Immature Attempt to Simplify India - I - (Wriiten for SAKAI - University of Rhode Island)

Typically what you want to see in a picture depends upon your perspective. So when I paint a picture it could have diverse connotations. First is my own perspective and then it would be yours. So ideally there would be no true picture but it would be all about what we perceive of the picture. Without complicating matters let me start of with my comments or commentary if you may name this one

The first thing that comes to your mind (here you would mean an average Urban American) when you think of India would be perhaps as follows and not necessarily in that order

Large Country

Lots of People

Lots of Poverty

Many IT Professionals

Taxi Drivers

Large democracy

Corrupt

Dirty , Dusty and Crowds

Call Centers

Now let me add a few more from my perspectives:

Many languages

Mix of extremely diverse cultures each of them rich in culture and tradition

Rich Classical Music along with the Popular Music

Natural Beauty in terms of mountains, seas, flora and fauna

Classical dances and other Art Forms

Culinary Diversity

Diverse Literature and Films

There would be more and we could go on and on but that’s not my intention. Of course I did not mention one more aspect that fascinate Westerners : The Indian Spiritual History, Practices and Quest.

When you mix up all these attributes you get a heady mix of confusion and perhaps you would lose perspective of what it’s all about. My first endeavor therefore would be to segregate your perspectives and then sort of clear the issues so that you get a clearer picture. I therefore cannot promise that one note like this would do the job and perhaps my off and on word paintings would be better for this gallery.

Let me dwell on the languages to begin with. There are 22 official 'scheduled' languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Meitei, Nepali, Oriya, Eastern Panjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu. The National or official languages: Hindi and English.

The Indian Sub Continent was ruled by the British and since our Independence in 1947 the Republic of India was divided into states/provinces that was based on languages spoken, Now whether scientific or logical this was a rather populist move. It had it’s positives and negatives and today we are living with it and perhaps meshing well too. As far as the constitution of India is concerned an Indian is free to settle in any part of the country at any point of time. In other words one has a right to move anywhere, speak any language and follow any religion of your choice and belief

There is no language that we could say is Indian, technically that is. Like in the US we have a Central Government with certain rights and responsibilities and you have the State Governments with their own laws and administrative machinery. So the Central Government official languages are English and Hindi which means that official correspondence, reports and workings are a lot of times conducted in English and Hindi and sometimes both. Some of the states do carry out their official work in the predominant language of the region but when it comes to State – Center or Inter –State communication, English would be the prevalent language.

So typically in most urban areas in slightly better shops and establishments English would get you through with communication. In terms of Police, down the line traffic constables may have difficulties with English. However in the Southern states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, etc English is quite prevalent

As you travel and go to the rural parts, you would see that communication in English will gradually deteriorate. Exceptions will prove the rule here too

In urban areas the middle class and other upper classes would be normally sending children to English medium schools. These days due to the IT and Telecom penetrations even in remote towns people are realizing the strength of learning English and mind sets are changing. Its also not just about mindsets but also about opportunities and we still have a long way to go

Most regional languages are extremely rich in their home grown literature. I myself come from a Bengali family (my mother tongue is Bengali) and its literature like others are pretty developed and have world recognition. Tagore the Nobel Prize winner was a Bengali Poet and renowned literateur.

I am sure you would find detailed state wise language descriptions for each of the state in Wikipedia, and for that matter, The Lonely Planet Country Books would fill you in with quite an amount of detail

I would be glad if you could ask questions too and surely they would be answered. There is a lot to talk about. If you have the inclination, I have the time!! Sphere: Related Content