India

[jatin]

I guess thats a difference. I lived in one of the countries you mention - Greece for 3 years and it made me very proud that while you were unlikely to get someone to understand you and help you with directions if you didn't speak Greek in the interiors, you'd never have that problem in India. You'd always find someone who could speak in English.

I too am pretty fond of my regional language (Telugu, by the way). In fact, i've grown fonder of it as i've grown older. I also speak Hindi and Marathi fluently and can manage in Kannada and Tamil. As I grew up, I would've liked to have Marathi compulsory since I was living in Maharashtra, English to give me the option of studying further (all higher education is in English) and one other optional language.

We preserve our linguistic and cultural base by knowing our respective regional languages and integrate with the world by knowing English. I don't see how it could be any other way.

so you are bothered about integrating with the whole world using a common language but not people from your own country on a similar basis by using another common language?

 

[Red-Indian]

its not a problem
he can have interpreters, and once again, there is no rule in the constitution (as you pointed out) that he has to speak in Marathi, he can speak in Tamil if he wants (as it is an official language right), if people have an issue with that, then it is discrimination on the basis of regions/language etc

Sure he can have interpreters(at his personal expense) but I don't see how thats going to help him understand assembly proceeding where dozens of people are probably speaking at he same time.

And ofcourse he can speak in Tamil...there's no legal bar but his constituents will suffer if thats not the language in which the proceedings of forum in which he is representing are conducted. His constituents have erred in electing him if he can't follow the regional language.

teaching someone Hindi is not satisfy someone's vague ideals of national integrity

lets take your example

what if the kid gets a job in a place where they speak hindi only then what, will it not hamper his career that he can't even speak the official language of his country

if people from Oman can be bothered to learn Hindi I don't see an issue with why our own countrymen can't learn it

its quite clear who has issues here about their national integrity

Thats quite an extreme case and unfortunately, I can't legislate for it. Just as I can't legislate for him or her having to work in an environment where only Swahili is spoken.

I don't what people from Oman have to do anything.

And I assure you I have no issues with national integrity. I have never lived in my home state. I would be hardpressed to answer you quickly if you ask me where in India i'm from (I'd probably answer Mumbai eventually). While a common language would help with national integration, it isn't worth the effort and I think English is the closest we're going to get to it eventually.

 

[Red-Indian]

so you are bothered about integrating with the whole world using a common language but not people from your own country on a similar basis by using another common language?

I'm fine with integrating with them in English. Almost every Indian I personally know (and I admit thats not a huge cross section) understands English to some extent. I don't see why Hindi is particularly relevant. Its going to be slow but in 3 or 4 generations, you'll be able to manage fine with English most anywhere in the country.

 

[crappycraperson]

I guess thats a difference. I lived in one of the countries you mention - Greece for 3 years and it made me very proud that while you were unlikely to get someone to understand you and help you with directions if you didn't speak Greek in the interiors, you'd never have that problem in India. You'd always find someone who could speak in English.

I too am pretty fond of my regional language (Telugu, by the way). In fact, i've grown fonder of it as i've grown older. I also speak Hindi and Marathi fluently and can manage in Kannada and Tamil. As I grew up, I would've liked to have Marathi compulsory since I was living in Maharashtra, English to give me the option of studying further (all higher education is in English) and one other optional language.

We preserve our linguistic and cultural base by knowing our respective regional languages and integrate with the world by knowing English. I don't see how it could be any other way.

Aha...that urban trait of associating fluency in English as a virtue to be proud of. Any way you are wrong on that front, my last German GF(half Indian BTW...Mallu to be precise) did 4 months Intern in India and traveled a lot. She found it hard to find English speaking people in normal streets.

Integrating with the world comes later, given our problems, we need to integrate with each other first.

 

[jatin]

I'm fine with integrating with them in English. Almost every Indian I personally know (and I admit thats not a huge cross section) understands English to some extent. I don't see why Hindi is particularly relevant. Its going to be slow but in 3 or 4 generations, you'll be able to manage fine with English most anywhere in the country.

unfortunately not everyone in the country is educated or would even chose English

As I said if you are so bothered about the student's career that he should learn English, then he can learn Hindi as well

your country's official language is Hindi (like it or not)

 

[jatin]

Aha...that urban trait of associating fluency in English as a virtue to be proud of. Any way you are wrong on that front, my last German GF(half Indian BTW...Mallu to be precise) did 4 months Intern in India and traveled a lot. She found it hard to find English speaking people in normal streets.

