"Oh, C'mon Rajesh, I know you are kidding! " I am tired of listening to these words again and again each time someone realises that I don't know to read & write Kannada. What adds to their disbelief, is the fact that I speak a good, sometimes sanskritised, close-to-purist Kannada. As they slowly overcome the disbelief, they inquire - "How come? I thought Kannada is your mother tongue, isn't it so?........"
If you too are amused as you are reading this, please don't be so. I have a proper justification. But, lets not get into "why so?" because its anyway a thing of the past(I hope). I have spent the last few months learning Kannada & I can now read and write(type to be precise) Kannada pretty decently. (Agreed that "decently" is too fuzzy an adjective, but lets put that thought aside for the moment).
It is not just a matter of eagerness but compulsion that has driven me to learn kannada. My job requires me to be able to read & write Kannada decently to survive.But, as I learn more & more of it, the more complex it gets. I have two big problems with kannada as a language-
2. Writing Kannada gives you a feel of sculpting. The number of twists, turns & curves are huge! To write a simple word, say "ಕನ್ನಡ"(Kannada), you need to lift the pen nearly eight times off the paper! In English, the same word could be written without lifting the pen even once ! :P
So, how does our national language hindi fare? To write कन्नड the count is a mere four. Besides, the number of curved lines is a lot less!
Since I can do very little about it, I will try to embrace Kannada and patiently hope that it embraces me too!
Dear Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, Jai Karnataka, Mr Vatal Nagaraj & other Kannada ಅಭಿಮಾನಿಗಳೆ(fans), I sincerely hope & pray that you are not reading this post. Just in case you do-
ಸಿರಿಗನ್ನಡಂ ಗೆಲ್ಗೆ!
If you too are amused as you are reading this, please don't be so. I have a proper justification. But, lets not get into "why so?" because its anyway a thing of the past(I hope). I have spent the last few months learning Kannada & I can now read and write(type to be precise) Kannada pretty decently. (Agreed that "decently" is too fuzzy an adjective, but lets put that thought aside for the moment).
It is not just a matter of eagerness but compulsion that has driven me to learn kannada. My job requires me to be able to read & write Kannada decently to survive.But, as I learn more & more of it, the more complex it gets. I have two big problems with kannada as a language-
1. Kannada is too fussy about pronunciations. In hindi, you only have के(ke) कॆ(kai). In kannada you have one more addition - ಕೆ(ke) ಕೇ(kE) ಕೈ(kai). For example, there is only one way to write kendra in hindi which is केन्द्र् . However, kannada allows you to have - ಕೆಂದ್ರ(kendra) as well as ಕೇಂದ್ರ(kEndra). What a mess! In my honest opinion, most of kannada mistakes could be traced to it.
2. Writing Kannada gives you a feel of sculpting. The number of twists, turns & curves are huge! To write a simple word, say "ಕನ್ನಡ"(Kannada), you need to lift the pen nearly eight times off the paper! In English, the same word could be written without lifting the pen even once ! :P
So, how does our national language hindi fare? To write कन्नड the count is a mere four. Besides, the number of curved lines is a lot less!
Since I can do very little about it, I will try to embrace Kannada and patiently hope that it embraces me too!
Dear Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, Jai Karnataka, Mr Vatal Nagaraj & other Kannada ಅಭಿಮಾನಿಗಳೆ(fans), I sincerely hope & pray that you are not reading this post. Just in case you do-
ಸಿರಿಗನ್ನಡಂ ಗೆಲ್ಗೆ!
Dear Rajesha, i believe your major difficulty is with the letter K.. for that, an innovative solution will be to write a 8 and continue to put the kombu on top - you can do all that without lifting your pen.... that will solve the problem.. brr.. i hope amogh doesn't figure it out.. as it is, he is too innovative with his handwriting :(
ReplyDeleteabout the curves not much we can do about.. we are indians and we like our curves!
Suresh, my major difficulty is with most of the characters! But, thanks for the suggestion. Keep them coming!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to know about Amoghi's innovations with Kannada writing. I should spend some time with him. :)
Kannadadavanage nenae kannada kalididrae inyaru kalithare.
ReplyDeleteThe simplicity of this language is its complexity. In english there is no difference between "Madegowda" (Made) & "Made for each other". Try learning you will enjoy it
Kannada is a super-awesome language with all its curves. Imagine the world without curves! Curves present at the right places add glamour to everything sentient and insentient. Thank Kannada 'Aksharas'(letters)for making the Kshara(transient) world more curvy and enjoyable. Twists and turns add spice to life. Thanks to Kannada for adding more twists and turns. And about lifting your pen. You can appreciate curves only when you lift your pen ! Playing with curves you shall soon discover the pleasure of lifting your pen as many times to write curvy Kannada words.
ReplyDelete