There are many common words in Indian languages which might suggest that these languages had a common ancestor.
For example, Marathi and Konkani, Malayalam and Kannada, Tamil and Telegu, etc, spoken by neighboring states definitely have some commonalities.
But Konkani and Kannada or Malayalam are way too different with their scripts and words.
Sometime back, one of my Goan friends told me that his marriage was an arranged one. When I spoke to his wife, she told me she was raised in Bangalore and her mother-tongue was Kannada.
She narrated some funny dialogues to support her statement and looked at me intrigued, “Nimage joking anna, ninage gottu..”
I was boxed, her language knocked my socks off.
I knew my friend since childhood. Although raised up in Kuwait, he was a Goan to the core - always conversing in our ‘mai-bhas’ whenever we met, “Dev boro dis divum, Gasper bab.”
I turned towards his wife and asked in my typical Goan style, “You are Goan, no?”
“Yes,” she smiled.
“Then how come your mother tongue is Kannada?”
They saw me like I was asking the silliest question on earth, and then said something that startled me – “All languages are same only, bro.”
I was left open-mouthed, stunned. “Kannada and Konkani, same? Hem anik kitem?”
Who knows, it must be true. Recently, I was told Konkani was written in Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Romi, and Arabic too.
“There may be some relation,” I thought.
MY EXPERIENCE
Many years back, before the advent of GPS, I was strolling on the streets of ‘Bombay’ asking for some address in English, while a bystander cooly replied in Marathi.
When I spoke in Konkarathi he got irritated and said, “Arrey baba, kai boddboddtoy tikdde…Mi tula sangitla nahin ka? Atam chala.. za.”
Finally, I had to speak to someone in Hindi to get the right directions!
In one of the companies that I worked in Kuwait, my Project Manager was a Malayalee and two of my colleagues were also Malayalees.
Whenever they spoke to each other, I didn’t understand a single word of what they said. This, despite my conscious efforts to ‘deeply’ listen to their conversation.
Have you watched any Malayalam film? If you do, just notice the speed of dialogues recited. Some actors talk so fast that by the time you think you recognize a couple of words, they would have completed three full sentences.
FATHER’S WISDOM
I remember my father once told me, “Arrey, tum zannam? Vasco da Gama, and infact the Portugez first landed in Calicut, Kerala...”
“I know it pop, it’s part of our history books,” I wanted to tell my father; but before I could, he lowered his voice, threw a glance towards the kitchen and said:
“..They did not leave Kerala and come to Goa just to build churches and bridges alone. They wanted to learn a few things.”
“Okay...” I looked up at him, “Learn what..!”
“Well, they learned many things, however, they were not able to understand two things -- Malayalam from Kerala and a wife from Goa.”
Looking back, I can empathize with the Portugez. Can’t even imagine them trying to understand these two – am myself struggling forever and a day now.