Collaborating for Success


Vijaya Karnataka, a Kannada daily, recently reported top rank ministers of the newly formed Karnataka government meeting the heads of some of the leading IT/BT companies based in Karnataka. This meeting was planned to discuss avenues of corporate-government collaboration to chalk out plans for both government and corporates to work towards mutual benefit.

This is a good step taken by the government in the interest of rural population of Karnataka. Further, the government should strive to make this public-private collaboration work towards increasing employability among the rural youth of Karnataka. In today's liberalized and globalized world, goals of governments to increase employment opportunities can be achieved only by partnering with private hands.

While the agenda made by the Karnataka government and corporates seems good at the outset, the government needs to categorically state the importance of employment in the rural society, and press for the private sector to play active role in increasing employability among such sections of the state. On closer observation this agenda will have to bear some points in mind to make the entire exercise successful for both sides of the deal:
  1. The trainings curriculum needs to be current and effective in preparing youth to win jobs in their respective fields. The youth may also have to be trained on some non-technical aspects that play a significant role in success in industry. As a common factor, all curriculum will have to be constantly monitored for upgradation so as to not become obsolete in the industry.

  2. The training programmes may also need comprehensive counselling for candidates to ensure the youth choose a profession that best matches his/her likes and abilities.


  3. The programme must be managed such that the infrastructural and man-power needs for training masses of youth are always met, and constantly improved to match the quality levels expected in industries.

When implemented in this fashion programmes of such kind will soon set standards for establishing a structure behind successful corporate-government collaborations for attracting talent, enriching skills and encouraging the wider youth base of Karnataka to participate in shaping the state's economy. It will also set the right example for more corporate houses to follow and benefit from and in the process do their bit to serve the community they exist in.


The success of this kind of partnership should help not just the IT & BT industries, but go beyond them and find success in various other industries. In future these programs can as well spin off effective nodal centers for vocational training and pave way to building valuable pools of diverse employment resources for corporates of all kinds. This should also go beyond state boundaries and get adopted by all states so that each one of them succeeds in ensuring better employment of their youth in their own state.

Read more related stuff here on Enguru.

Indian cinema = Hindi cinema?

An academy of Indian films and filmmakers with a charter to help them achieve wider coverage across the globe - sounds like a desirable proposition, doesn't it? Well, that is exactly what the IIFA - the International Indian Film Academy sounds like it should focus on. And to as though support this guess the academy has put up its definition of Indian cinema, which actually throws up a very basic question on its face - are Indian cinema and Hindi cinema, one and the same?

Suprising charter this...

While at the outset, a charter to project Indian cinema on screens across the world sounds good and of huge value to movies of all Indian languages, what the IIFA has been actually doing brings big surprise. In one of its advertisements this is what IIFA boasts itself of having achieved...

Wherever IIFA has left its mark, it has promoted the business of Indian Cinema and provided it an impetus. The sale of tickets of Hindi cinema grew by thirty five percent in the UK in the six months after IIFA. In South Africa, Hindi films moved from matinee shows on weekends to mainline theatres and now there are competing distribution chains vying for the rights to exhibit Hindi films across Africa.

The difference needs to be clear!

The IIFA talks about movies from India in the same tune as it talks about Hindi films made in India as though knowing no difference between the two. Well, the real difference, apparently, is not known to the academy. All it has done since inception in 2000 is advertise Hindi film industry across the globe with the label of Indian film industry, thus sending very very false signals about the Indian film industry across the world. This has also led to a noticeably biased growth taking place in the Hindi film industry and a noticeable decline in the worldwide presence of movies of other Indian languages, including movies from the Kannada film industry.

Made in India, not Hindi!

With all these biased stands towads the Hindi film industry, and calling it the Indian film industry, they even boast of having a very qualified advisory panel consisting of not a single character from non-Hindi film industry. What a pity, this board is advising on labeling Hindi films as sole candidates for the Made in India label.

If the stand of IIFA was so clear to project, showcase and promote only Hindi film industry, it would have been apt to call it International Hindi Film Academy (IHFA). Developments under IIFA have certainly benefited the Hindi cinema, but have done little to support their claims of improving the Indian film industry. Instead what is expected of such an academy is a system to enable uniform upbringing and showcasing of film industries of all Indian languages in an unbiased manner. Such academies should eventually pave the way for making Indian entertainment truly representative of the whole of India, which is a union of linguistic states.

BIAL: the forgotten shame

Bengaluru's new airport will doubtless stop travelers from frowning if not go as far as bringing smiles to their faces. But hey, aren't we missing something amidst gigabytes after gigabytes of rant on the airport itself, its facilities, approach roads and traffic? With popular media devoting itself to the number of conveyor belts and plush interiors, the public is being gently escorted away from the shameful way in which Indian administration has suppressed The Kannadiga People, their right to employment, their language in regard to this airport.


We are being made to forget that Kannadigas were promised jobs in return for land and cheated in broad daylight. We are being made to forget that the airport continues to stink of Hindi and flushes Kannada - the language of the very land on which the airport stands - down microprocessor-controlled urinals. We are being made to forget how Hampi and the rest of Karnataka's proud history and culture have been considered too inferior for the ambience of our own airport. We are being made to forget how workers of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike - who were peacefully demonstrating against the injustice done to Kannadigas have been made to fill jails like criminals. Who are the real criminals? Those who ask for their own rights, or those who suppress others' rights like colonial masters?

Yes, all the hue and cry about material comforts at the new airport has buried the fact that the Kannadiga spirit together with everything that unites Kannadigas and makes us one has been given a death blow. Everything that we were, are, and want to be has been gloriously neglected. We are being told that what matters is what others were, are, and want to be.

Won't we get up? Won't we scratch the shining walls of the new airport and stand up for fellow Kannadigas? Won't we? Won't we? Won't we?

Also read: Airport: what ought to be and what shall be, Bengaluru should learn from Beijing

Industrialisation of Karnataka should mean employment for Kannadigas

With election aroma strong in the air, the fluttering sound of manifesto booklets thrown by political parties has started fading away. Among such manifestos is one peculiar intention to put efforts in ensuring more jobs for Kannadigas, especially in the IT sector. Although the immediately apparent intention of reserving jobs seems glaringly myopic, we need to understand as to why this type of a demand is there from Kannadigas and what the industries, not limited to IT mind you, need to do to allay the concerns of Kannadigas that they are not being benefitted in terms of the employment opportunities created by these industries.

Rewind a few decades and we notice that the industrial sector in Karnataka had been flourishing in those years as well as it is today - only difference being the nature and magnitude of industry. But one similarity that stands clear is the trend of indifference in the attitude of industries towards the employment needs of Kannadigas, even when the much needed support from the state government has always been there.

