The sticky 'Hindi Vs South Indians' Debate

Is Hindi the National Language? The debate that never ceases:

Well, were you taught in school that Hindi is the 'National Language' of India? I am sorry to break this to you, but you were mislead by your books. Article 343/1 of the Indian Constitution gives English and Hindi as the two 'official languages' of the Centre and there are 22 such official languages state wise excluding English.

Now, if Hindi is made compulsory in any Southern States of India, they will oppose it. Basically if Hindi is thrust down their throats there will be a controversy and related unrest. I'll tell you why..
The Dravidian people speak languages whose mother language is Tamil and not Sanskrit. The languages like Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam are later derivatives of Tamil. There is also an active debate about Tamil being older than Sanskrit (there is documentary evidence), however let us stick to the 'officially accepted' fact that both Sanskrit and Tamil are classical languages,i.e. of the same period. Now, given the above, Sanskrit based languages like Hindi or Marathi or Odiya all sound foreign to most South Indians just like how North Indians find Tamil and the other south Indian languages so alien. Due to this, they find it much easier to read, write and excel in English language than in Hindi. It is a more widely spoken language than Hindi and works for anyone within India or abroad. This goes for the practical difficulty.

North Indians generalize us South Indians and pass a stereotypical comment that south Indians are Hindi-haters and that they always make a face when they re spoken to in Hindi, which is SO WRONG in so many levels. Hindi is not hated by most of us. We just don't like the fact that a language spoken in just 3 or 4 states is thrust upon all of us as the 'National Language'. Just because hindi is spoken and understood by people of a majority of states doesn't mean it may become a representative language of this Nation. Well if Hindi is made mandatory in schools, (aka thrust upon one's throat), I say, why not learn Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Odiya, Kannada and Malayalam in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand?
The majority pro-Hindi people give an argument that it is better to know and learn more languages and that it will be an advantage when you travel within this Country. Well, come let's learn each other's language in Delhi?

See the problem is not with Hindi as such. The problem is when the likes of words such as 'Mandatory' and 'Compulsory' are used. I remember that last year(2016) there was a strict message from the centre to many govt organizations including the one I am employed in, that the use of Hindi in official interactions and letters is to be encouraged actively. What followed was confusion and ruckus. Because most officers could not even tell what their designations were called in Hindi. 'What is your Organization's name in Hindi' was almost always answered with blank looks or embarrassed smiles and scratching the ears. A lot of govt officials went for 'Hindi Classes' regardless of age, designation, etc. This was the indirect way of the Central Govt to impose learning Hindi because anyone who never studied Hindi wouldn't understand what their designations name was in Hindi. Over the last year we also saw that the initial hindi letters vanished with time and the hindi signatures are no longer found (atleast in my office) today! Then why this exercise? Why this confusion and inconvenience when the majority in this Nation can conveniently and easily learn and work with English?

See personally, I never studied Hindi in school by my own choice. I am proud of my mother tongue just like you all are of yours. I wanted to study and experience the joy in learning and understanding the rich and epic literature of my mother tongue, Tamil. However I did manage to learn spoken Hindi and the hindi alphabets alone thanks to my work onboard a ship which had a full Indian crew. I have to say, it had a major role in my extremely surprising spoken Bengali today. Because I knew a bit of spoken Hindi, I spoke in Bengali so quickly that I am complemented for it almost every other day by someone. But lo and behold, I learnt these two languages for my personal convenience and because I work here and deal with people in this part of the Country. Similarly let the people of the North, East and West learn the southern languages, (or atleast put an effort to speak a lil bit) when they work in the southern states, why not I ask? Or speak to the south Indians in English (which is equally welcome) if you are not able to learn the local language at all.
Instead if you go to Chennai or Vizag or Kochi and expect people there to know Hindi by default, be sure that you would be given a dirty look. Can I travel to Mumbai and expect to be understood if I speak in Tamil? No, right? "That is because Tamil is a regional language", will be the argument of many. I say, Hindi is also a regional language and I find no reason why anyone in South India would have a 'Need' to learn Hindi if he/she spoke and read English!

Interest in learning languages is a welcome trait. If a South Indian has a need to learn Hindi, he/she may, like in my case and many other south Indians I know. But I have a problem with the Governments coming and going in the Centre pushing it down the throats of my brethren.

DOT!

May we be encouraged to learn, experience and embrace all the rich cultures and languages of this country by choice!

For further reading, I request you all to read this well informed unbiased article :

http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/06/24/for-the-last-time-hindi-is-not-the-national-language-of-india_a_22952944/

DISCLAIMER:
ALL SAID AND DONE, I CONDEMN ALL VIOLENCE AND DAMAGE OF PROPERTY HAPPENING IN THIS REGARD. There can be nothing which cannot be solved through dialogues provided there is a listening ear!