We, the family, decided to step out for a quick lunch today. Given that it was an unplanned decision on the way back home, we made our way to the neighborhood "New Shanti Sagar". For those who're unaware, these are local vegetarian food joint that are fairly ubiquitous in Bangalore suburbs.
While we were having soup (that comes with the set meal), I watched around. There were 3 neighboring tables. One on our right had a father and son pair who were clearly Malayalam speaking. They conversed in a combination of English and Malayalam (just as we were doing a Kannada + English combo at our table). In front of us were a team clearly from the north of India. These folks were conversing in Hindi.
The captain taking the orders came around and seemed to pick the language of the table by some logic. He took the order from the pair next to us in English. Ditto for us until we ordered in Kannada and then he switched to Kannada all the way through. For the folks from the north - he started taking the order in Hindi.
I had observed the above with no special thought at all - it was "normal" in my mind - until an "Anglo-saxon" couple walked in. Suddenly, the equation seemed to change....
- The waiter and captain seemed to fuss around in English, while the couple were making a fantastic effort in trying to speak "Kannada".
- The Hindi speaking team switched to a combo of English and Hindi (seemed to automatically include Hindi)
- The father and son pair started to use more of Malayalam
The most natural folks were the foreigners who continued to struggle through Kannada interspersed with English and signs....(lesser spice etc)
What struck me most was
- The lack of efforts on the part of the other folks (from within India) in trying to use the local language
- The apparent "need" to switch the level of use in their own mother-tongue in front of visitors
IMHO - we'd have a more casual and better world if people just followed their natural instincts to communicate just as tourists would ?
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