Although industries have created employment in lakhs, the number of Kannadigas benefited from this has been a meagre portion. And the primary reason for this glaring problem is the blatant nepotism of non-Kannadiga officials in employing people from their own state for jobs in Karnataka even when qualified and eligible Kannadigas have been available in Karnataka. We saw this happening in Central Government departments and PSUs in 60s and 70s; in the IT, ITES and other sectors in the 90s and 2000s. These two waves of industrialization in Karnataka have seen more than a million jobs generated but the number of Kannadigas who have gained employment because of this development is not encouraging in anyway.

The fact that employment is the cause for economic development of the masses, and hence of the land they inhabit is one of the main reasons for the state government to provide sops for increased industrialization. But if employment for Kannadigas in substantial proportions has not been one of the outcomes of this industrialization policy, Karnataka government needs to think about ways to set it right.

Dial 'S'ilence for death!

The Kannadiga consumer has been stuck in strange circumstances in a market, which in reality exists only because of him. While the consumer's language and hence the consumer himself are being neglected in business, a language alien to them is receiving red-carpet welcome as the medium for all business activities. This has led to a situation that is inconvenient and insulting to the Kannadiga consumer. There is an urgent necessity for awareness among Kannadiga consumers. The consumer needs to be educated of his stance in the market, and the finer details of the market's economics. This awareness will help turn the situation in the consumer's favour and get them the very much deserved reverence in the market.

Unfavourable environment around consumer
There are several occasions in the market around Kannadiga consumers wherein products and services in business are either offered in a limited fashion or not offered at all in the consumer's language, while its importance in any business activity is commonplace among businessmen. Let us dive a little deeper and find out some such occasions where the Kannadiga consumer is being belittled:
  1. Certain products which are of critical value to consumer's health like medicines have none of the important information in Kannada, thereby making English learning compulsory for activities which could be performed in Kannada more conveniently.
  2. Products on sale in commercial establishments have name tags in one or two languages, but not in Kannada - the language consumers of this land speak. This has projected a false image of Kannada as a language incapable of helping consumers in making their choice.
  3. Information about medical examinations that are an important first step for a doctor's decisions are all found provided in English but not in Kannada. Owing to such setup patients unaware of English have to run the risks posed by some investigative tests. Safety of these consumers is being compromised as an outcome of linguistic neglect.
If these are just a few examples of market situations where a consumer's priorities are being sidelined because of neglect displayed towards his language, there are other cases where the consumer's identity in the market is being injured because of forced domination of other languages in the market.

Consumer's rights and responsibilities in the market
In the wake of such incidents in the market that are subjecting the consumer to unfair treatment, the consumer needs to become aware of his rights and responsibilities in the market scenario:
  1. Expecting the market to provide products and services in a way that he likes is not wrong on the part of the consumer. In fact not meeting these expectations is a mistake on the businessman's side.
  2. The market will simply cease to exist without the consumer, and the existence of the market is hinged around the consumer himself.
  3. The Kannadiga consumer has to expect to be served in Kannada, and this is not at all a crime. It is definitely not a matter of insult to expect local language presence in one's market.
  4. The denial of products or services in Kannada to a Kannadiga consumer is but denial of service, and is a violation of consumer's basic rights in a business.
  5. As a duty on the Kannadiga consumer's side, one needs to encourage and congratulate efforts in making products and services available in Kannada. This way the market will consequently allot more space to Kannada in the market, and hence encourage more Kannada presence around us.
The inclination of any developing market to adopt foreign languages that have already found widespread use in business, is an automatic development. This needs to be opposed for sustainable development to take place in our market too. Achieving market goals without involving our language in it is a short-lived experience, and the consequences of such growth can be disastrous to the cultural richness that Kannadiga consumers currently possess.

Consumer "how-to"s
Quite often nowadays a Kannadiga is subject to neglect in the market, and gradually Kannada is being subdued by the dominance of other languages as medium of business conduct. While this is a widespread experience, it calls for planned opposition and demand for correction in business practices. Approaching this problem according to its magnitude opens the following avenues to oppose this linguistic oppression in the market, and demand deserving respect to Kannada and Kannadiga in business:
  1. Firstly, every consumer should press for service to be rendered in Kannada, and no other language in the Karnataka market. Presence of any other language in Kannada's absence is an insult no Kannadiga consumer should withstand.
    • Nearly 60% of such cases of Kannada neglect will bend to these demands itself.
  2. In cases where this simplest form of protest doesn't fetch desirable results, seek to complain to the dealer's higher-ups and authorities monitoring the business at a higher level.
    • While in some cases (10%) a mention of higher authorities may yield results, in some other cases (20%), with continued pressure, the higher authorities in business will be forced to put efforts to resolve our problems, eventually.
  3. The rest 10% of cases are where the consumer is really being troubled and denied service in a way he desires. This being a violation of the rights bestowed upon a consumer, can be contested in a consumer court of powers.
    • The consumer court is aware of the linguistic angle of consumer's rights and will be the right platform to provide justice.
Reflecting upon success stories such as Radio Mirchi, Petrol bunks in Bengaluru, ICICI ATMs across Karnataka help reveal the real power of collective consumer demands and protests against unfavourable practices.

As a final note, the Kannadiga consumer needs to wake up to these three potential damages owing to Kannada's absence in businesses around him:
  • Difficulty he is subject to because of Kannada missing from businesses around him
  • Insult to his language, and projection of an inferior image that Kannada is incapable of being a good business language, which is untrue.
  • The consequent economic degradation Kannadigas will notice in them, and an eventual shortage of jobs for Kannadigas with declining usage of Kannada and thereby Kannadigas in businesses.
It is time the Kannadiga consumer woke up to all this and raised his voice to protect his own interests in the market.

Karnataka's "linguistic inferiority complex" must go

PUROHITA writes from Singapore: Just as the effect of hundreds of years of environment can be seen in the bark of a tree, the effect of hundreds of years of history can be seen in the linguistic inferiority complex that prevails in Karnataka today. I use the term linguistic inferiority complex (LIC) to denote inferiority complex relating to one’s own language, its utility, its boundaries and its importance. The disastrous effects of this inferiority complex can be seen in our education system, our society, industry, and in general just about everywhere. LIC is so second nature to the so-called "thinkers" of Karnataka today that even its existence is not acknowledged by them. LIC in Karnataka is made up of the following four unwritten linguistic inferiority complexes, not one of them scientific or democratic or supported by commonsense or fact:

  1. Kannada can be used only for "simple conversations and light stuff like poetry, drama and other non-scientific things"
  2. English is the best language for "conversations between intelligent people; definitely the language for any scientific topic"
  3. Samskruta is the only language for anything even slightly spiritual
  4. Hindi is more important than Kannada in India

The first inferiority complex can be traced to India’s colonial past. The British who opened English schools instead of Kannada and Samskruta schools sowed the seed of linguistic inferiority complex. School students used to get punished for speaking in Kannada (this is seen even today in most of Bengalooru schools) and rewarded for every small achievement in English. With this a sense of achievement got attached to English and a sense of non-achievement to Kannada. Kannada came to be slowly regarded as a language fit only for simple conversations and light stuff like poetry, drama and other non-scientific things – because the British simply didn’t let anything other than that to go on in Kannada. They truly didn’t think Kannada was fit for anything at all. Even after independence and consequent formation of linguistic states, Kannada is not fully implemented in administration, education or industry.

