How a Sardar learnt Kannada

Dear Readers,

Welcome back!!! Hope you all are having a lovely day. Today I want to reveal to you all how I a Punjabi Sardar learnt the south Indian language Kannada.

I see a lot of reactions from people when they hear me speaking in Kannada. Some are confused, some are totally amused and some well are totally shocked. Some of my friends say that I speak Kannada so well that it is only my north Indian face which gives away the secret that I am a Punjabi. People on phone can never make out any difference.

I was born and brought up in Bangalore. And, I loved playing cricket. Most of my friends in the colony used to speak in Kannada. Even though there were lot of people whose mother tongue was different. But, our official language was Kannada in the cricket ground. I used to speak broken Kannada at first. But, slowly I picked up the language. I also used to watch the Sunday Kannada movies on Doordarshan. My favorite Kannada actors are Dr. Rajkumar and Dr. Vishnuvardhan. I also like Sudeep from the current generation.

Even at school I took up Kannada as the third language and I used to try to speak with my friends in this language. I used to take help from my neighbor Aunty for my homework and exams. Slowly, I became better at the spoken language.

I can tell you how useful picking up this language has been for me. Once, I was eating lunch with my friends in a restaurant. A stranger suddenly approached me and shook hands with me. He said he was very happy that I was speaking in Kannada so well. It taught me a simple lesson in life. No matter where you stay, you need to learn the native language. It helps you mingle with the local people. We become more approachable and we can communicate more freely with the native people.

I get lot of benefits due to the knowledge of this additional language. I am able to make lot of new contacts and friends very easily. Even at my office, I am able to relate easily to both North Indian people who speak Hindi as well to the Karnataka people who speak in Kannada.

I feel that all of us should try to learn at least three or four languages. One of our Prime Minister Dr. P.V. Narsimha Rao knew 14 languages. My four year old niece knows five languages - English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and Punjabi. When we learn a new language it increases our IQ level. Our mind becomes familiar with a vast variety of syllable sounds and starts processing information faster. 

The most important thing is you enjoy the feeling of oneness you can feel with the local people. So, as the saying goes "When in Rome, be a Roman!".

I hope you all liked this article. Please free to drop in your comments.

With Love,
Gunjan.