From: sundar@indigo1.hsis.uci.edu (M. Sundaramoorthy)
Subject: Re: I HATE TAMILS (2)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil,soc.culture.indian
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 18 Aug 92 22:40:58 GMT

In article <1992Aug18.160933.9562@uoft02.utoledo.edu> vprasad@uoft02.utoledo.edu writes:
>In article <41552@ogicse.ogi.edu>, partha@mse.cse.ogi.edu (R. Parthasarathy)
>writes:
>>
>> states. [source: MJ Akbar's "India the Siege Within].
>
>	I find it very irritating that people blame Andhra Pradesh for being
>	the first linguistic state in the nation and thus "setting a chain
>	of linguistic carvings of the country". And Potti Sriramulu is being
>	very unfairly criticized. Ever think of the logic behind his demand? 
>	Apparently not.
	
	Tamils too feel irritated in the same way when they are blamed
	for initiating separtism. Where did the Punjabi and Kashmiri
	separatists get that idea?. From Tamils or Pakistanis?. Pakistanis
	started the separitsm and succeeded and Tamils asked, but did
	not get. Now that Pakistanis are out, it is easy to blame Tamils.
>
>	Before the formation of the linguistic state of Andhra Pradesh, Madras
>	was the main capital of a vast region of Madras Presidency, which 
>	included the present four states of AP, TN, Karnataka and Kerala. All
>	the administrative machinery was run in English, and *Tamil*. A common
>	person from interior Andhra, who had to deal with the administration
>	day in and day out, it was quite irritating to have everything done in
>	a language which is *alien* to him. My own grandfather, was a victim of
>	such a situation. He had a property dispute with his kinfolk, and the
>	for one to be against linguistic states and yet oppose Hindi.

	When you can not accept a closer language Tamil, then how do you
	find it easier to accept Hindi. Even common things like Money order 
	forms, Railway reservation forms etc are printed in Hindi. Tamils
	have to fight for even such simple things to make available in
	other languages. Others will simply get the benefits without 
	making any effort, while accusing Tamils as fantics.
>
>	Secondly, I find it offensive to equate Potti Sriramulu to EVR. EVR
>	demanded a **separate and independent** nation consisting of present
>	4 south indian states, with his screwed-up idea of Dravidians and non
>	Dravidians, quite conveniently ignoring the commonality of Indianness
>	between us. Potti demanded a separate linguistic *state*, which is to
>	be still a *part of the Indian union* and NOT independence. To say
>	Potti's call for a separate identity of Telugus in the form of a 
>	linguistic state and EVR's call for secession (not unlike present day
>	Kashmiris) are one and the same, is an *insult* to all Telugus and
>	Potti's patriotism.
>
	
	Yes. It is an insult to Periyar too. You find commonality in
	Indianness, but refuse to find a commonality in Dravidianness.

>
>	Mr. Parthasarathy, you will be quite surprised if I tell you that if
>	you ask something in Hindi in interior Andhra, you *won't* be getting
>	a blank stare. My experience is limited to some West Godavari's small
>	towns, but people there are not so ignorant about Hindi. Any school
>	kid can answer back in Hindi, albeit with a text-book language and
>	very bad grammar, but successful in getting the idea across. If you
>	think that this has somehow diluted our Telugu culture or infer that
>	we do not appreciate our language that much, you must be mistaken.
>
>	Learning Hindi language continues right upto 10th std. after which it
>	is optional for you take *any* language, but must choose atleast one.
>	You get to choose a *first* language, *second* language and a *third* 
>	language (Telugu, Hindi and English in my case). The emphasis on the 
>	first language is *quite* heavy compared to second and third languages.
>	[Well, English was also my medium of instruction, so the std. of 
>	English taught was comparable to Telugu. But if your medium of
>	instruction is Telugu, this needn't be the case] Quite often, the 
>	tenth std. book of the second language is the same as fifth std. book 
>	of the first language. If you choose Telugu and Hindi in that order, 
>	in your 10th std. you will be learning as much Hindi as a person 5 
>	years jr. to you is learning in Hindi heartland, for a comparison. 
>	Contrast this with the complete do away of Hindi if one chooses to, 
>	as in TN. Placing emphasis on one's own language and learning of 
>	another language (Hindi) need not be mutually exclusive as TN 
>	administrators seem to think. I for one, am extremly happy with the
>	present education policy in AP.

	In Tamil Nadu two language formula works very effectively. Tamil
	is not imposed on non-Tamils. First language is mother tongue if
	one chooses and the second language is English. One is for home
	and another one is for outer world. There are many schools where       
	Telugu is the medium of instruction and first language in North
	Arcot and Chigleput district bordering Andhra Pradesh. They
	don't need to study Tamil at all.  For example Sri Venkateswara
	high school in my home town has a Telugu section. And Govt arts
	college has Telugu as the first language. They don't study
	tAmil as third language.  We can not afford to spend     
	three hours for learning languages out of six class hours.
 
>
>
>	Siva Prasad.				vprasad@uoft02.utoledo.edu

M. Sundaramoorthy
sundar@indigo1.hsis.uci.edu