Since the British introduced English as the panacea in the atmosphere of inferiority which they themselves created, it slowly replaced Kannada as the language for conversations between intelligent people; definitely the language for any scientific topic. The English education system was nothing but an engine producing more and more people with this fatal inferiority complex, fit to serve the British crown. Those who came out of the system took pride in hating Kannada, making fun of Kannada and being able to speak English. The flawed arguments that English (as opposed to knowledge) is the strength based on which we can win global markets today, that English is the language of science and technology, stem from this very same inferiority complex continuing to pollute a Kannadiga’s blood. Although examples exist of countries like Japan, Israel, France, etc., which have all their systems in the language of the land, a Kannadiga is blind to this because of this second inferiority complex.

Samskruta enjoys a special place in Karnataka because of the huge corpus of spiritual literature which exists in it (not that we read or understand it). Almost every spiritual thinker of India – real or fake – has resorted to Samskruta as the language for his spiritual literature. This has been disastrous from the point of view of dissemination of true spiritual thinking among Kannadigas. Even today, most of Karnataka remains spiritually challenged because of this single mistake. Kannadigas have come to believe that spiritual literature cannot exist in Kannada, that our Gods understand only Samskruta! We are so spiritually blind and so mesmerized by Samskruta that we think anything and everything written in Samskruta is divine, that even the language and its grammar are divine and worth imitating in Kannada. It’s a pity that even our grammarians have bought into the flawed theory that Kannada – a Dravidian language – is derived from Samskruta, a theory proven totally wrong by linguists all over the world. This is our third inferiority complex.

The issue of Hindi (at best a budding language when it comes to age or achievement compared to Kannada) is more recent but reminiscent of British imperialism. Although there is no constitutional provision granting Hindi the status of "National language", Karnataka has been made to believe so. Hindi is merely – but undemocratically – the only official language of the Indian Union, but schoolchildren in Karnataka are taught the blatant lie that Hindi is the National language of India. The central government invests hundreds of crores of rupees every year to impose Hindi on Kannadigas in education and central government institutions, even banks, using every medium possible. In the name of urbanization, entertainment media has very tactfully imposed Hindi on Kannadigas and made us believe that real entertainment can exist only in Hindi. Slowly, therefore, the suicidal feeling that Kannada is "not enough" to get on to Mainstream India has crept into a Kannadiga’s thinking. Kannadigas have come to believe that Hindi is a more important language than their mother-tongue in India. This is our fourth inferiority complex.

Linguistic inferiority complex is draining the life-blood of Kannadigas, turning us into inferior individuals building an inferior Karnataka. It has already brought about a class divide in Karnataka. The "higher class" slights Kannada and Karnataka, experiences physical pain living in Karnataka, is devoid of self-respect, cannot compete with westerners in true intelligence because of having to use a foreign language, and is waiting in long visa queues to escape from reality. The "lower class" – which cannot slight Kannada and Karnataka – is removed from education, science and technology (due to English) and commerce (due to English/Hindi). Both classes are removed from spirituality (due to Samskruta). It is clear that linguistic inferiority complex must be rooted out from the mind of every Kannadiga if at all we wish to progress. There is no option but to think of ways in which Kannada can completely replace English in education, science and technology, and Samskruta in spirituality and religion. Hindi together with the baggage of lies must be removed from school syllabi and the constitutional priority of Kannada in Karnataka must instead be taught; Kannada must replace it in central government offices, banks and commercial institutions.

Hogenakal in Karnataka

There has been considerable news coverage in the English media on the Hogenakal row for the past couple of days. But as usual the news reports by the English newspapers and channels have not provided enough space and time for the issue at large and ended up spending most of the space and time on film personalities and their phoney protests.

Mainstream English media has not really provided enough opportunities for Kannadigas to put across their views. Hence putting across a few points that have been carefully missed out by the mainstream English media.

  1. Tamilnadu planned to use the current situation of Karnataka being under President's rule to go ahead with the Hogenakal project. As usual, the spineless Karnataka politicians from the national parties were not concerned about this issue and were busy shortlisting candidates for the assembly elections.
  2. It was only because of the vigilance of the Kannada media and the strong agitation by Kannada organizations that enough pressure was created on the Central Government and the Tamilnadu Government. It was only when the situation was getting out of control that Karunanidhi backtracked on his misadventure. Tamilnadu has now put this project on hold until elections to the Karnataka assembly are over.
  3. Hogenakal area is a part of Karnataka. Since Tamilnadu has been disputing this, Karnataka and the Central government had agreed to a joint survey. But Tamilnadu has not been co-operating on the survey as they know that as per the revenue records, Hogenakal is a part of Karnataka. Therefore, Tamilnadu government should not go ahead with the project in a geographical area which is part of Karnataka but it claims as disputed.
  4. While it has been agreed upon that any project undertaken in the Kaveri basin areas will need mutual consent apart from the Central government, Tamilnadu government has blatantly been exhibiting hypocrisy in this matter. It has earlier objected to every project in the Kaveri basin proposed by Karnataka by having gone to the extent of writing to the Japanese agencies (who were funding the drinking water project for Bengaluru) objecting the Kaveri (Cauvery) drinking water project for Bengaluru. However for the Hogenakal project, Tamilnadu has gone ahead without even providing Karnataka any details of the project. They even expect co-operation from Karnataka in this matter! Co-operation is not a one-way street, right?
  5. DMK and allies are an important part of the UPA alliance. These parties have perfected the art of blackmailing the Union Government into accepting unreasonable demands without ever thinking about the impact of their actions on the federal nature of India. Using the blackmailing tactics, Tamil Nadu has influenced the Central Government against Karnataka on multiple occasions. Nothing new with the Hogenakal project either!

Hogenakal, Stanley, and Dharmapuri?

Having mentioned all these fine details about the whole scene created by Tamilnadu, it would make much sense to digress a little, say 45-50kms from the place of this scene. One finds that there already stands a Stanley reservoir in Mettur, spread on a sprawling area much bigger than the Krishna Raja Sagara reservoir, which is humbled in front of the former's watery expanse. With this bigger reservoir already standing so close to Dharmapuri district, why, with all the urgency, is Tamilnadu so charged up to feed its citizens with drinking water from the Hogenakal falls? Won't it make much more economic sense for it to pursue a much cheaper project to connect Stanley to Dharmapuri? Question no one raised before, you say?

Serve and 'Wah'li in Kannada!

"Customer is king!" Such is the claim of all businessmen that have come to realize that the key to their victory in today's competitive market rests in the hands of the customer. And today's customer is not so easy to please, what with there being a multitude of parameters that matter when this customer makes a choice from among the competing candidates! To be effective in their courtship, each such business needs to run keeping such key parameters of its customers in mind, primary of which happens to be the language this king speaks!

