Kannadigas vs Tamils in Bangalore

by Guest Thu Apr 07, 2016 2:24 pm

For most Bangaloreans this issue is, as they say, as old as the hills. Kannadigas and Tamilians have been fighting in public and have been friends in private for many a decade in 'nammooru'. I've had many friends, but for some quirky reasons, all my close friends in Bangalore have been Tamilians.
During the Cauvery riots in the early 90s we didn't have any issues. Yet, this is one struggle that I expect will go on for a while, because there appears to be historical reasons behind the divide. Janaki Nair's excellent piece Battles for Bangalore: Reterritorialising the City sums it up rather neatly:

"More striking were the linguistic and cultural distinctions between the zones, since the Cantonment had attracted a large number of camp followers from Tamil speaking areas of the neighbouring Madras Presidency. Consequently, the Kannada language's restricted presence in the city was only altered in two decades of somewhat spectacular demographic growth, the decade of 1941-1951 when the population grew by 100 per cent, and the decade of 1971-81 when the city grew by 76 per cent. The city drew more migrants from districts within the state after the 1950s, significantly altering the linguistic map of the city"

So Tamilians can claim to have as much a right on Bangalore as Kannadigas. It is true though, that many Tamilians prefer to speak in their native tongue, even while talking to Kannadigas.
Try asking for directions in Frazer town. But equally, Kannadigas lose no opportunity in clamouring for the city to 'swept clean of Tamils'.

I actually think the whole Tamil vs Kannada issue is not such a big deal. Some people (not all of them politicians) tend to manipulate the residents of Bangalore to suit their own purposes.

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/india/h-r-venkatesh/kannada-vs-tamil-english-vs-hindi-2-14120-738880.html

by Guest Thu Apr 07, 2016 2:26 pm

I was working in Bangalore when some protests related to the Cauvery Water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka took place. Whenever these protests would take place my Tamil colleagues would pack up and rush back to their home towns in TN. I once asked them 'why don't you guys pretend that you are kannadigas'? And they said that a kannadiga would be able to tell that they are not kannadigas, and further that they do not speak any kannada.

Kannadigas vs Tamils in Bangalore

Kannadigas vs Tamils in Bangalore

Re: Kannadigas vs Tamils in Bangalore