South India : The Rise and Rise of Hindi
( Hindi Day Special) 1930s : Govt’s incorporates a law for compulsory teaching of Hindi language in schools in Madras Presidency. A major public uproar in Madras (Chennai). 1960s : Discussions begin in Delhi on making Hindi as the only official language. Anti-Hindi protests across South. Most of the readers would not have witnessed the above. However, a few would have witnessed the ban on Hindi films and the defacing of Devnagari banners and hoardings across Tamilnadu (TN) during 1980s. During the same time, one of my friends from south was so passionate about cricket that he could not afford to miss a single minute of update. However, on radio, Hindi commentary every 15 minute became an impediment. He found a solution He learnt only the Hindi numbers (1 to 500) but avoided learning the language. This way he could get a continuous update on cricket score but by not learning Hindi he also was able to showcase his angst towards the language. It is this kind of angst tha