Business - way to go!
Talking of business and its ways to find success in a market like ours, it is but affirmative for the businessmen to understand and keep high the spirit of this market - its cultural footprint. The strong interleaving of language with the culture of a society in general leads to this understanding that success of a business in a market is all about how well the business understands and aligns to the cultural and linguistic vein of the market. Failing on these counts could be detrimental to any kind of business, apart from leaving a trace of violation of the rights that rest with the customer.

Kannada in Karnataka means business
Business with a Kannadiga, especially when inside Karnataka, cannot happen without the involvement of Kannada language in every part of its activity - be it on the customer interaction front involving talking and liaisoning with customers, or marketing of products, or in the packaging and delivery of goods to the customer's end. The usage of any language other than Kannada in business with a Kannadiga is not only an unfair practice by the businessman, because by doing so the businessman has kept the customer in darkness about important product related information, but also a display of lack of business acumen.

Any kind of interaction with a customer is proved to be most effective (in a broad sense) when it happens in the language of the land - that is Kannada on Karnataka soil. The emergence of Radio Mirchi in Bengalooru at the top (leaving Radio City behind) after they resorted to 100% Kannada music is an apt benchmark for this.

Looking around

One casual look around the world at markets rife with local language activity shows that technology is never a limitation to exploring new avenues to use local language effectively in bringing out the best results in a business. Countries such as China and Japan have explored all avenues of technology to reach their goals of bringing their rather complicated scripts onto every medium that is involved in businesses - be it print or multimedia. The point here is that these people have figured out ways in which their language yields well into a form favorable for business. This motivation to effectively use such facets of local language and constantly upgrade it to meet market expectations to be successful in a business is what is required in our businessmen too. The key ability to tailor one's language to obtain that cutting edge in business is quintessential for successful business, and that is required in our businessmen too.
An urge to think out of the box, retain the common sense and conduct business in Kannada is all that is required to shine and make hay in business on Karnataka soil.

Lets "click" in the Kannada market!

Generally when we talk about Kannada, more often than not we talk about literature, film, music, drama, folk forms & similar ones. But we come across very little discussion on how these can be seen as products & services that people utilize or experience. It is rarely seen from a business perspective, as a potential market. It is very important for businessmen (Kannadiga & non-Kannadiga) to understand the market potential of these Kannada-centric products & services. Let us open up a discussion on this.

Products & Services
We can perhaps start by preparing a list of products & services possible around Kannada. The list below is not an exhaustive one and we encourage readers to let their imagination add to this list.
The information below is organized under two headings: Content & Delivery Channels. Content is language specific & the Delivery channels are the infrastructure to deliver this content.

Sl. No

Content

Delivery Channels

Literature

Book, Print Media, Internet

News

Print Media, Radio, Television, Internet

Films

Theatres & Multiplexes, Tapes & CDs, Television, Internet

Music

Radio, Television, Tapes & CD, Internet

Plays & Dramas

Auditoriums, Television

Study Material

Books, Radio, Television, Tapen & CDs, Internet

Software

Tapes & CDs, Internet

Advertising

Radio, TV, Print Media, Public Spaces, Internet


We can drill down further a couple of levels under each of the line-items under Content heading and can define those as specific offerings in the market. For example, if you consider music as a category: classical music, light music (sugama sangeetha), film music, folk music, devotional music are a few sub-categories which can have specific offerings in the target market.
Newer opportunities that are emerging are:
  • Kannada specific voice based call center services,
  • Training centers to train people (wanting to do business with Kannada speaking people) on Kannada.
Market Size
There are two angles to look at the market size - namely the head-count of the existent market, and its size in terms of monetary revenue it can bring to the involved organization or body. On the former scale, head-count or population, the market is around 60 million + (with approximately 50 million inside Karnataka and 10 million outside Karnataka). On the latter scale, revenue, with a very conservative estimate, 60 million people spending an average of Rs 100 per month in this market bundles up to Rs 7200 crores per year.

Current Realization of Market potential
Low (may be 15-20 % market has been realized). There is tremendous opportunity in this market as the current players are small businesses run by individuals or families which lack professional management capability & there has been little effort in market exploration, tapping and development.

Although in the last couple of years, large corporations have entered the Television, Radio & Print Media, enterprises planning to enter these markets need to hire extremely talented people who are well-versed in Kannada and understand the pulse of the market. When this happens, the real value of the Kannada market will start getting tapped, and fetch attractive returns.

What next?
The write-up above with a preliminary analysis of the Kannada-centric products & services was to initiate a discussion & present a different perspective. Karnatique readers who may be interested in working with Banavasi Balaga in researching these markets & working with the industry representatives in initiating market development activities in these industries, please respond to banavasibalaga AT gmail DOT com.

The concept of H- and L-Kannada: a disease called "diglossia"

There is widespread belief among Kannadigas that there are two types of Kannada, one of high prestige (H-Kannada) and one of low prestige (L-Kannada). The definition of what constitutes high prestige and what low prestige is nowhere written down, but somewhat implicitly understood by almost every Kannadiga, whether he belongs to the H-Kannada camp or the L-Kannada camp. The H-Kannada camp pats itself on the back that it uses the "correct" Kannada, while the L-Kannada camp simply deems itself to have been born with an impaired tongue.

This is a sociolinguistic phenomenon called "diglossia". In this short essay, we will show how Kannada's diglossia is detrimental to both the unity and progress of the Kannadiga people, then urge our readers to first wake up to this fact and second to stop either feeling a sense of pride for belonging to the H-tribe or a sense of impairment for belonging to the L-tribe. Both the feelings are false, and both break our unity and oneness of purpose.

H-Kannada is generally used for written Kannada (with the conspicuous exception of quotations or dialogue), as well as for any "decent" public usage -- such as in a public function or conference or meeting. H-Kannada has an abundance of Sanskrit words used without any modifications, while L-Kannada has very few Sanskrit words (with the handful borrowed Sanskrit words having been modified to suit the Kannada tongue) and has in general no difference between aspirated and unaspirated consonants unlike languages such as Sanskrit and Hindi. The lack of differentiation between aspirated and unaspirated consonants is a linguistic feature present in Kannada from thousands of years (from the days of Halagannada or old Kannada).

People of both the H and L tribes express discomfort if someone uses L-Kannada in situations such as public discourses or writing, considering the user to be unscholarly, uncouth and unpolished. In open defiance of glaring linguistic proofs, the H-tribe has even perpetuated the wrong theory that Kannada has been derived from Sanskrit. This wrong theory is implicitly assumed to be right by the H-tribe, and no proof is asked for. The fact that this unscientific behaviour stems from weak minds with lack of understanding of the basics of linguistics and lack of appreciation for the real worth of Sanskrit (which is, in one word, spirituality) is a different matter, and warrants a separate article.

