A north Indian's tryst with Telugu

Staff Reporter

His love for the language began in Allahabad during a pro-Hindi stir by locals His love for the language began when he was caught in a demonstration taken by locals in favour of Hindi in Allahabad.

His mother tongue is Bhojpuri
Accolades for the standing counsel of Allahabad High Court at a conference of Telugu associations
Tutored by an official from Andhra Pradesh, he has been involved in learning the language for 36 years
His translation of a Telugu novel into Hindi released by Rajiv Gandhi
Now, he is busy writing a book on comparative linguistics

HYDERABAD: When Telugus representing associations from different parts of the globe got together to confer on ways of preserving and promoting their culture and language, one voice was heard in rapt attention. Interestingly, it was that of a man whose mother tongue happened to be Bhojpuri!

Suryanath Upadhyaya, standing counsel of the Allahabad High Court, won accolades at a conference of national and international Telugu associations on Saturday when he declared, "Telugu naa mathru bhasha kadu, Telugu naa abhimana bhasha (Telugu is not my mother tongue yet it is my favourite language)".

Mr. Upadhyaya was bitten by the bug of Telugu in the late 1960s and he went on to learn the language and even translate a Telugu book into Hindi.

The elderly North Indian advocate's tryst with Telugu began when he was caught in a demonstration taken up in favour of Hindi by locals in Allahabad.

Indomitable spirit

"The demonstrators gheraoed the court and were allowing only those vowing to work in Hindi. I was peeved at the agitation and thought it to be an inappropriate way of popularising the use of Hindi," he recalls. Mr.

Upadhyaya took the agitators to task and on returning home decided to learn at least one South Indian language and chose Telugu for the pursuit.

His initial attempts to locate a Telugu teacher proved futile. Undeterred, he kept enquiring about it and finally managed to meet an official, Anjaneyulu, who hailed from Andhra Pradesh. "Mr.Anjaneyulu agreed to teach me Telugu and for the last 36 years I have been using my spare time to learn the language."

Mr.Upadhyaya went on to translate a Telugu book, Chivukula Purushottam's `Edi Papam' and titled `Kya Hai Paap' was released by the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and the foreword was written by another former Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao.

The efforts turned him into a `serious student of linguistics' and these days he is busy writing a book on `Comparative Linguistics of Telugu and Hindu' with special reference to his own dialect Bhojpuri'.

How old is he ? Mr.Upadhyaya breaks into a smile and replies in Telugu, "Ee prashanaku jawabu ledu (There is no answer to this question)."

http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/11/stories/2005091115480200.htm

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The underlined words should surely be 'Comparative Linguistics of Telugu and Hindi'

in the article, at the very end, the lawyer says in telugu: Ee prashanaku jawabu ledu (which means there is no answer to this question). Now in hindi jawab = answer and prashna or prashan = question and ye = this.

Rashmun wrote:in the article, at the very end, the lawyer says in telugu: Ee prashanaku jawabu ledu (which means there is no answer to this question). Now in hindi jawab = answer and prashna or prashan = question and ye = this.

Telugu is heavily sanskritized. It's easy to learn it.

One more from the above excerpt. How many Sanskrit words do you find here:

"Telugu naa mathru bhasha kadu, Telugu naa abhimana bhasha (Telugu is not my mother tongue yet it is my favourite language)".

jawabu doesn't sound very sanskritic. in fact it sounds urdu. the tamil words for question and answer are kELvi and vidai (or bathil). are there any telugu words that sound remotely like that?

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:jawabu doesn't sound very sanskritic. in fact it sounds urdu. the tamil words for question and answer  are kELvi and vidai (or bathil). are there any telugu words that sound remotely like that?

badulu => response in telugu. Closer to 'bathil'
samadhanam => is also used and is of sanskrit origin

smArtha wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:jawabu doesn't sound very sanskritic. in fact it sounds urdu. the tamil words for question and answer  are kELvi and vidai (or bathil). are there any telugu words that sound remotely like that?

badulu => response in telugu. Closer to 'bathil'
samadhanam => is also used and is of sanskrit origin

"badulu" can also mean a small loan in Telugu. "che-badulu" is a small loan without papers.
"badulu" can also mean an "alternative." Naidu badulu Reddy CM ayyunte Kurnool rajadhani ai-undedi (If Reddy became CM instead of Naidu, Kurnool would be the capital).

indophile wrote:
"badulu" can also mean an "alternative." Naidu badulu Reddy CM ayyunte Kurnool rajadhani ai-undedi (If Reddy became CM instead of Naidu, Kurnool would be the capital).

this usage is also there in tamil.

