George Bernard Shaw said that England and America are two nations separated by one language (namely, English). So also, Andhra and Telangana will be, when the separate state is formed, two states separated by one language (Telugu). In the past, the sons of the soil, that is, Telangana people, used to speak in a rather unnatural (to them) language, out of deference to the people from Andhra. Andhra Telugu is full of polite expressions: for instance, if you don’t know a person well, and he is about your age, it is customary in Andhra to use the expression ‘meeru’ (plural of ‘you’), whereas, the people of Hyderabad and Telangana in general say ‘nuvvu’ (singular ‘you’). For long, in interactions with the people of Andhra, the Telangana people would use ‘meeru’ and such polite words.
Of late, however, the Telangana people have started asserting their language – or their dialect, irrespective of who they are talking to. I had a shock when I went to the grocer where we used to by our monthly supplies. I was away from Hyderabad for several years and the store owner had seen me after a long time. He asked me, without thinking twice, “Eppudochinav?” (When did (singular) you come?) I was awfully hurt and told him off. I said I use the plural you always, and what do you mean by using the singular. He obviously did not realize that he had taken to speaking in his ‘native dialect’ to an Andhra person. I could not reconcile with the insulting tone, although I do realize it was only a part of a new wave of awareness and assertiveness in the communication of the Telangana people: I took my custom to another grocer. I want to make amends one of these days and go back to my old grocer, one day, but right now the insult rankles.
Then there was the steward in a bar I used to frequent: one day he came round to take my order and casually said, “Order ichinava” (again, the use of a singular). It should have been: “Order ichinara?” I let it pass, but never visited that bar again. (In time to come, I stopped drinking altogether, not because I was insulted in a bar by the steward but for medical reasons.) The funniest part is, I know that these people are speaking what comes to them naturally. For long they have ‘risen’ above their singular use to the more polite plural use; now they have decided that enough is enough. And yet, I cannot deal with this kind of impolite use of Telugu. That too, when I am using the plural all the time.
What riled me most was a friend of mine, of twenty years, who is a linguist – aware of the nuances of language and culture – addressed me as ‘nuvvu’. I tried my best to get him back to used the plural ‘meeru’ by using it several times in my speech. He was at least responsive and during the course of a 15 minute talk, came back to the good old days when we used to address each other as “meeru”. I don’t have the enthusiasm to meet him again or continue our friendship. Of all the people he should have been aware of the subtleties of language – being an Assistant Professor at the English and Foreing Languages University. (This was earlier called the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, where Prof. Jayashankar, the TRS ideologue was a registrar.)
What are the Andhra people to do in this situation? Do as the Telangana people, use ‘impolite’ expressions (like the singular you - nuvvu) – like, pay back in the same coin and thereby give up the niceties of their dialect. Or keep using the polite, plurals in the face of ‘insulting’ speech, and somehow try to win over the local people?
Needless to say, this is only a symptom of an accommodating Telangana culture becoming partisan. There are hard core issues to be sorted out, but the heart of the matter is that Telangana people have become more aggressive and unduly impolite.
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