Integrating with the world comes later, given our problems, we need to integrate with each other first.

Nail meets head

 

[Spoony]

Was she fit?

 

[crappycraperson]

Was she fit?

Heh...not sure hot answer that. A bit plain to be blunt......

 

[Red-Indian]

Aha...that urban trait of associating fluency in English as a virtue to be proud of. Any way you are wrong on that front, my last German GF(half Indian BTW...Mallu to be precise) did 4 months Intern in India and traveled a lot. She found it hard to find English speaking people in normal streets.

Integrating with the world comes later, given our problems, we need to integrate with each other first.

I'm getting too into this thread but anyway.

I think fluency in any language is a virtue to be proud of. I'm more proud of my fluency in Telugu and Marathi than of my fluency in English (ofcourse thats only as i've grown older).

When I said integrating with the world, I didn't mean any high falutin intellectual concept of world peace and togetherness. Its only about giving the kid the best chance of a future. Unless, you can guarantee higher education in Hindi, I don't see how you can ask him or her to learn it over English. The regional language is a necessity though. Firstly he or she has to be able to communicate around them.

 

[crappycraperson]

I'm getting too into this thread but anyway.

I think fluency in any language is a virtue to be proud of. I'm more proud of my fluency in Telugu and Marathi than of my fluency in English (ofcourse thats only as i've grown older).

When I said integrating with the world, I didn't mean any high falutin intellectual concept of world peace and togetherness. Its only about giving the kid the best chance of a future. Unless, you can guarantee higher education in Hindi, I don't see how you can ask him or her to learn it over English. The regional language is a necessity though. Firstly he or she has to be able to communicate around them.

One will always learn their regional language. Making Hindi compulsory in schools is not going to change that at all. I do not know where people got this thick idea in their head that Hindi could ever replace a region's regional language. I have friends frm Bihar and UP, they speak perfect Hindi with me and then easily switch to another dialect of Hindi with their relatives. I have yet to meet a Gujarati or Bengali who could speak in Hindi but not in Gujarati or Bengali respectively.

People in Europe learn three languages as well, same could be done in India. Hindi, English and a regional language.

I probably came off as to patriotic in this thread while in reality I am on the opposite end of the spectrum.

 

[crappycraperson]

I'm getting too into this thread but anyway.

I think fluency in any language is a virtue to be proud of. I'm more proud of my fluency in Telugu and Marathi than of my fluency in English (ofcourse thats only as i've grown older).

When I said integrating with the world, I didn't mean any high falutin intellectual concept of world peace and togetherness. Its only about giving the kid the best chance of a future. Unless, you can guarantee higher education in Hindi, I don't see how you can ask him or her to learn it over English. The regional language is a necessity though. Firstly he or she has to be able to communicate around them.

One will always learn their regional language. Making Hindi compulsory in schools is not going to change that at all. I do not know where people got this thick idea in their head that Hindi could ever replace a region's regional language. I have friends frm Bihar and UP, they speak perfect Hindi with me and then easily switch to another dialect of Hindi with their relatives. I have yet to meet a Gujarati or Bengali who could speak in Hindi but not in Gujarati or Bengali respectively.

People in Europe learn three languages as well, same could be done in India. Hindi, English and a regional language.

I probably came off as to patriotic in this thread while in reality I am on the opposite end of the spectrum.

 

[Red-Indian]

unfortunately not everyone in the country is educated or would even chose English

As I said if you are so bothered about the student's career that he should learn English, then he can learn Hindi as well

your country's official language is Hindi (like it or not)

I think we're going around in circles. An official language does not in any way require that everybody in our country know it - neither legally nor morally. Hindi is not a compulsory language for kids to learn in several states in India and thats not going to change in the foreseeable future.