The L-tribe, which is at the receiving end of the flawed theory that Kannada is derived from Sanskrit, stomachs it for want of erudition. The proof against this flawed theory, which is nothing less than a human population of nearly 4 crore Kannadigas, is openly ignored, openly neglected. This neglect, which overflows from the drawing board of flawed proofs into day-to-day neglect of 4 crore Kannadigas by the H-tribe is the first reason for the death of Kannadiga unity attributable to diglossia, and the first reason for Karnataka's stunted growth. The first is because neglect creates a rift between the neglecters and the neglected. The second is because the H-tribe which thinks it has the ability to take Karnataka forward in the right direction itself neglects nearly all of Karnataka, deeming it a relief from engaging with those whom it considers as "unscholarly, uncouth and unpolished".

Diglossia is a disease, nay an epidemic, which is slowly ripping apart Kannadiga from Kannadiga and destroying our oneness of purpose. It's high time the H-tribe stops pulling the legs of people from the L-tribe and instead works on ways of bridging the gap. It's high time the H-tribe stops patting on its own back thinking out of ignorance that it speaks the "real Kannada"! It's high time the L-tribe stops thinking of its version of Kannada as that of a lesser God. No, the Kannadiga tongue is golden and every way of speaking Kannada is to be worshipped and equally "real" and "correct"! There is no high, no low! It's all one and the same mother tongue! It's only an illusion that one version of Kannada is H and another L!

Arise O Kannadiga! Awake! Unite! Destroy the reason for our disunity! Destroy diglossia!

Kannada Film Industry : Potential Markets

Kannada film industry (KFI) has always been talking about having a small market in comparison to Telugu and Tamil film industries. If you look at the available information on the annual revenues of Telugu and Tamil film industries it ranges between Rs 1200 - Rs 1500 crores.

In comparison,
KFI's annual revenues are between Rs 200 - Rs 250 crores.

Since people who speak / understand a language watch the respective language films, there is a direct correlation between the number of people who speak / understand a language and the corresponding language film industry revenues.

Number of Telugu, Tamil and Kannada speaking people is 9, 7 and 5 crores respectively. Going by these numbers, Kannada film industry should have had a turnover of atleast Rs 500-600 crores. But why is the current turnover of KFI only 35-40 % of the potential market?

Fault lies with the Kannada Film Industry. KFI has never understood the potential market for Kannada movies and therefore have had no programmes to harness the potential market.

Here are a few suggestions that could go some way in realising the potential market for Kannada films:

  1. Encourage more Kannadigas to watch Kannada movies. This would result in an increase in the number of Kannadigas (inside Karnataka) watching Kannada movies.
    • Today KFI's turnover is Rs 200 crores. (Back-of-the-envelope calculation : At present, about 1 crore Kannadigas watch 4 movies per year at Rs 50 per ticket entry. If this could be increased to 2 crore Kannadigas watching 4 movies per year at Rs 50 per ticket entry, turnover will increase to Rs 400 crores)
  2. Encourage non-Kannadigas within Karnataka to watch Kannada movies.
    • Today, very few non-Kannadigas in Karnataka watch Kannada movies. If we could have 25% (25 lakhs) of the total non-Kannadiga population in Karnataka watch 3 movies per year at Rs 50 per ticket entry, additional turnover becomes Rs 35-40 crores.
  3. Distribute / Exhibit Kannada films outside Karnataka (within & outside India) so that non resident Kannadigas get to watch Kannada movies.
    • Today, very few Kannadigas outside Karnataka get to watch Kannada movies. If we could have 25% (25 lakhs) of Kannadiga population outside Karnataka watch 3 movies per year at Rs 100 per ticket entry, additional turnover becomes Rs 75 crores.
    • These 3 revenue streams would all add upto Rs 500 crores which is more than double the current annual revenue of KFI.

What needs to be done to make this happen?


Few actionables for KFI:

  1. Produce quality movies
  2. Increase no of theaters that screen Kannada movies (within Karnataka)
  3. Promote / Market Kannada movies in a big way - use all available channels / avenues to promote / market Kannada movies
  4. Promote / Market Kannada movies among non-Kannadigas in Karnataka and among non-resident Kannadigas
  5. Distribute Kannada movies outside Karnataka
  6. KFI: Run it like an industry. professionalize, professionalize & professionalize

Few actionables for Kannada organizatons:

  1. Create a sense of Kannada identity in Kannadigas.
  2. Create awareness among non-Kannadigas in Karnataka that they need to learn Kannada and become a part of Karnataka mainstream.

If only KFI and the Kannada organizations work together on this initiative for the next 5 years, there is no reason why we not only harness the potential market for Kannada films but also expand the market.

Getting entertainment in one's own language is extremely important part of one's identity. We have seen the problems a linguistic community faces when the major source of entertainment of that linguistic community is another language. For example, Marathi. In spite of being 8 crore strong, Marathis have allowed Hindi film industry to dominate their own Marathi film industry. One of the reasons why the Marathis face a serious identity crisis today is because of this. Since Marathis learn Hindi through Hindi films, they end up conversing with Hindi speaking people (who migrate to Maharashtra) in Hindi. And Hindi speaking people migrating to Maharashtra never learn Marathi.

Any lessons to learn, Kannadigas???

Bengaluru should learn from Beijing

ANNE FU of CCTV reports from Beijing how the new Beijing International Airport flaunts the Chinese culture and language in everything:



At 29,000m long, terminal 3 looks like a Chinese Dragon lying at the northeastern corner of Beijing. The ball that the dragon is playing with is the parking lot and the subway terminal. The dragon's head, body and tail are the main buildings of the terminal.

[...]

The interior decorations feature traditional Chinese characters.

[...]

Passengers here can take leisurely strolls through Chinese gardens.

One asks how much of Kannada culture our Bengaluru International Aiport will be displaying. Being what we are, we shouldn't be surprised if it is built after the Taj Mahal, that hackneyed monument which 99% Kannadigas have never seen or been to, and whose patron King (together with his dynasty and race) hadn't even heard of the Kannada language, and who at best would have looked at Kannadigas with the eyes of a predatory bird, if at all.

According to CNN Beijing, Chinese engineers want the new terminal to be world class, but with recognizably Chinese features.



CHEN GUOXING of the Beijing Capital International Airport Co. Ltd. proudly declares:
I want every passenger to be able to tell once they arrive that they are in Beijing, even without seeing a sign that reads Beijing.
Ah! now to our own Bengaluru International Airport. This will perhaps be world class too, but what about the "recognizably ___________ features" ? What will fill the blank? Do you think it's gonna be Kannada? Do you think it should be Kannada? We've already argued how what shall be is gonna be divorced from what ought to be, didn't we? Passengers to our Bengaluru International Airport will be able to tell once they arrive that they are in New Delhi!

