Where are you from?

"Hi, I am Naveen."

"Hi, I am XYZ. Where are you from, Naveen?"

"Oh, I am from Bangalore."

"Oh, is it? Do you know Tamil?"

I stretched my right hand as far back as possible. And with a tight fist and maximum force, aimed for his left chin. 'Thump!' Ouch. My hand! Before I realised I was in pain, I saw him lying on the floor, his specs broken, bleeding from his mouth. I immediately called 999 and an ambulance arrived and started giving him first aid. He is now slowly recuperating at his home.

Well, all this would have happened if I had not told myself "Control maadko, control maadko". Lets go back to the conversation. But a bit of the background before that. My house mate's colleague, XYZ, had come down to see the house last week. So, he came in, I was busy watching "The Simpsons". My house mate introduced me to him.

"Hi Naveen, he is my colleague XYZ."
"Hi, I am Naveen."
My house mate gets a call and he goes out talking over the phone. I was keen on watching 'Simpsons'. After a while, Mr.XYZ breaks the silence.
"So, Where are you from?"
"I am from Bangalore."
"Oh, is it? Do you know Tamil?"

There was small pause, wherein I controlled my anger. And then just turned towards him and said, "No, I don't. I just know Kannada."

I turned away and continued watching 'The Simpsons'. Never wanted to talk to him. He also started watching it, probably guessing that I am more worried about the show than anything else. Meanwhile, my housemate walks in. Both of them talk about something, and in the end they bid me goodbye and leave the house.

Though I don't have any personal offence towards Mr.XYZ, I was deeply upset by the 'conclusions' people come to regarding citizens of Bangalore. It is very much true that you can easily survive in Bangalore without knowing 'Kannada', in fact that's exactly why the city has grown so fast. I truly like the 'Cosmopolitan' feeling the city exuberates, but I am afraid that has come at a cost. The cost being that of Kannadigas like me, slowly losing their identity. But if you look at all the big cities of the world, they became 'big', because the city welcomed everyone with open arms. I am sure that in a couple of decades Kannadigas will become 'extinct' in Bangalore, just like 'Marathi Maanus' have become in Mumbai. But is there anyway we can reverse the trend in 'our city'. :-)