And I particularly neither like nor dislike Hindi being India's official language. I don't particularly care. Not knowing Hindi gives you no real disadvantage in today's India(except not being able to watch the odd fun bollywood movie). We've had Prime Ministers who didn't speak a word of Hindi.

 

[VidaRed]

In other news....

 

[VP]

Although I left India when I was 11, I'm actually quite embarrassed about my inability to speak Tamil (my mother tongue) or Hindi fluently.

I agree with Crappy, every school should teach the regional language, Hindi and English. Given the problems in the education system in India, this is easier said than done.

 

[Red-Indian]

Nothing wrong in principle with learning 3 languages. I do believe atleast one should be optional though...maybe even two.

As you say, given the problems with the education system in India, thats probably the best solution. Ensure learning in the regional language whatever it is - teachers will always be available for the regional language. If possible at all (probably only in the towns), try to give them the option of learning other languages. Try to ensure English and Hindi are available to chose from.

 

[vijay]

It is not about most prestigious, but most practical one.

the pharoh's were the oldest civilization in the world, why not use their language then??

its not about the oldest language, atleast 80% of the county's population can't speak it, so whats the point? ditto for sanskrit

Indian civilization is much older than the hitherto it's considered to be. .Dont think Egyptians are older than us.

Getting back to the topic, how many in those 80% has mastered the grammatical side of the langauge....Even if you make an individual to learn Hindi, once he or she gains some fluency in in the spoken version they would hardly bother to go beyond that..Citing practicality to promote a particular langauage do not provide a solution to any extent or would improve our national integrity, on the wider context the importance of literature to youth would go on a downward spiral - it has already scaled new lows these days.

Already the preponderance of mastering the grammatical side of any Indian language has lost its charm in schools, literature cannot earn your bread and children are more focussed in Maths, Physics, Chemistry that paves their way to professional education and eventually earns more currency. If this trend continues, over a period of time, many of our regional languages would become extinct and adding Hindi to the stack is a lame excuse would only make the current gentrification generation look more silly.

Folks from China or Japan complete their education in their mother tougue but it doesnt take much effort for them clear TOEFL and pursue their higher education in English or settling in the west. Indians are giving over importance to English and the current presque level of conversational skills in their local language be it Hindi, Telugu or Tamil which would count sod all in retaining the identity. I for one feel that regional language of a particular state should all be made a compulsary subject until a person finishes off his masters degree, in any educational institution pertaining to a particular state whether the school being run by state or central governments should not matter with the geographical location calling the shots...Else it would only breed bits part linguists, that can converse in two or three languages but with zero comprehending skills.

If a kid is fascinated by Bollywood and punjabi lasses, he can make his choice of learning Hindi, dont think any one would say no.

 

[Merman]

That is the difference between you me.

My time in Europe, has actually made me feel ashamed that I can not converse purely in any of my native languages. (Note I term all Indian languages as my natives one, as opposed to Tamils who consider Hindi as foreign as French or German). After seeing the efforts of French, Greeks and others to conserve their language and culture, it is a shame that we are moving towards having English as unifying language for India, language of our rulers not so long. Even that would be ok, if we ourselves did not have lingual base.

That is exactly what people in the South are trying to do.

 

[jatin]

I think we're going around in circles. An official language does not in any way require that everybody in our country know it - neither legally nor morally. Hindi is not a compulsory language for kids to learn in several states in India and thats not going to change in the foreseeable future.

And I particularly neither like nor dislike Hindi being India's official language. I don't particularly care. Not knowing Hindi gives you no real disadvantage in today's India(except not being able to watch the odd fun bollywood movie). We've had Prime Ministers who didn't speak a word of Hindi.

neither does the regional language in any sense

you dont need to learn it to progress in life

I can say that because i never bothered to learn my regional language (punjabi)
and i have had no problems whatsoever in my life

 

[jatin]

That is exactly what people in the South are trying to do.

the difference being unlike France and Greece, "the South" is not a country

 

[Red-Indian]

the difference being unlike France and Greece, "the South" is not a country

So you don't think their language and culture is worth preserving?

The Hindi culture and language are in no danger of dying. Not while 400 million people call it their native language. Its more important to make efforts to preserve the regional languages.