Yeah, you bet our airport it's gonna be full of English and Hindi, with Kannada not even featuring inside the toilets! We had reported in ENGURU how a union minister visited the airport site a few months ago and pulled the curtains down on plans of making the interiors reflect Kannada culture. His point was that that takes away the international sheen. Takes away the sheen my foot! All it would have taken away is the ignorance of that minister and servile fools who still can't get over the feeling that Kannada and Kannada culture is non-International. All it would have taken away is the illogical, ill-begotten, ill-conceived, undemocratic Hindification of India at the cost of Kannada language and culture.

When will we grow up? When will we stop feeling small? There is no external trigger necessary or sufficient. It has to come from inside. We need to start feeling from inside that we Kannadigas have got balls too. Yeah, international balls.

Airport: what ought to be and what shall be

Let's take a peek into a couple of International airports before coming to the point. Here's a typical advertisement hoarding from the Beijing Capital International Airport which hasn't found it either embarrassing or non-International to display Chinese characters (and yeah, it's Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsing a Chinese product):


And here are typical signs inside the Munich Airport which hasn't found it embarrassing to use the local language - German - on anything printed:


The question now is - what ought to be the status of Kannada in the Bengaluru International Airport? No points for answering this one: "Similar". But what shall be is a totally different ballgame.

What ought to be

BIAL should adopt measures to make all such services available in Kannada as it would like to offer its customers. Be it parking tickets, or flight boarding passes, media inside the airport - printed or visual, entertainment at the airport, and even inside the flights, or announcements made in the airport premises - each one of these should predominantly be offered first in Kannada. Every service in the airport should be available in Kannada. The airport's webpage should also be completely in Kannada.

Obviously, we don't mean English should be nowhere. English should be the only other second language used inside the airport. No other language (e.g. Zulu, Hindi, Sinhalese, Afrikaans, Punjabi, Tamil) can have a place in the Bengaluru International Airport which is not enjoyed by, for e.g., French in the Munich Airport.

Any guesses on what shall be?

Remember, we live in a special country where French (Hindi) has constitutional and extra-constitutional rights to take the place of German (Kannada) in the Munich (Bengaluru) Airport. In our special country, French (Hindi) is not only declared as the official language but is taught as the National Language of Germany (Karnataka). It is only in India that people shall land into the Munich (Bengaluru) Airport thinking the Eiffel Tower (Taj Mahal) is a minute's walk and that the Oktoberfest (Hampi Utsava) is breathing its last in another country whose people are becoming evolutionarily extinct. It is only in India that airports can completely warp the past, present and future of the people and language of the very soil on which they are hosted and make it seem like a desert of under-achievement. It is only in India that the language of the land can be openly treated like the language of an inferior tribe. It is only in India that a whole linguistic people can be deemed constitutionally inadequate for not speaking a language foreign to their tongue.

Ah! What shall be is anybody's guess. Do we have any of those true men left who stand by what ought to be and stop not until what threatens to shall be shall not be?

India: a fine idea with implementation flaws

After the unfortunate events of Mumbai earlier this month, popular media is ablaze with articles describing the events as against the Idea of India and pretty much what it calls as the triumph of regionalism over nationalism. Popular rhetoric, which wrongly labels any attempts at the development of and/or protection of the rights of any particular linguistic people as parochial, quickly snowballs into labeling the people and organizations involved as against the Idea of India.

It's a pity that those who think of themselves as the saviors of the Idea of India have no clue what India is all about. No wonder they haven't cared to clarify. These folks have no clue how a correct federal system works, have no clue what to do with all the linguistic and cultural diversity that lives and thrives in India. For them, diversity is but an unnecessary evil, an extra parameter to contend with amidst the "already many". Unknowingly, such people are trampling under their own feet the very India we all treasure.

We will show in this essay how it is not the Idea of India which linguistic organizations oppose, but merely one flawed implementation of that beautiful idea.

The Sublime "Idea of India"

Let's face it. As a political unit, India was carved out as a mechanism for bringing under the same banner hundreds of millions of peoples suffering under British oppression. Before independence from the British, there was no single India as a political unit for any reasonable amount of time under one ruler ever. We have always fought with our neighboring states over things all and sundry. Then what exactly is the Idea of India? Is there anything to India over and above being the sum total of its states? Is there anything naturally common to the different linguistic peoples of India over and above the fact that the constituent states are geographically contiguous and had a common enemy 60 years ago?

Sure, there is. There is no denying the fact that the very diverse cultures and languages of India have a common thread running amidst all the mind-boggling plurality, though there is a large variation in the level to which the thread has found acceptance in the different cultures and languages. Such was the universality of appeal of that common thread that it was received by the various linguistic peoples with open hearts, or sometimes even unawares, with hardly any opposition. Notwithstanding the large variation in acceptance, the common thread basically comprises of religious and spiritual scriptures, cultural customs and common linguistic features - which we will together call as sublime cultural aspects.

In short, the Idea of India at inception involved (a) a common enemy, and (b) sublime cultural aspects as the two adhesives binding us together. After sixty years of independence from the British and the coming of globalization, however, the adhesive property of the common enemy of the recent past has already diminished so much that India is left with only the more sublime common thread of cultural aspects as the only existing natural adhesive.

Flaws in the implementation of the "Idea of India"

Of the two adhesives above, the first one, viz., the existence of a common enemy before independence, had pretty much single-handedly defined the Indian system of governance and the definition of political India. It is an irony of India that the exact same system continues to exist even today as if in defiance of changed ground realities and external circumstances.

The positioning of the Hindi language as the only "official (Indian) language of India", as well as the absence of true federalism and consequent disproportionately high stakes for the central government in internal matters of the subscribing states - both constructs ill-begotten in a hurry - have polluted India.

Hindification has destroyed the very idea of unity in diversity and accorded a higher status and undue advantages to the speakers of that language. This, together with the constitutional right of all Indians to work and settle anywhere in India, has placed speakers of Hindi (and close-by languages) at an advantage over and above other linguistic peoples. When once you declare the knowledge of Hindi as a prerequisite for any central government job, it is natural for the speakers of that language to fill those jobs.

The states subscribing to any federation of states do so for personal material gain and for not any spiritual reasons. It's as simple as that, and India is no exception. In an environment which does not treat the subscribing peoples as equals but instead accords a higher status to one people over the rest, songs of the sublimity of the Idea of India start to sound like the harsh calls of a predatory bird! Who can care to appreciate the beauty of the common sublime thread of culture when the harsh reality is that you are not being treated as an equal? How long can anyone continue to sing the praise of the Idea of India from his heart when the harsh reality is that he is being considered as a second-grade citizen when it comes to employment?

In short, although the Idea of India is fine, there are flaws in the implementation of that idea. It is these implementation flaws which linguistic groups oppose, and not the sublime common thread of culture.

Confusing the idea with its flawed implementation

Most commentators on the Mumbai incident earlier this month in particular, and any event spanning only one linguistic people in general, share one common confusion. That is the confusion between the Idea of India and One flawed implementation of that Idea.

Their intellectual bankruptcy forces them to fail to recognize the two as different. Whereas it is true that the different linguistic states of India are struggling to survive and flourish, it is untrue that an assertion of their rights is against the Idea. It is only against the flawed implementation of that idea which considers them an inferior people who need to change in order to become true Indians.

