You know marathi...?

Why does every Maharashtrian (those besides my friends) ask “the “question? “YOU KNOW MARATHI”.  Only because I have a name with a South Indian ring to it. Let me take this opportunity to educate the general public, my name traces it's origin to Indian classical music (Hindustani & Carnatic) and hence all music (especially classical Carnatic & Hindustani) lovers from around the world can stake a claim, Let alone Madrasis.  Also, it is another name for Kali. So what is it?

Is it their arrogance or ignorance? What irks me is that educated (PhD holders) ask this question with an obscenely confident look that the other person does not know Marathi. And if you tell them that you do and your (Maharashtrian) friends actually blurt out a long list of Marathi literature that you enjoy, results in a minute-long silence when you can hear a pin drop. And if you tell them no, YOU get the nastiest look. I know it, have experienced it.

Some of the best teachers I have had the golden opportunity to learn from are Maharashtrians. Human Beings par excellence. They were fantastic, never once was there any kind of discrimination or bias it was a pure exchange of ideas and absorption of knowledge. How did learn so much from these masters though I am not a Maharashtrian?

Most of my good friends are Maharashtrians, their mothers would invariably speak to me in Marathi and I'd be nodding and responding to them. Some of them went to the extent of stating that I was better than their daughters. Our chat sessions would go on in Hindi, and English, them speaking in Marathi and I drop some bombs in Marathi, we'd exchange notes on Marathi soaps, films, songs and especially books. How have I always understood their deepest thoughts though I am not a Maharashtrian? Why am I a part of their lives even though I am not a Maharashtrian?  

 

I began to notice the indifference in my attitude when I started to work. It is mostly the middle class and lower middle class to whom it matters the most (my observation). Not even matter, for them it is just another thing to talk about. One's inability to speak a language becomes a weapon in their hands. In my first year, at least 20 out of 30 people must have asked me that question. I’d have appreciated it if the questions were more on how would I help my organization grow, or attract more interest in what it does and so on.

I realize that this is a sensitive issue, but it hurts when people who call themselves "educated" ask the question "You know Marathi?" as if mocking me. Maybe their education is limited to just one language.