Kinnera wrote:

Rashmun wrote:in the article, at the very end, the lawyer says in telugu: Ee prashanaku jawabu ledu (which means there is no answer to this question). Now in hindi jawab = answer and prashna or prashan = question and ye = this.

Telugu is heavily sanskritized. It's easy to learn it.

One more from the above excerpt. How many Sanskrit words do you find here:

"Telugu naa mathru bhasha kadu, Telugu naa abhimana bhasha (Telugu is not my mother tongue yet it is my favourite language)".

Just giving the Telugu word and corresponding hindi word.

Naa = nahi ( for the first usage of naa, I think the second usage of naa has a different meaning)
Mathra = maata
Abhimana = abhiman
Bhasha = bhasha

Telugu seems to be closer to hindi than to tamil at least from the point of view of its vocabulary.

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

Rashmun wrote:in the article, at the very end, the lawyer says in telugu: Ee prashanaku jawabu ledu (which means there is no answer to this question). Now in hindi jawab = answer and prashna or prashan = question and ye = this.

Telugu is heavily sanskritized. It's easy to learn it.

One more from the above excerpt. How many Sanskrit words do you find here:

"Telugu naa mathru bhasha kadu, Telugu naa abhimana bhasha (Telugu is not my mother tongue yet it is my favourite language)".

Just giving the Telugu word and corresponding hindi word.

Naa = nahi ( for the first usage of naa, I think the second usage of naa has a different meaning)

Naa = my
kadu=not

naa in this context (quite sure) means "my". the first person singular in tamil is very close - nAn. but the possessive case in tamil is enadu.

so naa mathrubasha ledu will not work?

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

Rashmun wrote:in the article, at the very end, the lawyer says in telugu: Ee prashanaku jawabu ledu (which means there is no answer to this question). Now in hindi jawab = answer and prashna or prashan = question and ye = this.

Telugu is heavily sanskritized. It's easy to learn it.

One more from the above excerpt. How many Sanskrit words do you find here:

"Telugu naa mathru bhasha kadu, Telugu naa abhimana bhasha (Telugu is not my mother tongue yet it is my favourite language)".

Just giving the Telugu word and corresponding hindi word.

Naa = nahi ( for the first usage of naa, I think the second usage of naa has a different meaning)
Mathra = maata
Abhimana = abhiman
Bhasha = bhasha

Naa here is "my/mine," short for naa-yokka
mathR bhasha is mother tongue (it's not "mathru," it's mathR like kRshNa)
"abhimana" is something attached to. "abhimana" in Telugu can also mean pride.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:naa in this context (quite sure) means "my". the first person singular in tamil is very close - nAn. but the possessive case in tamil is enadu.

so naa mathrubasha ledu will not work?

No, it doesn't work. Ledu=don't have.

btw, i was conversing with a tamilian in tamil recently with whatever tamil knowledge i have (he knew no other language except tamil). I was confused about the usage of 'nareeya' and 'romba'. i used both in different sentences. He seemed to have got what i was saying, but i wasn't sure which one was correct.

Kinnera wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:naa in this context (quite sure) means "my". the first person singular in tamil is very close - nAn. but the possessive case in tamil is enadu.

so naa mathrubasha ledu will not work?

No, it doesn't work. Ledu=don't have.

btw, i was conversing with a tamilian in tamil recently with whatever tamil knowledge i have (he knew no other language except tamil). I was confused about the usage of 'nareeya' and 'romba'. i used both in different sentences. He seemed to have got what i was saying, but i wasn't sure which one was correct.

nari is a fox. so he could have mistaken nareeya to mean "to the fox" or "of the fox".

niRaiya which is probably what you had in mind means full or a lot of. romba is an informal usage of niramba, i.e. filled or excessive.

but this sort of vowel displacement is not uncommon in brahmin speech patterns. you probably heard the word spoken by a tambrahm and hence the vowel displacement.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:naa in this context (quite sure) means "my". the first person singular in tamil is very close - nAn. but the possessive case in tamil is enadu.

so naa mathrubasha ledu will not work?

No, it doesn't work. Ledu=don't have.

btw, i was conversing with a tamilian in tamil recently with whatever tamil knowledge i have (he knew no other language except tamil). I was confused about the usage of 'nareeya' and 'romba'. i used both in different sentences. He seemed to have got what i was saying, but i wasn't sure which one was correct.

nari is a fox. so he could have mistaken nareeya to mean "to the fox" or "of the fox".

niRaiya which is probably what you had in mind means full or a lot of. romba is an informal usage of niramba, i.e. filled.

but this sort of vowel displacement is not uncommon in brahmin speech patterns. you probably heard the word spoken by a tambrahm and hence the vowel displacement.