Every child should learn their own language... they can learn Hindi and/or English as an option if they want to.

 

[crappycraperson]

Already the preponderance of mastering the grammatical side of any Indian language has lost its charm in schools, literature cannot earn your bread and children are more focussed in Maths, Physics, Chemistry that paves their way to professional education and eventually earns more currency. If this trend continues, over a period of time, many of our regional languages would become extinct and adding Hindi to the stack is a lame excuse would only make the current gentrification generation look more silly.

Folks from China or Japan complete their education in their mother tougue but it doesnt take much effort for them clear TOEFL and pursue their higher education in English or settling in the west. Indians are giving over importance to English and the current presque level of conversational skills in their local language be it Hindi, Telugu or Tamil which would count sod all in retaining the identity. I for one feel that regional language of a particular state should all be made a compulsary subject until a person finishes off his masters degree, in any educational institution pertaining to a particular state whether the school being run by state or central governments should not matter with the geographical location calling the shots...Else it would only breed bits part linguists, that can converse in two or three languages but with zero comprehending skills.

Spot on. IMO everyone should go to their local language medium schools till 8th or 10th standard instead of English medium ones.

 

[Flying Fox]

Folks from China or Japan complete their education in their mother tougue but it doesnt take much effort for them clear TOEFL and pursue their higher education in English or settling in the west. Indians are giving over importance to English and the current presque level of conversational skills in their local language be it Hindi, Telugu or Tamil which would count sod all in retaining the identity. I for one feel that regional language of a particular state should all be made a compulsary subject until a person finishes off his masters degree, in any educational institution pertaining to a particular state whether the school being run by state or central governments should not matter with the geographical location calling the shots...Else it would only breed bits part linguists, that can converse in two or three languages but with zero comprehending skills.

If a kid is fascinated by Bollywood and punjabi lasses, he can make his choice of learning Hindi, dont think any one would say no.

To be fair, the TOEFL tests are piss-easy.

...or maybe I'm confusing them with IELTS, I don't know. We've got a lot of copies at the library that the Viet population (mainly) use.

That said, thats obviously biased with me being a native English speaker.

 

[crappycraperson]

To be fair, the TOEFL tests are piss-easy.

...or maybe I'm confusing them with IELTS, I don't know. We've got a lot of copies at the library that the Viet population (mainly) use.

That said, thats obviously biased with me being a native English speaker.

They are. But in cities almost everyone goes to English medium schools now. That is lined with Indians fluency with English but people in the rest of the world can still learn perfect English without having to attend English medium schools whole of their life.

 

[Interval]

Indian civilization is much older than the hitherto it's considered to be. .Dont think Egyptians are older than us.

Getting back to the topic, how many in those 80% has mastered the grammatical side of the langauge....Even if you make an individual to learn Hindi, once he or she gains some fluency in in the spoken version they would hardly bother to go beyond that..Citing practicality to promote a particular langauage do not provide a solution to any extent or would improve our national integrity, on the wider context the importance of literature to youth would go on a downward spiral - it has already scaled new lows these days.

Already the preponderance of mastering the grammatical side of any Indian language has lost its charm in schools, literature cannot earn your bread and children are more focussed in Maths, Physics, Chemistry that paves their way to professional education and eventually earns more currency. If this trend continues, over a period of time, many of our regional languages would become extinct and adding Hindi to the stack is a lame excuse would only make the current gentrification generation look more silly.

Folks from China or Japan complete their education in their mother tougue but it doesnt take much effort for them clear TOEFL and pursue their higher education in English or settling in the west. Indians are giving over importance to English and the current presque level of conversational skills in their local language be it Hindi, Telugu or Tamil which would count sod all in retaining the identity. I for one feel that regional language of a particular state should all be made a compulsary subject until a person finishes off his masters degree, in any educational institution pertaining to a particular state whether the school being run by state or central governments should not matter with the geographical location calling the shots...Else it would only breed bits part linguists, that can converse in two or three languages but with zero comprehending skills.

If a kid is fascinated by Bollywood and punjabi lasses, he can make his choice of learning Hindi, dont think any one would say no.

