Airport: what ought to be and what shall be

Let's take a peek into a couple of International airports before coming to the point. Here's a typical advertisement hoarding from the Beijing Capital International Airport which hasn't found it either embarrassing or non-International to display Chinese characters (and yeah, it's Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsing a Chinese product):


And here are typical signs inside the Munich Airport which hasn't found it embarrassing to use the local language - German - on anything printed:


The question now is - what ought to be the status of Kannada in the Bengaluru International Airport? No points for answering this one: "Similar". But what shall be is a totally different ballgame.

What ought to be

BIAL should adopt measures to make all such services available in Kannada as it would like to offer its customers. Be it parking tickets, or flight boarding passes, media inside the airport - printed or visual, entertainment at the airport, and even inside the flights, or announcements made in the airport premises - each one of these should predominantly be offered first in Kannada. Every service in the airport should be available in Kannada. The airport's webpage should also be completely in Kannada.

Obviously, we don't mean English should be nowhere. English should be the only other second language used inside the airport. No other language (e.g. Zulu, Hindi, Sinhalese, Afrikaans, Punjabi, Tamil) can have a place in the Bengaluru International Airport which is not enjoyed by, for e.g., French in the Munich Airport.

Any guesses on what shall be?

Remember, we live in a special country where French (Hindi) has constitutional and extra-constitutional rights to take the place of German (Kannada) in the Munich (Bengaluru) Airport. In our special country, French (Hindi) is not only declared as the official language but is taught as the National Language of Germany (Karnataka). It is only in India that people shall land into the Munich (Bengaluru) Airport thinking the Eiffel Tower (Taj Mahal) is a minute's walk and that the Oktoberfest (Hampi Utsava) is breathing its last in another country whose people are becoming evolutionarily extinct. It is only in India that airports can completely warp the past, present and future of the people and language of the very soil on which they are hosted and make it seem like a desert of under-achievement. It is only in India that the language of the land can be openly treated like the language of an inferior tribe. It is only in India that a whole linguistic people can be deemed constitutionally inadequate for not speaking a language foreign to their tongue.

Ah! What shall be is anybody's guess. Do we have any of those true men left who stand by what ought to be and stop not until what threatens to shall be shall not be?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perfect! I still do not understand why would Hindi or even English should be preferred when the language of land is Kannada, Kannada and Kannada. From directions to airport to flight safety instructions, everything should be in the language of the land. Kannada in Karnataka, Marathi in Maharasthra and so on. If some one is not ok with this, they are not welcome and they can please stay where they are! There are national issues and there are state issues. This is a state issue and the people of the state have the say and not an outsider. Very good point made by Banavasi Balaga. Bravo!

Anonymous said...

Very good point. Kannada should and will reign supreme in karnataka. Can you please (please, please) tell us how we (all the common people) can make this happen. Once hindi boards start appearing without kannada in them, it is VERY HARD TO BRING KANNADA on the board and in implementation in the airport. We need to do some thing now, but WHAT???

Here are some things that I quickly came up with:

1. Make the media highlight the matter of kannada status in BIAL airport. MAKE it a big news ..

2. Reach out to the CEO and PR of hte BIAL Airport on these matters. But, how to reach them?

3. Contact BIAL AIRPORT at this address:

http://bialairport.com/contact.htm?cid=footer&ses=bial

4. Meet them and call them at:

Bangalore International Airport Limited

118, Gayathri Lakefront
Outer Ring Road
Hebbal
Bangalore - 560 024
Tel: +91 80 2354 0000
Fax: +91 80 2333 3400
Email: contact@bialairport.com

Sri

Anonymous said...

http://bialairport.com/contact.htm?cid=footer&ses=bial


Just added the hyperlink so that it is easier for people to visit the URL

Sri

Unknown said...

I agree, kannada should be first language for every communications. Even people in Airtport should greet first in Kannada then in English. Every conversation in Airport should start with kannada not in any other language.

Unknown said...

see this fello
http://www.karnatakatourism.com/south/bangalore/index.htm
has put chola king found bengaluru and this link is from bangalore internactional airport web site link
http://www.bialairport.com/facts_figures_karnataka_state.htm?cid=leftnavigation&ses=bial


since this is new airport web site it is expected all over the world many people will visit.


see wikipedia for correct details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore

and also someone ask them go give link to wikipedia etc.

kannadiga said...

Hi All,
Just curious to know.. Will the new BIAL airport have boards in Hindi too, to cater to Hindi fanatics? (Hindi being the so called whatever..)

Anonymous said...

Hi all..... is somethin being done about asking BIAL authorities to give Kannada the place it deserves? shud we all mail them?

Anonymous said...

I Dont Agree to what danDa pinDa said... huw can he say .. those who dont know Kanada can be where they are.. thatz rude.... he is forgetting that it is one counrty for any one coming from Abroad... its INDIA no matter is Bangalore Airport or Delhi... certainly Hindi should not be the lang at the Bangalore INTERNATIONAL airport but Kanada and certainly YES ENGLISH.... by saying no to English you are saying No to all the trade and business benefits you get from places other than Karnataka....... so please think wise before to raise your point of view....... think wise

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