New York City Mayor Greets Indians in Hindi

New York City Mayor Greets Indians in Hindi

Saroja Thanga Raj

We used to live in New York City (United States of America (USA)) many years ago. Indian community in the city used to celebrate Indian Independence Day and Republic Day. New York City mayor issued a statement for one of these celebrations, greeting the Indian community. His greetings included a few Hindi words. Although I do know Hindi and understood it, it upset me because I know that many Indians in the city, including my husband, do not know Hindi and did not understand what the mayor was saying.

I sent a polite letter to the mayor describing the language situation in India and telling him that many Indians in New York City did not understand what he said in Hindi, and that some would have been offended by his Hindi words implying that all Indians accept Hindi as the lingua franca. I do not have the letter with me. This is the gist of what I wrote.

"Hindi is neither the mother tongue of all Indians nor the lingua franca of India. Hindi and its dialects are the mother tongue of about one-third the population, and they live in the north-central part of India. There are many other well-developed languages in India, each spoken by tens of millions of people.

Although I know that the honorable mayor said a few words in Hindi with good intensions, it may offend some non-Hindi Indians. Some South and East Indian states, with a combined population much greater than that of United States of America opposed making Hindi the official language of India. People of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, with a current population of 60 million, fought tooth and nail against it. Indian security forces shot and killed over 60 unarmed protesters during the 1965 Tamil Nadu Students Anti-Hindi Agitation. Even today Hindi is not taught in Tamil Nadu State schools. Many in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Tripura and West Bengal are also opposed to making Hindi the official language of India although their resistance is much less than that in Tamilnadu."

I know that the mayor might not have read the letter. But I am certain that some member of his staff would have read it and, likely, the next time that mayor intends to use Hindi words to greet Indians he might be advised against it.

There are3 2 more similar stories at

http://www.tamiltribune.com/11/0101.html

funny she wasnt upset bcz her husband cudnt speak/understand hindi but bcz he didnt understand wat mayor said

poor mayor greets in one language and u send a letter whining about how many people died fighting indian govt )
tell us if she ever got a reply back from mayor **yawns**

hey KV,

we get promotional pamphlets from McDonalds in Hindi here in bay area....your friend might wana write a letter to Jim Skinner maybe

seven wrote:hey KV,

we get promotional pamphlets from McDonalds in Hindi here in bay area....your friend might wana write a letter to Jim Skinner maybe

If true I will never again go to this place.

ofcoz its true !!
well yea i was teasing u i admit but its not something i made up )

maybe i will scan it and post here ) if u wana eat there, do it tonite ( b4 i post the pic)

seven wrote:ofcoz its true !!
well yea i was teasing u i admit but its not something i made up )

maybe i will scan it and post here ) if u wana eat there, do it tonite ( b4 i post the pic)

If McDonalds is putting advertisewments in US in Hindi, many Tamils will boycott McDonalds and go to Burger King, Jack in the Box, Wendys.

yea watever ok....u can write a letter to the ceo of McD telling him how it offends ) some of the tamils **yawns**

ask him to send u a pamphlet in tamil ...so foolish by god !!
u wont eat there bcz u were not invited in tamil ) oh no wait u wont eat there bcz some others were invited in hindi LMAO

Kayalvizhi wrote:If McDonalds is putting advertisewments in US in Hindi, many Tamils will boycott McDonalds and go to Burger King, Jack in the Box, Wendys.

That makes it one customer per each chain. I think I will buy the stock of those companies in anticipation of this significant uptick in business.

lol

If McDonalds is putting ads in Hindi aND IGNORE other South asian languaGES like Tamil, Malayalam, I will see to it that there would protests in front of therir restaurantsa in Tamil Nadu and call for boycott.

I have to see proof that McDonalds is putting ads in Hindi aND IGNORE other South asian languaGES like Tamil, Malayalam

Kayalvizhi wrote:I have to see proof

Why this new approach?

as much as it wud please me to post proof here, if my not doing so will prevent protests in TN, i will not post it

calm down KV

HA also post the pic of McD door that welcomes you in Hindi ..it will drive KV totally c r a z y !!!!

this is as good a place as any to stick this:

Il Professore, are you fighting Mickey D's in your own way now?

Kayalvizhi wrote:

seven wrote:ofcoz its true !!
well yea i was teasing u i admit but its not something i made up )

maybe i will scan it and post here ) if u wana eat there, do it tonite ( b4 i post the pic)

If McDonalds is putting advertisewments in US in Hindi, many Tamils will boycott McDonalds and go to Burger King, Jack in the Box, Wendys.

One is better off boycotting all fastfood restaurant places. There are only 2 fastfood places I dont mind eating. In-n-Out burger and chipotle.

what do you expect, not one food chain in america serves complete health food. People eat out all the time and there are very few healthy choices!!

PseudoIntellectual wrote:

Kayalvizhi wrote:

seven wrote:ofcoz its true !!
well yea i was teasing u i admit but its not something i made up )

maybe i will scan it and post here ) if u wana eat there, do it tonite ( b4 i post the pic)

If McDonalds is putting advertisewments in US in Hindi, many Tamils will boycott McDonalds and go to Burger King, Jack in the Box, Wendys.

One is better off boycotting all fastfood restaurant places. There are only 2 fastfood places I dont mind eating. In-n-Out burger and chipotle.

i love the chipotle vegeterian bowl. they charge a dollar extra for guacamole but its free with vege bowl...superlike it

The photos may be from some Hindi city. Show me its is in US or TN.

Kayalvizhi wrote:The photos may be from some Hindi city. Show me its is in US or TN.

Those pictures were actually taken in Ghaziabad.

Kayalvizhi wrote:The photos may be from some Hindi city. Show me its is in US or TN.

http://www.cityspoonful.com/mcdonalds-asian-new-yorkers/

HTH

Hellsangel wrote:Those pictures were actually taken in Ghaziabad.

Then you Hindians should object to all the English

W

Kayalvizhi wrote:

Hellsangel wrote:Those pictures were actually taken in Ghaziabad.

Then you Hindians should object to all the English

Sevaji would call it "Roman" not English.

*paging kayalvizhi*

please read blabberwock's post above:

http://www.cityspoonful.com/mcdonalds-asian-new-yorkers/hindiflier-2/

when do the protests in mcdonald outlets in TN start?

KV,

The signature dish of McD, Chennai is McAloo Tikki.

Should we not do something about this? At the very least, change its name to McUruLai <fill in the tamil word for tikki here>.

BW

lmaooooo.

also "maharaja mac" (big mac chicken) should be called thalaivar mac or similar in chennai.

The mayor would not have read the letter. His underlings wouldn't have given it the time of day, if they did read it. This lady wasted her time and it is weird that you are looking for validation from a mayor who is engaging in some political gimmickry.

Kayalvizhi wrote:The photos may be from some Hindi city. Show me its is in US or TN.

The bus on which the ad is posted belongs to the Valley Transportation Authority, the local transit agency of Silicon Valley. For more information, you can check out http://www.vta.org.

When do the protests and boycott of McD in TN begin?

I have seen this ad on the bus. The first time we saw it, my wife even took a picture of it. I am sure it is just a gimmick to get the attention of the silicon valley indian crowd. On the other hand, it could be a master franchisee in the valley who is indian, who had this brainstorm. Considering the low penetration of that market segment by McD's, this may not be a bad idea.

Hellsangel wrote:Il Professore, are you fighting Mickey D's in your own way now?

i like their newman's own brand of coffee, but yeah why would anyone who wants to eat healthy want to see the inside of a mickey d? i hate the bastards as much as i hate tobacco companies.