Hence India has grown as a services center quicker than the other 2. China is now taking additional steps to ensure English is learnt at School level just so that they can compete in international business. The current economic boom is because English is a widely spoken language in this country.

It is myopic to learn your regional language and ignore English.

If learning a regional language/ hindi became a primary teaching language, I'd rather send my kids abroad.

And now with various people coming into the debate, crappy, you can see that people have differing viewpoints to this issue. Some prefer Hindi, some regional and some English. Best way to solve this is give options in all.

Also, I respect Marathi as my regional language. I can speak it fluently. But I'm glad I didn't have it in school else I would have to rote high level Marathi authors which I have no intention of reading or understanding. IE-> Learnt language does not equate to spoken language.

Why make anything compulsory

 

[jatin]

So you don't think their language and culture is worth preserving?

The Hindi culture and language are in no danger of dying. Not while 400 million people call it their native language. Its more important to make efforts to preserve the regional languages.

Every child should learn their own language... they can learn Hindi and/or English as an option if they want to.

when did I say that, it is worth preserving

but do you think its worth preserving over your country ??

thats the point me and crappy have been trying to state since so long now

all of you are more concerned about your respective regions and preserving your regional culture over the entire country (of which your region is a part)

its all good having regional diversity, but not over the unity of the nation

 

[jatin]

Indian civilization is much older than the hitherto it's considered to be. .Dont think Egyptians are older than us.

Getting back to the topic, how many in those 80% has mastered the grammatical side of the langauge....Even if you make an individual to learn Hindi, once he or she gains some fluency in in the spoken version they would hardly bother to go beyond that..Citing practicality to promote a particular langauage do not provide a solution to any extent or would improve our national integrity, on the wider context the importance of literature to youth would go on a downward spiral - it has already scaled new lows these days.

Already the preponderance of mastering the grammatical side of any Indian language has lost its charm in schools, literature cannot earn your bread and children are more focussed in Maths, Physics, Chemistry that paves their way to professional education and eventually earns more currency. If this trend continues, over a period of time, many of our regional languages would become extinct and adding Hindi to the stack is a lame excuse would only make the current gentrification generation look more silly.

Folks from China or Japan complete their education in their mother tougue but it doesnt take much effort for them clear TOEFL and pursue their higher education in English or settling in the west. Indians are giving over importance to English and the current presque level of conversational skills in their local language be it Hindi, Telugu or Tamil which would count sod all in retaining the identity. I for one feel that regional language of a particular state should all be made a compulsary subject until a person finishes off his masters degree, in any educational institution pertaining to a particular state whether the school being run by state or central governments should not matter with the geographical location calling the shots...Else it would only breed bits part linguists, that can converse in two or three languages but with zero comprehending skills.

If a kid is fascinated by Bollywood and punjabi lasses, he can make his choice of learning Hindi, dont think any one would say no.

most historians believe otherwise

anyways that is not the topic of discussion (which is the older civilization)

and TOEFL is piss easy
SAT,GRE,GMAT however is a different ball game

 

[Spoony]

most historians believe otherwise

The Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Indus Valley early phases all started roughly around the same time.

 

[Red-Indian]

when did I say that, it is worth preserving

but do you think its worth preserving over your country ??

thats the point me and crappy have been trying to state since so long now

all of you are more concerned about your respective regions and preserving your regional culture over the entire country (of which your region is a part)

its all good having regional diversity, but not over the unity of the nation

Ofcourse its more important to preserve regional diversity and culture rather than focus on national identity. Nations are recent constructs. Who knows if the concept of a nation will be relevant in say 200 to 500 years? There might be no such thing as India and we might be talking of a South Asian or a pan-Asian entity or hopefully even global. There's relatively limited benefit to the concept of a nation as it stands today. Its better than the old small kingdoms but not that much better.

Languages though are thousands of years old - Tamil for example is more than 2000 years old. They carry centuries of culture, literature and learning within them. Its worth making a real effort to preserve them. If Hindi was in danger of dying out, i'd see the benefits of ensuring its taught more widely. But as it stands... just to satisfy vague concepts of national identity and unity, I don't see the smallest benefit.

