the hatred for Tamilians crops up when a delicate matter like the Cauvery issue arises and dies down as fast as it comes up, it is not it is perpertually present like in the case of Chennai.
I have one thing to say to u, if u have so much against Blore, why do u bother staying here, if u do not respect what we offer u. I know many Tamilians who have moved here a yr ago and are comfortable with this and staying here not because they are forced to, but they like it here, and they do it without complaints.
10. Prakash | November 21st, 2005 at 10:57 am
I agree with Venkatakrishnan. I live in USA, many of my Hindi speaking friends, don’t even try to speak in English with an Indian (no matter whether I know or not). If an educated Hindi men can not speak English with a non-hindi Indian, I dont know how can you expect an autorickshaw guy to speak Hindi in Madras. Being brought up in Chennai, I totally agree that autorickshaw guys are not up to the mark. bur I don’t like the generalization towards the entire Chennai. afterall only Tamilnadu had MGR ( Keralite), Jayalalitha(Kannada) as CM. Can you imagine a non-native guy to be a MLA in other states of India. I would say Chennai is more democratic and cosmo politan than it is viewed.
11. the_thinker | November 28th, 2005 at 10:44 am (subscribed to comments)
Hi Guys,
I too very much agree with Mr.Parbhu.
I have travelled and worked in different states of India and there is this thing about Chennai which always irritates me.I’m not trying to insult or prove any point.But this is true.
And I dont blame the average person. The problem is that the politicians in Tamil Nadu have made sure that they dont expose the people to any kind of Hindi. It is such a shame.
I would agree that a person does not understand and speak Hindi but “hating” it is a very shame to our country.
Every other state in south I have worked, Andhra, Karnataka and even Kerala are very tolerant and open to all our Indian brothers and sisters , but when it comes to Tamil Nadu, they behave very arrogantly and they think that Tamil Nadu is like ‘country’ rather than a part of India.
When I was working in Delhi, there were so many of Andhraites, Keralites adnd Kannadigas, but a few Tamilians. What I have heard from them is that , they will either work in Tamil Nadu or outside India( but not in any other state)!!!
That is such a bad attitude which needs to be changed.
People in Tamil Nadu need to be exposed to real cosmopolitan cities like Bombay, Bangalore, etc.
Other thing is , which even a Tamilian will accept, there is too much of Casteism in Tamil Nadu. People kind of carry their Caste tag all the time everywhere.
The irony is that these same people who hold their casteism high in India, go to countries like US and behave like slaves and drool over the whites.
How ironical.
Infact one incidence, I remember, when I was in Chennai, a colleague had commented that all states should be freed from India and Tamil Nadu ( and other states) should be independently ruled but only the defense should be shared!!!
How shameful…I dont blame him…this is what a rotten political system of Dravidian propogada can do to a educated but foolish person.
He forgot one major point..The majority of defense personnels are Sardars..North Indians.
Btw, I dont consider myself a ‘North Indian’ or a ‘South Indian’, because they are very sick and humiliating terminology.
Jai Hind
Greatness is in being Humble and Tolerant..not in False pride and Arrogance.
12. pk | December 3rd, 2005 at 4:21 pm
ya man and i hate that and i hope i never ever land in chennai, i have enough of them in banglore itself.
13. Arjun | December 3rd, 2005 at 10:22 pm
Folks, the intent of this post was not ‘Tamil bashing’ or ‘hating tamilians’. But the comments by various folks are taking it towards that direction.
The intent of this post was to just a message asking all the Chennai folks not to hate Hindi. But its turning out to be something else.
I say it again, ….. this is not Tamil hating or anti-tamilian post or anything like that. Its just my experience of being in Chennai for a couple of days. Chennai folks should take this as an feedback positively.
This would be the last comment on this post.