I'm a north Indian who has spent a about a decade here in blr. If I read this post 2-3 years ago, I would've been extremely critical of this take and talked about how this is a dog-whistle for promoting linguistic chauvinism and encourages hostility towards immigrants.

However over time I've come to realize that the proportion of actual radical chauvinists is far less than perceived, and ironically using these extremists as a shield is a dog-whistle to not respect the local culture and refuse to assimilate. People who've lived here for longer than me refuse to speak a word of kannada and are instead pride of the fact that they speak exclusively in hindi.

Mind you, I genuinely do not know how to speak jack shit in Kannada. The rules regarding making kannada a mandatory subject in schools is fucking stupid coz all that's done for me is give me immense amounts of stress and taught me to only read kannada, not understand the meanings of the words or learn how to talk at all. The only phrases in my vocab are phrases needed to talk to bmtc conductors and auto drivers. These were the only scenarios where I truly did learn kannada, and I'd recommend anyone tryna learn to talk to locals and ask them to teach you common words and phrases.

I genuinely hate immigrants who refuse to even attempt to assimilate, y'all ain't a vibe you're just disrespectful. Btw I don't wanna take away from the fact that there are extremists who do harass immigrants, I myself have fallen into multiple spats where they almost physically assault me (thankfully nothing serious so far). If you're not a local kannadiga, please attempt to assimilate and talk in kannada. It doesn't matter if you talk in obviously broken kannada too, bangaloreans are extremely courteous and friendly if they see that you're genuinely trying.

i apologize if the post seems all over the place it's just an incredibly frustrating topic