I don't think he'd have mistaken it for a fox. The context was me conveying that he had a lot of ---. I am sure i pronounced it the way i heard it and he sure got it. Looks like niraiya is the right word in that context, not romba. i used both, just in case.

Kinnera wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:naa in this context (quite sure) means "my". the first person singular in tamil is very close - nAn. but the possessive case in tamil is enadu.

so naa mathrubasha ledu will not work?

No, it doesn't work. Ledu=don't have.

btw, i was conversing with a tamilian in tamil recently with whatever tamil knowledge i have (he knew no other language except tamil). I was confused about the usage of 'nareeya' and 'romba'. i used both in different sentences. He seemed to have got what i was saying, but i wasn't sure which one was correct.

nari is a fox. so he could have mistaken nareeya to mean "to the fox" or "of the fox".

niRaiya which is probably what you had in mind means full or a lot of. romba is an informal usage of niramba, i.e. filled.

but this sort of vowel displacement is not uncommon in brahmin speech patterns. you probably heard the word spoken by a tambrahm and hence the vowel displacement.

I don't think he'd have mistaken it for a fox. The context was me conveying that he had a lot of ---. I am sure i pronounced it the way i heard it and he sure got it. Looks like niraiya is the right word in that context, not romba. i used both, just in case.

You may cringe at this one, max. The same day, i had to converse with an Afghan and a Nepali. Ironically, I was able to communicate with them more effectively than with someone from my neighboring state from india. Both the afghan and nepali knew hindi/urdu, but our tamilian knew no other language except tamil. He was so grateful that i knew at least a bit of tamil and i was too.

Kinnera wrote:
You may cringe at this one, max. The same day, i had to converse with an Afghan and a Nepali. Ironically, I was able to communicate with them more effectively than with someone from my neighboring state from india. Both the afghan and nepali knew hindi/urdu, but our tamilian knew no other language except tamil. He was so grateful that i knew at least a bit of tamil and i was too.

what happened to good old english?

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kinnera wrote:
You may cringe at this one, max. The same day, i had to converse with an Afghan and a Nepali. Ironically, I was able to communicate with them more effectively than with someone from my neighboring state from india. Both the afghan and nepali knew hindi/urdu, but our tamilian knew no other language except tamil. He was so grateful that i knew at least a bit of tamil and i was too.

what happened to good old english?

It was a voluntary mobile clinic. Most of them were poor blacks, mexicans and immigrants from different countries. Most immigrants (and mexicans) didn't know a word of english. Some knowledge of hindi proves to be very useful. One can communicate pretty well with ppl from afghanistan, pakistan, nepal, bangladesh and most of india with that knowledge.

Kinnera wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kinnera wrote:
You may cringe at this one, max. The same day, i had to converse with an Afghan and a Nepali. Ironically, I was able to communicate with them more effectively than with someone from my neighboring state from india. Both the afghan and nepali knew hindi/urdu, but our tamilian knew no other language except tamil. He was so grateful that i knew at least a bit of tamil and i was too.

what happened to good old english?

It was a voluntary mobile clinic. Most of them were poor blacks, mexicans and immigrants from different countries. Most immigrants (and mexicans) didn't know a word of english. Some knowledge of hindi proves to be very useful. One can communicate pretty well with ppl from afghanistan, pakistan, nepal, bangladesh and most of india with that knowledge.

This is what I have been trying to explain to a few obstinate mules on this forum. Many thanks for your post.

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kinnera wrote:
You may cringe at this one, max. The same day, i had to converse with an Afghan and a Nepali. Ironically, I was able to communicate with them more effectively than with someone from my neighboring state from india. Both the afghan and nepali knew hindi/urdu, but our tamilian knew no other language except tamil. He was so grateful that i knew at least a bit of tamil and i was too.

what happened to good old english?

It was a voluntary mobile clinic. Most of them were poor blacks, mexicans and immigrants from different countries. Most immigrants (and mexicans) didn't know a word of english. Some knowledge of hindi proves to be very useful. One can communicate pretty well with ppl from afghanistan, pakistan, nepal, bangladesh and most of india with that knowledge.

This is what I have been trying to explain to a few obstinate mules on this forum. Many thanks for your post.

Rashmun, any kind of imposition like environment is going to turn ppl against it. That shouldn't be done.

