The many languages

A local american friend (asks me): So what language do you speak?
Me: Well I speak kannada. It's the regional language of my state Karnataka, where I'm from
Friend: Nice! So are your roommates too from the same state?
Me: No, they're from the next state
Friend: So do they speak your language too?
Me: It's funny! We are from the same country and we don't even speak the same language.

This is the usual conversation with each one of the locals I meet here. I end up explaining about how many languages we have and it's dialects. I like to enlighten them about these facts. I feel happy when I teach them something about my country. But is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well if it's good, it makes every state and every story interesting. I travel 3 hours to go the next state and I see the languages on the sign boards changing, everything changes. I cant even talk to them, for god's sake! Which is when English comes to the rescue. It's a language which unites us.

We are a land of diversity and same with languages. Hindi is our national language and we have English listed as our second national language since 1965, and it's popularity is rising.  I see people communication more in English these days, it has replaced the other languages to be the most spoken language in India. Is this the impact of new trend of people moving in different states for jobs/school or whatever reason, or is just for convenience? I've notices my grand parents or anyone from that generation are so happy when they listen to someone from our generation speak in our respective regional language and not in English. I see that concern in them, especially when they've preserved it for long. It's again cities which face this wrath because I've seen native languages still being intact n deep rural areas in India. But is it fair to blame it on globalization and development?

Traditions

Coming from a land of rich history, culture and heritage where we are influenced a lot by our parents or elders. I grew up learning a lot about my culture, tradition and practices. It sometime's is human, to not appreciate what you grow with but instead appreciate something else. Probably I was one of them for a while. Since I knew most about mine I really didn't appreciate much in it, when I was young. I tried to learn about cultures in different countries. Only later, did I actually try to understand my culture better. There are some things you just do because you are thought to do so, without knowing why, it's only when you know the why that you start appreciating the beauty in it.

I realized that we have a scientific reason behind every religious practice/tradition. Even from the oldest Indian civilization, i.e the Indus Valley Civilization which dates back to 2500 BC. They knew it all! How is an entirely different theory and there are various theories put forth. But these traditions have been passed on through generations. Our  ancient Hindu(which is a religion and a religious tradition) scriptures has a solution to every modern day problem, though these were written thousands of years ago. The more I learn about this the more surprised I am. This is something which defines us, our thinking, actions. With the influence of other cultures, I can see how the traditions are diminishing slowly. I wait to see how long, before it's almost gone especially in the major cities