 

[crappycraperson]

Ofcourse its more important to preserve regional diversity and culture rather than focus on national identity. Nations are recent constructs. Who knows if the concept of a nation will be relevant in say 200 to 500 years? There might be no such thing as India and we might be talking of a South Asian or a pan-Asian entity or hopefully even global. There's relatively limited benefit to the concept of a nation as it stands today. Its better than the old small kingdoms but not that much better.

Languages though are thousands of years old - Tamil for example is more than 2000 years old. They carry centuries of culture, literature and learning within them. Its worth making a real effort to preserve them. If Hindi was in danger of dying out, i'd see the benefits of ensuring its taught more widely. But as it stands... just to satisfy vague concepts of national identity and unity, I don't see the smallest benefit.

That kind of attitude will definitely see us break into smaller countries. With a neighbour like China, it is paramount to maintain our sovereignty. There is a reason why European countries are trying to consolidate into one bloc. A united India is the first step towards having an Asian bloc rather than a fragmented one.

Tamil is not not dying out at all. Maintaining regional identity and developing national one can both be done at the same time

 

[crappycraperson]

Hence India has grown as a services center quicker than the other 2. China is now taking additional steps to ensure English is learnt at School level just so that they can compete in international business. The current economic boom is because English is a widely spoken language in this country.

It is myopic to learn your regional language and ignore English.

If learning a regional language/ hindi became a primary teaching language, I'd rather send my kids abroad.

And now with various people coming into the debate, crappy, you can see that people have differing viewpoints to this issue. Some prefer Hindi, some regional and some English. Best way to solve this is give options in all.

Also, I respect Marathi as my regional language. I can speak it fluently. But I'm glad I didn't have it in school else I would have to rote high level Marathi authors which I have no intention of reading or understanding. IE-> Learnt language does not equate to spoken language.

Why make anything compulsory

I have friends who went to a Hindi medium school till 8th ( one till 12th) and they speak English as good if not better than me. This part is even true for south where people prefer English medium schools to their local language ones. If one thinks this is something to be proud of then I do not see how they can totter on about importance of preserving local culture.

This going no where and I have repeated the same thing about 20 times, so I am gonna put my case across more succintly.

* If you think maintaining the national integrity of India is not important, then fair enough, I can see why you are against having some common threads between different region.

* Next the issue boils down to the fact if one thinks it is is fine to have a foreign language as a unifying common language or not. I personally, would definitely have a native language as one.

* Then finally we have some paranoid idiots (Step up Merman), who think there is a conspiracy to force Hindi down people's throats and erase the regional languages.

 

[jatin]

Ofcourse its more important to preserve regional diversity and culture rather than focus on national identity. Nations are recent constructs. Who knows if the concept of a nation will be relevant in say 200 to 500 years? There might be no such thing as India and we might be talking of a South Asian or a pan-Asian entity or hopefully even global. There's relatively limited benefit to the concept of a nation as it stands today. Its better than the old small kingdoms but not that much better.

Languages though are thousands of years old - Tamil for example is more than 2000 years old. They carry centuries of culture, literature and learning within them. Its worth making a real effort to preserve them. If Hindi was in danger of dying out, i'd see the benefits of ensuring its taught more widely. But as it stands... just to satisfy vague concepts of national identity and unity, I don't see the smallest benefit.

I have friends who went to a Hindi medium school till 8th ( one till 12th) and they speak English as good if not better than me. This part is even true for south where people prefer English medium schools to their local language ones. If one thinks this is something to be proud of then I do not see how they can totter on about importance of preserving local culture.

This going no where and I have repeated the same thing about 20 times, so I am gonna put my case across more succintly.

* If you think maintaining the national integrity of India is not important, then fair enough, I can see why you are against having some common threads between different region.

* Next the issue boils down to the fact if one thinks it is is fine to have a foreign language as a unifying common language or not. I personally, would definitely have a native language as one.