Among these commentators exist such jokers as can stuff into their Idea of India symbols such as the constitution of India (forgetting that it is amendable), the national flag, the national anthem, as well as the national bird! They argue that because these symbols exist, and because there exists an implementation of the Idea of India (albeit with faults) all diversity should be ironed out. They argue that Kannadigas should be happy for Biharis who take away their jobs because they are Indians too, because both Kannadigas and Biharis have a common constitution, anthem, flag and bird!

It is high time they start appreciating the difference between ideas and implementations. It's high time they start appreciating Maslow's hierarchy of needs: food, clothing, shelter and employment have to come in before sublime theories can be appreciated - especially theories which profess that you have to give up your food, clothing, shelter and employment!

The road ahead

India has a great future. But to get there, quite a few systemic wrongs have to be corrected. The rhetoric that anything related to Kannadigas or Marathis alone is "parochial" does not help us get there. It only hurts. The whole dialogue needs to consider that every state is in the federation expecting a win-win. We the different linguistic peoples of India have many common challenges to overcome. We all have to solve problems of corruption, of bad governance, of education, of employment, of poverty, of developing our own languages. When steps are taken to wipe out diversity, unity itself tends to be threatened in a federation of states which has been formed with the promise of unity in diversity. There is much synergy possible when diversity is celebrated and not ironed out. There is much synergy possible when the good practices in every state are replicated across India.

The Idea of India is in line with this. But is today's Implementation of India?

Mumbai in question

If not anything else, the anger-spurts of the Marathis against North Indians in Mumbai this week would have had Abraham Lincoln sit up in his grave with a twinkle in his eyes and utter his famous words once again:
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
There was a time when all non-Hindi speakers were fooled. Even to this date, many of them remain fooled. But we now have proof that you can't fool all the non-Hindi speakers all the time: they hit back.

No doubt the recent events are unlawful and not worth writing home about. It's also being argued that the need for Raj Thackeray to survive in the world of politics is behind them. However, is that all there is to all this? Is this just about a set of barbarians attacking innocent hawkers on the street driven by the political ambitions of Raj Thackeray? Nobody seems to go beyond this. Nobody seems to even bring to memory the slow but certain wiping off of the Marathis and their language from Mumbai. The pain of the Marathi people is no longer questioned today; indeed, that pain has become an unwritten law.

The sad state of Marathis in Mumbai

While the Constitution of India accords the status of "official language of the union" to Hindi, its uncontrolled and unwarranted imposition on innocent speakers of the language of the land outside the walls of central government offices is perhaps on an all-India high in Mumbai. Over time, the Marathis have been made to give up their own identity as speakers of a separate tongue called Marathi which is the lawful heir to the throne at Mumbai. Instead, Hindi has usurped that throne.

Bollywood itself - the Hollywood of erstwhile Bombay - has no traces of the Marathi language left in it. The word Bollywood which should ideally denote the Marathi film industry is famous world over as the Hindi film industry. Hindi imposition seems to have worked such magic on the Marathi people that they seem to have given up hope of elevating their mother tongue to be the entertainment language of choice.

Due to all this, the Marathis see that their language has been thrown into the dustbin. They see that their own people are not getting jobs in Mumbai. They see that the interests of their own people are neglected. While Mumbai is no doubt providing employment to millions of people, they are forced to ask -- "what's in it for us, the hosts?". The answer manifests itself as an undisclosed pain in the hearts of millions of Marathis.

Obviously, this can't go on for ever. No people desirous of furthering their tribe can afford to yield to the rhetoric that they, and they alone need to be altruistic in an environment of reckless predators, however much the rhetoric be sugarcoated and temporarily fooling.

Flawed rhetoric

There is no dearth of flawed rhetoric about all these events being "against the spirit of India", "parochial" and "politically motivated".

These events are admittedly unlawful and leave a bad taste in the mouth. However, to call these as "against the spirit of India" is going overboard. In truth, these events are against the spirit of only that India into whose definition one permits an undemocratically higher status to one language and its speakers from North India called Hindi, an India which is stuck up with the task of synthesizing unity by way of Hindification, an India struggling to iron out diversity as opposed to celebrating it. It is Hindification which is against the spirit of India. These events are merely unlawful and uncivil.

The correct India is that in which unity is practiced by way of upholding diversity as opposed to destroying it. The correct India is that in which subscribers to the Federation of States are looked at as equals as opposed to unequals . The correct India is that in which the subscribing linguistic states have a fair representation in Delhi as opposed to unfair. The correct India is that in which the subscribing linguistic states have the right and duty to protect and develop their own languages, cultures and peoples. The correct India cannot impose Hindi all over India. The correct India cannot look at the people of any language, their culture and their rights with abandon.

Those who think all this is "parochial" must first understand that the scope of events pertaining to the sustenance of any linguistic populace is far from being narrow. This particular time, it is about a People called the Marathis -- close to 65 million people! That's not a few people, mind you, and the protection of the rights of millions of people of one tongue is not parochialism. If this were parochialism, our cries as a united India in the community of nations in the world is parochialism too. Why shouldn't one call as parochialism India's need to protect its borders from Pakistan? Isn't the protection of India from Pakistan too "narrow in scope"?

Now, all those who are sticking to the single-point rhetoric that the recent events are "politically motivated" have also the obligation to ask themselves as to what it was which has motivated the imposition of Hindi on Marathis, what it was which has motivated the uncontrolled migration of Hindiwallas to Mumbai to the total detriment of the Marathis, what it was which has motivated the feeling that Marathi is the language of a lesser God inside Maharashtra itself! Wasn't that motivation also "political"? It is utter foolishness, nay hypocrisy, to expect a spiritual response complete with fasts-unto-death from people at the receiving end of decades of neglect.

Tailpiece

Thus, while the sad events in Mumbai this week appear on the surface to be "parochialism" or simply "politics", one just needs to scratch the surface to understand that they are the bitter fruit of decades after decades of disrespect towards the Marathis, their language and their land. We need to understand the reasons for such outbursts without sacrificing reason to hackneyed rhetoric, set right historical wrongs and march forward. That is the right path for the progress of every Indian state, and thereby of India.

And now, it's Kannada Rap!

Something is completely right with the way the usage of Kannada is increasing in register after linguistic register. The doomsayers are being proven wrong again. Yeah, we've now got Kannada Rap, a new form of music to most Kannada listeners.

A band called "Urban Lads" based in Basavanagudi, Bengaluru, has come out with an ultra-cool "Kanglish" rap album which is making waves all over the world even before the album is out for sale, before the lads have a website and even before there's more concrete proof than the circulating mp3 that they actually exist. You could listen to the song in the player below:

To those who think "these fellows are destroying the beauty of Kannada", our message is that the whole philosophy that the Kannada tongue needs to be "protected" from other languages unto death is flawed. These experiments are what keep the language alive. These experiments are what keep the language current. No language can live in isolation. Kannada is no exception. And the rise of Kanglish rap is a positive, not negative development.

