For a long time, I've maintained "I'm an Indian" as an answer to questions like "Are you a Maharashtrian?" or "are you a South Indian?" The obvious response I used to get at times was "pataa hai... So am I". So I started a lighter tone of answers, later on: "I'm a Canadian!"
Calling myself a Kannadiga causes people to wonder, more so from the time I ended in Bangalore, *really*? People have quite often asked me why my Kannada sounds different. Well, thats because I speak Havyaka (dialect). Thats an easy answer to give when there are no Havyakas around me. Unfortunately, they too think that my Kannada is quite different! An unconvincing answer, then, is... "thats because I was born and brought up in Bombay; people usually speak Marathi out there. I can speak Marathi better than my mother-tongue". And things like "I haven't officially studied Kannada".
As an aside, I've gotten away... er, tried to get away, by saying: "English is not my first language" at other times.
7 comments:
Havyak is one of those funny dialects that can be spoken right by only those born into it. You also have to absorb it through your environs very early in life, else it never sounds authentic.
Know what? I have lived in about three different parts of Karnataka. And I can speak Kannada in three different ways!! :)
Well, thats a plus for ya.
For me, although I was born into Havyaka, I wasn't around them outside home. So I got flavours of Marathi/Hindi from B'bay, and now the B'lore side additions. The latter equally qualifies as B'lore-corrupted Kannada as does my B'bay-corrupted Havyaka-dialect :)
Interesting talk about Havyaka. I was brought up in Ranchi, Bihar and grew up talking in Hindi (outside)and Havyaka (at home with my family). However, when we moved to Karnataka when I was in 9th standard, I had to learn Kannada from scratch. While my 9th and 10th stds were difficult with respect to Kannada, I was fortunate that I learned to write and read Kannada. I now know, for instance, it is "bhahusha" [maybe] and not "bausha" [what I heard before I learned how to read]. Yes, you have to be a born Havyaka to speak the dialect correctly. My brother is Kannada illiterate still and the way he thinks of Havyaka words is slightly different.
Hiya Avinash,
The difference you talk of is between speaking Kannada and writing it with the case example of bausha/ bhahusha. That must be true with all languages. Try writing the way we speak, for fun, if you haven't already. eg, my friend & I transliterate Havyaka into English in emails :)
dhanyavaada, nanna blog nodadakke.
ps: btw, Suki's sweet :)
Hi there, Praveen,
Yes, I agree, Suki is sweet. She's one of the nicest dogs I've ever met. That's why she's got her own blog!
It strange that you say "dhanyavaada, nanna blog nodadakke." I, or any of my relatives, would say "dhanyavaada, ENNA blog nodIdakke." Maybe it's the difference between North Kanara and South Kanara Havyaka.
Yes, it's true that what you hear is not always the way it is written in any language. Some of my north Indian friends used to write Hindi the way they used to hear it. It was funny at times. English, of course, sounds even worse when written the way one hears it.
By the way, some example sentences in Havyaka of Dakshina Kannada:
Ninna hesaru entha?
Nai beela [Not nai BAALA]
"Adu" instead of "avalu" for females and non-Havyaks.
There are a lot of other things we do differently.
The history of the Havyaka language is interesting, even though precious little is known about it.
Hi
do you know anyone who consolidated(in a book may be) havyaka words that are being used in Uttara Kananada and Dakshina Kannada Havyakas....
Am sorry, no.
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