Kinnera wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kinnera wrote:
You may cringe at this one, max. The same day, i had to converse with an Afghan and a Nepali. Ironically, I was able to communicate with them more effectively than with someone from my neighboring state from india. Both the afghan and nepali knew hindi/urdu, but our tamilian knew no other language except tamil. He was so grateful that i knew at least a bit of tamil and i was too.

what happened to good old english?

It was a voluntary mobile clinic. Most of them were poor blacks, mexicans and immigrants from different countries. Most immigrants (and mexicans) didn't know a word of english. Some knowledge of hindi proves to be very useful. One can communicate pretty well with ppl from afghanistan, pakistan, nepal, bangladesh and most of india with that knowledge.

This is what I have been trying to explain to a few obstinate mules on this forum. Many thanks for your post.

Rashmun, any kind of imposition like environment is going to turn ppl against it. That shouldn't be done.

Of course, I have repeatedly said that I am against imposition to the mules.

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kinnera wrote:
You may cringe at this one, max. The same day, i had to converse with an Afghan and a Nepali. Ironically, I was able to communicate with them more effectively than with someone from my neighboring state from india. Both the afghan and nepali knew hindi/urdu, but our tamilian knew no other language except tamil. He was so grateful that i knew at least a bit of tamil and i was too.

what happened to good old english?

It was a voluntary mobile clinic. Most of them were poor blacks, mexicans and immigrants from different countries. Most immigrants (and mexicans) didn't know a word of english. Some knowledge of hindi proves to be very useful. One can communicate pretty well with ppl from afghanistan, pakistan, nepal, bangladesh and most of india with that knowledge.

This is what I have been trying to explain to a few obstinate mules on this forum. Many thanks for your post.

Does that include your partner in "the clique against cliquishness" ?

b_A wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kinnera wrote:
You may cringe at this one, max. The same day, i had to converse with an Afghan and a Nepali. Ironically, I was able to communicate with them more effectively than with someone from my neighboring state from india. Both the afghan and nepali knew hindi/urdu, but our tamilian knew no other language except tamil. He was so grateful that i knew at least a bit of tamil and i was too.

what happened to good old english?

It was a voluntary mobile clinic. Most of them were poor blacks, mexicans and immigrants from different countries. Most immigrants (and mexicans) didn't know a word of english. Some knowledge of hindi proves to be very useful. One can communicate pretty well with ppl from afghanistan, pakistan, nepal, bangladesh and most of india with that knowledge.

This is what I have been trying to explain to a few obstinate mules on this forum. Many thanks for your post.

Does that include your partner in "the clique against cliquishness" ?

Luke Warmus is against hindi fanatics who wish to impose hindi on others. I am also against such fanatics. I have expressed my distaste for sanskritised Hindi--favored by the fanatics--in the past.

Rashmun wrote:

b_A wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

what happened to good old english?

It was a voluntary mobile clinic. Most of them were poor blacks, mexicans and immigrants from different countries. Most immigrants (and mexicans) didn't know a word of english. Some knowledge of hindi proves to be very useful. One can communicate pretty well with ppl from afghanistan, pakistan, nepal, bangladesh and most of india with that knowledge.

This is what I have been trying to explain to a few obstinate mules on this forum. Many thanks for your post.

Does that include your partner in "the clique against cliquishness" ?

Luke Warmus is against hindi fanatics who wish to impose hindi on others. I am also against such fanatics. I have expressed my distaste for sanskritised Hindi--favored by the fanatics--in the past.

Can you get your partner to affirm that statement that he is only against the hindi fanatics?
I doubt if he knows what sanskritised hindi is.

Rashmun wrote:
Luke Warmus is against hindi fanatics who wish to impose hindi on others. I am also against such fanatics. I have expressed my distaste for sanskritised Hindi--favored by the fanatics--in the past.

Actually, Sanskritized hindi can be learned easily by others as most indian languages are hugely influenced by Sanskrit.

Kinnera wrote:

Rashmun wrote:
Luke Warmus is against hindi fanatics who wish to impose hindi on others. I am also against such fanatics. I have expressed my distaste for sanskritised Hindi--favored by the fanatics--in the past.

Actually, Sanskritized hindi can be learned easily by others as most indian languages are hugely influenced by Sanskrit.

Spoken hindi has around 70% Sanskrit words as part of its vocabulary. Sanskritised Hindi tries to do away with all commonly used non-Sanskrit words and instead substitutes for them esoteric or less commonly used Sanskrit words.

For instance pratibhu aavedan Patra ( meaning bail application) for the commonly used word zamaanat. Vivaahit instead of shaadi-shuda, kahaa instead of bola, pravaran Kendra instead of Bharti daftar ( selection center) and so on.