Perfect, I expected this question coming, Here is My take.
Sanskrit (I have studied for 5yrs) wasn't ever a popular spoken Language in India, I guess it was solely a language of scholars and survived in ancient seats of learning. It has reached a situation where it cannot die further. It is survived by the extensive religious texts and preaching (a form of literature) and a minuscule of population in South Karnataka who still converse in Sanskrit on daily Basis (Maddur , Shimoga District). So when a language dies a natural death it is the literature written in that language keeps it alive or at least for the record. Literature was the only form of linguistic creativity those days, no movies etc, so this language is survived by its literature even in difficult times like this for any Indian language.
Yes , Hindi too is facing this problem so are many other regional languages. Hindi due to a shear mass of population speaking it , makes it less vulnerable. I agree that god knows what Hindi Movies are representing, Neither here nor there. Other than innovative marketing strategies I hardly see anything new in terms of content and story telling in newer Hindi Movies. Actually newer experiments are much easily seen in regional movies, so the question of perceived standard of bollywood cinema doesn't hold any water. especially when majority of blockbusters are shameless rip offs.
Now how would I go about saving a language ? Govt is Partly right, and partly wrong in this affirmative action.
First , is it right to leave commercial viability and free economy to dictate what we chose to save ?
If you leave it for commercial forces then, more than half of the remaining Forests will be destroyed in no time and Tigers will become an endangered species. Maintaining Forests and saving tigers for the future generations is our priority though the money is being spent from the exchequer , though it is commercially a loss making venture. Will you just stop spending on parents medical bills just because it is commercially illogical and investing it somewhere else yields you better results ? So we should come out of the superiority of commercial viability to dictate terms - it is again unduly emphasized criterion ( probably from Management Gurus) for matters like art and literature. Reading a literature for a professional is never going to be logically justified, & we are the victims of too much objectivity & "what I will get from all this " attitude popularized by western niche marketing principles.
Second, The language should reinvent themselves,
should come up with newer innovations, that makes adoption easier. Some amount of affirmative action is needed from the people and government in this regard. You should make it easier to type in Qwerty keyboards, include popular words, though foreign to the native vocabulary so that daily conversation shouldn't be exhaustive. Why English is excelling because, yearly thousands of new words are added its dictionary. Adoption , Updating and user friendliness are a key issue here.
Third, We should be proud of our language and cultural heritage,
if there are Black spots in our history, let me assure you nobody has a clean history ! We should insist on representing in our local language at international forums without feeling bad about not knowing English. Is Italian or a French feel inferior for not knowing English ? why should Indians be ? Come out of this Colonial Mentality, we are no more a British Colony ! Then only the Companies will be forced to make Next Mac OS version with option of Marathi, If Pizza Hut Can be forced to make Tandoori Pizzas and Serve Biryani it is not impossible to achieve. Stop giving undue importance to English. There are convent primary schools in Bangalore who will fine the kids speaking in Kannada inside the premises , even during lunch break ! Such moves should be opposed by all , Kannadigas & Non Kannadigas alike.
Fourth , Linguistic division of states,
Whether it was right or wrong ; we will have to live with it, The local language should be given utmost importance and it is a duty of every resident of the Local area to preserve its linguistic heritage, irrespective of the Fact that language is your mother tongue or not . Let us be united about it.
1. So Please Dear Marathi Manoos, open your arms and show a gesture of outsider friendliness to those truckloads (I don't mean only people from Bihar & UP outsiders in general ) who have come here to earn their livelihood, at the end , it is the Maharashtrian culture which is getting rich by imbibing better customs and traditions in others into your own culture. It is English which is getting richer and stronger day by day with influx of foreign words in its vocabulary. Embracing outsiders whole heartedly will not only enriches your culture but financial gains too.
2. Now truckload of Bhayyajis (I don't mean only people from Bihar & UP outsiders in general ); it is your turn to revert it back ! Had your native states been good enough for you, you wouldn't have migrated in the first place, there is something better here. These local people have welcomed you and allowed you to piece fully earn your daily bread (without forcing you to learn the local language), in spite of knowing that it will dilute their majority on local language and culture. As the next generation Maharashtrians it is your duty to save the local language and culture as much as the duty of Maharashtrians, you cannot have only the comforts without responsibilities. If you have that much respect for a culture and a language because its a birthplace for you or your fathers (native state I mean) , Have some respect and responsibility towards a culture and language which is going to be the birth place for your kid. If you are unable to adopt in spite of max efforts, show the right direction to your future generations. If you genuinely respect your mother tongue, you will respect others mother tongue too, especially if you are residing in that region. For Ex Shettys and Kamath, Pie s etc, they are as Maharashtrian as anybody else though their native language is Tulu or Konkani Respectively.
Had a non Marathi speaking Population came in support of Marathi movies , a small procession holding placards to save Marathi cinema, a token or a gesture of "Marathi Talkies Bharo" , We could have wiped the careers of hate monger politicians , presstitutes and pseudo intellectual writers alike. A clear example could have been set, for rest of India to follow. A clear opportunity missed.
I have numbered them arbitrarily as one and two ; somebody shouldn't conclude that Marathis should open their arms first and outsiders will respond equally later etc.
First understand, it is lack of our unity to speak and practice certain language and culture in designated region , leads to superiority of English language or western culture. If we are united in giving utmost importance the local language and culture, without any force , Nobody can force their language or culture on us. English becomes a common medium because we lack unity. Dear History Pundits, don't make the same mistakes , learn and don't repeat history.
Fifth, In spite of all above measures if a language dies a natural death , let it RIP.
At least we tried our best. Probably we might evolve into some other technology in future where everyone can converse in his own native language still everybody listens and understands in his own language. Who knows what future holds ; probably we may not need a language as a medium of communication itself, probably universal gestures and smileys may take over !
Sorry if it seems long & boring or preaching like, but I couldn't justify not expressing. Especially after those silly verbal fights between my fellow Indians !
