Kannada language Patriotism is it overdone or normal ?

My mother tongue is Tamil..My ancestral home is Bengaluru..I am a kannadiga who does not always speak kannada, its likewise many others in this world who are multilingual. Further with globalization, English & bridging the communication Gap most of them tend to be multilingual.

In our teens we were in told by our elders not to talk in Tamil in public places because someone will hurt you..Things have changed quite a bit but new generation still want to impose Kannada over other ethnic languages in Karnataka. Many such imposers themselves are not aware that some of the languages including Telugu, Tamil, Urdu, Sankethi, kodava, Tulu, Konkani, Marathi etc were spoken widely in this land for centuries until borders were drawn and people took new identity…Especially the voices in social media, the language politics behind it, is also used for divide and rule, it had created unnecessary tensions in community like Kaveri issue, Raj Kumar kidnap issue, Belagavi border issue, Kodava Separate State issues etc...Many do not know or not even talk about the exodus of many native Tamils who left to Tamil Nadu permanently in 1991 when anti-Tamil riots happened.

In modern contemporary Karnataka, Some people in social media went to an extent that they voiced to change names of roads and places as it sounded Tamil than Kannada for example Ramangaram to Ramnagara or KR puram to KR pura or Malleswaram to Malleswara…such is the abysmal knowledge of the history of the Kannada/Halegannada language. Many don't even realize that this part of land Karnataka/Mysore state which was created in 1957 had native Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Marathi and others speaking people who were living here since time immemorable..People need mutual respect for others nevertheless not forget to teach and learn Kannada to/from others. Some ignorant are not aware that this region was ruled by Tamil speaking cholas for centuries as well and similarly the other-side ignorant are not aware that Tamil Nadu was ruled by Kannada speaking Chalukyas and Vijaynagara, so little our understanding of our history. It was right sense that people protested the potential imposition of Hindi, but so quite naturally we also ignored the same imposition that kannada had put on other minority native languages within karnataka.

Nevertheless the new immigrants to Karnataka have to put some efforts to learn the Kannada language not just for the usefulness but for the respect. There are many migrant workers come to Karnataka with their families, stay for years and still not learn the language which is very disrespectful, but kanadigas themselves to be blamed who don't speak Kannada rather try to speak to to immigrants in their language quite often or choose a neutral language like English..

At the same time some of the intolerant Kannada and politicians also have to be more open minded and use alternative ways with new immigrants than threatening and force. The Karnataka Government have to take major initiative that to provide handout every new immigrant to be given a reference book on history, the language, culture, the people & translations to quickly accustom to the community, provide free community/Online language speaking courses as well. It is quite important for everyone to understand that when people learn any language sub consciously they never forget and many say languages are difficult to learn, but when you keep on do the same thing, it enters sub consciously in short time one would have learnt it.

One of my friend used to say if things goes like this Kannada will be lost..we need to understand that language is beautiful, it is flexible and is more or less like humans..it will adopt itself to suit the time and place.. "Without humans there is no Language, Without Language humans cant communicate", every 100 odd km we go there will be slight change in accent of Kannada, new words borrowed etc...this aspect of a language is seen in history as well where it will adapt according to influence that it gets...The striking difference between an language of the books and colloquial language will always exist. Too much identity will spoil the beauty of language and we have to let it grow naturally and strike a balance on when to raise voice and when not…Jai Karnataka..Jai Hind..