As Kannada Rap evolves, and evolve it will like the now absolutely hip Kannada film music, the Englishness of Kanglish will evolve towards more Kannadaness. One remembers Dr. Raj's "If you come today, it's too early" as an early example of the thinking that anything hip around Vidhana Soudha needs to be in pure English -- a thinking which Dr. Raj himself never shared, but was led to make believe by directors (according to his own words). Now, Kannada songs are whole lot hipper, and the hippest of 'em a whole lot Kannada-er.

To the brand of purists who are convinced that rap itself is a degradation of music, our message is that they've probably reached a wrong blog post thinking we talk about the fineties, subtleties and otherties of music. We don't.

The number of linguistic registers in which Kannada is being used is on a steady rise. We got Kannada TV channels, putting an end to the Hindi drudgery we went through during the days of DD. We got FM radio after putting up with a brief period of lapse of reason in the programmers' camp. We got good newspapers who have finally started breaking loose of the clutches of the purists and are coming up with catchy headlines. We've started to get ads on electronic media (although they remain cheap translations of Hindi or Tamil). And now, it's Kannada Rap.

By the way, the first Kannada Rap number was Auto Soori, not this one from the Urban Lads. Take it down as a history trivia question for 2020!

Kannadigas in Bengaluru - truths and hard truths

Although the Kannadiga character of Bengaluru needs no surveys to establish, allow us to draw your attention to a recent survey of FM Radio listenership in Bengaluru. Contrary to the belief of a few vocal people, Kannada FM channels have scored way, way, way above English and Hindi channels. On 22 Jan 2008, the Times of India reported that -
FM radio, the medium that has captured the imagination of young and old alike in Bangalore, shows that an average of 75% of all listenership is for Kannada radio channels. The rest of the radio stations, primarily programmed in Hindi and English, manage to attract only 25% of the audience.
So what about all the bullshit that Kannada is a minority language in Bengaluru? What about the notion among migrants to Bengaluru that Kannada is the language of auto-drivers and one-foot-in-the-gravers? Did the statistics surprise Mirchi? Rahul Balyan, business head, Radio Mirchi (Karnataka and Kerala), answers -
"This is not surprising at all. Two years ago, when we launched, we found that AIR Rainbow had more listenership than the only private FM channel in Bangalore at that time — which stunned us. When we looked at secondary data like mother tongue, language spoken and written and TV viewership figures, it was pretty obvious that Kannada was the language of a large majority of Bangaloreans . This was across all strata of society, and more so in the higher socio-economic (SEC) groups. Today, the four Kannada channels — Mirchi, Big, SFM and Rainbow add up to 75% of all listenership"

"The skew to Kannada is maintained even in the younger age groups."
Bengaluru's market is full of Kannadigas. What else did you expect?

Who are the buyers in Bengaluru? What is the purchasing power of Kannadigas? How many Kannadigas visit the funkiest malls in Bengaluru? Do Kannadigas mostly stick around stinking petty-shops? Will it work if businesses continue to use Hindi instead of Kannada in advertising? Naveen Chandra, Radio Mirchi's sales head for India, has answers to these important questions:
Advertisers need to break out of the common perception that Kannada is not hip. Kannada is very hot right now. Kannadigas have the highest purchasing power in Bangalore. We had commissioned a mall research in Bangalore through IMRB in 2007. It showed us that of all people visiting malls, Kannadigas had the most purchasing power and were the most likely to purchase goods and services available at malls. If any advertiser wants to reach the best audience in Bangalore, they have to bet on Kannada.
The truth which Naveen Chandra and Radio Mirchi have realized is apparent to anybody who just sticks his ear out and listens to the Kannada nature of Bengaluru, be it in malls or foodcourts or cinemas. Kannadigas, not others, form the market in Bengaluru.

Our failure to encash our own market

Given that the market is made up of Kannadigas and not anybody else, have we been able to encash on our own purchasing propensity? The answer is a sad no. Kannadigas have been happier playing the host while others “made hay” while the sun shined in Bengaluru.

That the first Kannadiga-run TV channel "Kasturi" took nearly 12 years to make an entry after Sun networks' foray into Karnataka is proof enough of the lackadaisical approach of Kannadigas in tapping even local markets.

While Andhra hotels are expanding into big chains, the likes of Adyar Ananda Bhavan setting up multiple outlets at various locations, TN based Subhikshas are penetrating into even the smaller towns banking on the purchasing power of Kannadigas, conventional Kannadiga enterprises like Iyengar bakeries or Udupi chains or Local co-op banks are finding fewer customers beyond the local Kannadigas. What's wrong with us?

Burning questions

Many questions remain unanswered:
  • Why was anyone under the belief that Kannadigas are a minority in Bengaluru?
  • Why was anyone under the belief that Kannada is spoken only by the lowest strata of society?
  • Why was anyone under the belief that Kannada is not considered "hot" by youth?
  • Why was anyone under the belief that Kannadigas go to Kalasipalya but not the Forum Mall?
  • Why did Radio Mirchi initially start off with Hindi programming?
  • Why have we been unsuccesful in tapping our own Market?
  • What does it take to turn this around?
It is not easy to answer the above questions. But there is no option for us other than to find the answers, get over the past and make the future ours.

Also read: ENGURU on customer service issues in Karnataka

Welcome!

Welcome to the English Blog of Banavasi Balaga. It's a pleasure.

Please make yourself comfortable while we begin to take off on a long intellectual journey whose destination is the Karnataka of our dreams. There is nothing that we Kannadigas cannot achieve, there is no force in the universe which can thwart our attempts when we become a People with One Goal: The all-round development of Kannada, Kannadiga and Karnataka (K3).

It is our intention to draw knowledge and experiences from every known field of human endeavor, from every land, clime and time. We'd like to become the forum of choice for the most constructive, hottest, coolest, most important, most intellectual discussions about K3 in the English language.

We have chosen to blog in the English language for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, as we learnt from our ENGURU experience, even after the introduction of Kannada Unicode, the world of computers continues to be somewhat partial to languages with linear scripts such as English, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian and the languages of Mainland Europe.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the English blog world which attracts many a Kannadiga reader has treated K3 with what one might describe as reckless abandon. Many Kannadigas themselves seem to think that they're left with no choice but to fall in line with and continue the tradition of those non-Kannadigas who possess dubious intentions about K3. Because of this habit, the neglect and abuse of K3 (particularly while employing the services of the English language) has become "cool" to Kannadigas themselves -- a development which is disastrous for our own future. From that "dreary desert sand of dead habit" we will attempt to free the English blog world -- with your cooperation.

And by the way, ENGURU will continue full steam. For your convenience, we've given links to the latest ENGURU posts on the sidebar of this blog.

Did you ask what we mean by the name KARNATIQUE? Keep guessing, fellas!