* Then finally we have some paranoid idiots (Step up Merman), who think there is a conspiracy to force Hindi down people's throats and erase the regional languages.

if you are more concerned about your regional diversity then that begs the question why are you posting in a thread about India? why not open your own regional thread?

why call yourself an Indian

regards to english being the unifying language, if you don't see a problem with that, then as crappy mentioned, there is no scope even talking to you about India, since we would definately prefer an Indian language over a foreign one

whether it is Tamil or Hindi, it is still an Indian language, also my point being who are you to decide which language should be the chosen medium for Indians, when you youself are more concerned about your region rather than the country

also just like Hindi, Tamil is in no danger of dying out, if any language is in danger of dying out, it is Sanskrit

 

[VidaRed]

Bal Thackeray tells Sachin to stick to cricket or risk being "run out"

MUMBAI: Ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is at the centre of a storm over his statement that Mumbai is for all. Just as things quietened down after the violent Assembly session in Maharashtra over the use of Hindi, Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray on Monday virtually read the Riot Act and told Sachin to stick to cricket and not play politics. In an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, Thackeray, warned Sachin to "keep off the political pitch" for his own well-being. Or else, he would have "run out" from Marathi minds.

(In an interaction with the media on his completing 20 years in international cricket, Tendulkar said: “I am a Maharashtrian and I am extremely proud of that. But I am an Indian first. And Mumbai belongs to all Indians.”)

Mr. Thackeray, in a front-page, signed letter addressed to Sachin in the Sena mouthpiece Saamna, said: “You left your usual ground and entered the political arena and you said everyone in India has an equal right over Mumbai. Sachin, hearing these words, the Marathi heart is torn. What was the need to say this? Your remark has cut through every Marathi heart... Mumbai may be India's commercial capital. But don't ever forget that it is Maharashtra's capital. What was the need to fuel the migration into Mumbai? While speaking of Marathi pride why did you have to take a “cheeky single” by bringing in Mumbai? You have been run out from the pitch of the Marathi heart.”

Mr. Thackeray said: “When you hit a four or a six, people appreciate you but the ‘Marathi manoos’ will not tolerate an infringement of their rights or comments which will hurt them. Don’t lose the gains in the cricket field by entering the political arena.”

Although chastened by the widespread criticism of the Sena chief's open letter to the Master Blaster, Saamna on Tuesday tried to keep its chin up by publishing the poll taken by a Marathi television news channel on Monday. The poll showed 51% of the viewers backing Thackeray on the issue.

...

 

[Merman]

I am a big fan of Sachin, but he was wrong. Mumbai belongs to the Marathis. Obviously, any Indian can go and live there, but it'd still belong to the Marathis.

 

[crappycraperson]

I am a big fan of Sachin, but he was wrong. Mumbai belongs to the Marathis. Obviously, any Indian can go and live there, but it'd still belong to the Marathis.

You are a dickhead.

 

[Merman]

Why? I've already said that any Indian can go live there since the constitution gives them the right to, but the city still belongs to the Marathis because it is THEIR state capital.

 

[VidaRed]

I am a big fan of Sachin, but he was wrong. Mumbai belongs to the Marathis. Obviously, any Indian can go and live there, but it'd still belong to the Marathis.

Dont ever dare set foot outside your town if you believe that.

You dont have a right to call yourself an Indian.

 

[crappycraperson]

Why? I've already said that any Indian can go live there since the constitution gives them the right to, but the city still belongs to the Marathis because it is THEIR state capital.

The central Govt has contributed a lot towards the development of cities likes Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore etc. Not because it belongs to the local people but because anyone in India can go there and pursue their ambitions. As long as cretins like you exist in India, there will always be violence in the name of caste, religion, region etc.

 

[Merman]

Dont ever dare set foot outside your town if you believe that.

You dont have a right to call yourself an Indian.

It is my constitutional right to live anywhere in India, but any place I immigrate to wouldn't be mine. I'll be an outsider anywhere other than my state. That is a fact. We should be proud of our diversity and work towards protecting it.

 

[VidaRed]

Why? I've already said that any Indian can go live there since the constitution gives them the right to, but the city still belongs to the Marathis because it is THEIR state capital.

and the state belongs to who ?

 

[Merman]

and the state belongs to who ?

The state belongs to the Marathis. Our state was formed specifically for Telugu speakers.