In recent times, there has been a concerning rise in aggression from auto drivers in Bengaluru especially against non-Kannada speakers. In this year itself, several incidents have gone viral where they are being overly aggressive, using abusive language and more against such passengers.
Last month a video went viral where an autorickshaw driver was seen assaulting and slapping a woman for cancelling an auto ride.
In July this year, a woman from Punjab shared how an auto driver in Bengaluru demanded extra fare from her simply because she was a non-Kannadiga. The user Shaani Naani posted on her X/Twitter writing “What a harassment it was to commute in auto from flat to office and back. The audacity of local auto drivers to strike a conversation on why I was in Bangalore when I belonged to North, if I was learning Kannada, asking if I like anything apart from weather, asking for more money as I was newly married and pretending not to understand a word when I would talk in Hin/Eng. I had a very bad experience with local crowd there.”
In 2023, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) sent out a notice that all commercial establishments under its jurisdiction should have signboards in 60 percent Kannada language from February 28.
This led to some groups starting to enforce the rule before the given date itself, even vandalising English signboards and more.
There have been several such incidents where non-Kannadigas have felt targeted in Bengaluru, especially by autorickshaw drivers and more. However, there is also the other side, where Kannadigas feel the Hindi imposition and want outsiders to speak the local language when in the state.
In the midst of this, an autorickshaw driver is going viral for a smart hack to solve the language problem the state is seeing.
Who Is This Autorickshaw Driver?
Ajmal Sultan, a 31-year-old autorickshaw driver by profession, is also an influencer on social media with his Instagram account.
Enjoying an impressive following of 1.3 lakh followers, Ajmal often posts on his handle @aut0kannadiga0779 about learning Kannada informally and casually, how to talk in an everyday manner, social issues and even the usual influencer content like funny videos, reels, and more.
He also posts his Kannada language lessons on his YouTube channel.
Speaking about how he started his social media journey, he revealed that it was Anand Mahindra sharing a truck driver and vlogger that encouraged him to make his own content online.
He said, “I came to know about Rajesh Rawani, a truck driver and vlogger in August last year. It was Anand Mahindra (Chairperson of Mahindra and Mahindra) who had posted about him on his social media account. Thereafter, I decided to learn how to edit videos. I initially posted videos for entertainment and there was no other purpose.”
Sultan added, “I try to promote linguistic harmony and also teach non-Kannadigas the Kannada language. I hope it will be taken in a good spirit.”
Ajmal is also referred to as Azzu Sultan and began working as an autorickshaw driver in Bengaluru in 2012. He hails from the Ilkal region in the Bagalkot district and has studied up to Class 7.
Besides Kannada, Ajmal can also speak a variety of languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, and Urdu.
Read More: Watch: Mattur: India’s Only Village Where Sanskrit Is Still Spoken As The Day To Day Language
What Is His Hack To Solve The Language Problem?
The influencer autorickshaw driver posted on his Instagram five days ago about this, showing the poster and explaining more about it. He wrote “Let’s teach Kannada… Let’s fix the language problem in Bengaluru” as a caption for the video.
View this post on Instagram
In a report by Indian Express, Azzu Sultan explained his reason behind the leaflet: “Many non-Kannadigas did not bother to learn Kannada and when I asked some of the passengers, they said they could not pick up even basic words.”
He further added, “Most of my customers are from the Whitefield area and IT parks. The majority of them are non-Kannadigas and I started out by asking them about the basic words they needed to communicate with an autorickshaw driver.
I listed the words and then translated them into Kannada. Thereafter, I displayed the list in my autorickshaw. The response was really good and then I met some members of the autorickshaw associations… and now, we have been able to place these cards in at least 500 autorickshaws in the city.”
The leaflet has several phrases translated from Kannada to English. The simple and common phrases first written in Kannada have an English version below them so that the passenger can know what they are saying or what instruction to give to the driver if needed.
The phrases include “Namasakara sir” (Hello, sir) or “UPI idya athva cash aa?” (Do you accept UPI or cash?), and “Sir Ille nilsi” (Sir, stop here).
The leaflet has several other phrases for different situations such as if the passenger wants to give a direction instruction, wants to slow or speed up the auto, asks for a certain destination and even when one has booked an auto through an app.
The phrases also also divided into two sections, one that can be used when the passenger is inside the auto and the other for outside auto.
There is even a QR code present in the leaflet for a video demo on how to say the phrases.
Several people appreciated this method, believing that it’s a more polite way to promote a language than just showing aggression if someone is a non-Kannada speaker.
One user wrote “Good way to politely ask people to learn a new language. Many will welcome this and will have a curious approach towards it.”
Another user commented “This is the most polite way to encourage people to learn Kannada. If the approach is so polite, we will definitely love to learn the beautiful language. Language should be learnt for the love and warmth of it and not because of compulsion or fear.”
Some still didn’t agree with what the auto driver was promoting, with one user writing “Confused as usual. Going from point A to B in 15-20 minutes, pay for service by meter & they think people hv time to waste in life in their language politics.”
Another user took offence to the prefix of ‘sir’ as shown in the poster writing “Everything else is fine, but why sir?”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: The Indian Express, India Today, Hindustan Times
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Bengaluru, Bengaluru language, kannada vs hindi, language, india language, Bangalore, Bangalore language, Bangalore language problem, Bangalore hindi kannada, Kannada, hindi
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, or copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
Other Recommendations:
“Why Should I Speak In Hindi?” Bengaluru Auto Driver Get Into Tussle Over Kannada Vs Hindi
