As they say, first impression is the last impression. My encounter of knowing tamilian started when I was 13 year old, traveling to TamilNadu with parents on a road trip, involving Madras, Rameshwar, Kanyakumari, Madurai and Kodaikanal. Prior to that I have visited many other Indian states apart from home state Maharashtra such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhyapradesh, Jammu&Kashmir, Punjab, Karanataka, Orissa, West Bengal etc.
Even at early age, I was very fond of News, particularly political news and doordarshan. Doordarshan was the only available channel to see in television in late 80's for common people. I was a regular viewer of Hindi News which had a timing of 8.30 in the evening. All other states showed regional news at 7.30. I got a shock of a life, when we landed in Tamil Nadu in the evening and I was looking for Hindi News at 8.30 but instead they were showing Tamil News during that time in Tamil Nadu.
My second encounter happened early in the morning when I went downstairs in hotel to collect the newspaper and there were only English and Tamil newspaper available. I happen to ask someone, where can I find other newspaper and he suggested around the corner. Curiosity made me go down the corner and I accidentally asked someone in Hindi, "Bhai Sahab, newspaper kidhar milega?". Me, speaking in Hindi created a bit of anger in his face and he walked away. Later on, I was explained that, Hindi is not a language to be used in Tamil Nadu, and you can either speak English or Tamil if you need a better assistance.
Well, That is about it. Inception of hatred towards tamilian started from that point onwards. How can you hate Hindi? and If you do hate Hindi that means you are probably not going to like Bollywood Movies as well, which was another passion of mine growing up in Bombay-Mumbai.
Over the years, I made a friend who happened to be a Tamilian who grew up in Mumbai. Gem of a person and the best friend you can ever have. I made another friend who was a Telugu but someone who grew up in Mumbai and he hated a regular telugu people grew up in Andhra. This taught me that it is not the mother language but it depends where you grow up and with whom you grow up.
When you grow up as a kid with various other ethnicity, it allows you to develop certain level of understanding and respect for other people. I kept observing that there are differences in people and their behavior, depending upon how they are growing up. A tamilian growing up in tamilnadu will be craving for another tamilian but that may not be the exact case of a tamilian growing up in Mumbai or Delhi, because he or she will be comfortable communicating in different language, taste, hobbies, life in general.
Hindi has been disliked by many of the Southern states in India, because that is not a natural language of communication used by them. However, over the time, Hindi has found acceptance in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala etc but Tamil Nadu still remains a place where it is still considered as an alien language. In fact, people who grew up in 80's and 90's in Tamil Nadu, developed a sort of hatred towards Hindi and Hindi speaking crowd. I hate that "hatred". I hate the fact that Tamilians grew up in Tamilnadu are not able to communicate with fellow indians in Hindi.
If you are not accepting "Hindi", you are not accepting other "Indians" as well. No wonder few tamilians went out of their way to kill Prime Minister of India just to support other tamilians from other country.
For most people living in India, their region comes first when they are communicating with people from other regions. A Punjabi will show more affection towards another punjabi and so is Bengali and so on. However general perception is India First, Region second. Tamilians grew up in Tamil Nadu, for them, Tamil comes first and India comes second.
Even at early age, I was very fond of News, particularly political news and doordarshan. Doordarshan was the only available channel to see in television in late 80's for common people. I was a regular viewer of Hindi News which had a timing of 8.30 in the evening. All other states showed regional news at 7.30. I got a shock of a life, when we landed in Tamil Nadu in the evening and I was looking for Hindi News at 8.30 but instead they were showing Tamil News during that time in Tamil Nadu.
My second encounter happened early in the morning when I went downstairs in hotel to collect the newspaper and there were only English and Tamil newspaper available. I happen to ask someone, where can I find other newspaper and he suggested around the corner. Curiosity made me go down the corner and I accidentally asked someone in Hindi, "Bhai Sahab, newspaper kidhar milega?". Me, speaking in Hindi created a bit of anger in his face and he walked away. Later on, I was explained that, Hindi is not a language to be used in Tamil Nadu, and you can either speak English or Tamil if you need a better assistance.
Well, That is about it. Inception of hatred towards tamilian started from that point onwards. How can you hate Hindi? and If you do hate Hindi that means you are probably not going to like Bollywood Movies as well, which was another passion of mine growing up in Bombay-Mumbai.
Over the years, I made a friend who happened to be a Tamilian who grew up in Mumbai. Gem of a person and the best friend you can ever have. I made another friend who was a Telugu but someone who grew up in Mumbai and he hated a regular telugu people grew up in Andhra. This taught me that it is not the mother language but it depends where you grow up and with whom you grow up.
When you grow up as a kid with various other ethnicity, it allows you to develop certain level of understanding and respect for other people. I kept observing that there are differences in people and their behavior, depending upon how they are growing up. A tamilian growing up in tamilnadu will be craving for another tamilian but that may not be the exact case of a tamilian growing up in Mumbai or Delhi, because he or she will be comfortable communicating in different language, taste, hobbies, life in general.
Hindi has been disliked by many of the Southern states in India, because that is not a natural language of communication used by them. However, over the time, Hindi has found acceptance in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala etc but Tamil Nadu still remains a place where it is still considered as an alien language. In fact, people who grew up in 80's and 90's in Tamil Nadu, developed a sort of hatred towards Hindi and Hindi speaking crowd. I hate that "hatred". I hate the fact that Tamilians grew up in Tamilnadu are not able to communicate with fellow indians in Hindi.
If you are not accepting "Hindi", you are not accepting other "Indians" as well. No wonder few tamilians went out of their way to kill Prime Minister of India just to support other tamilians from other country.
For most people living in India, their region comes first when they are communicating with people from other regions. A Punjabi will show more affection towards another punjabi and so is Bengali and so on. However general perception is India First, Region second. Tamilians grew up in Tamil Nadu, for them, Tamil comes first and India comes second.
