A conversation to Remember : The Curious case of Indian Languages

Aap kahan tak jayenge? (Where will you deboard ?) ” I asked him in an attempt to strike a conversation and break the lull of an extremely long and boring train journey. The South Indian gentleman sitting in front of me was smartly dressed in denim casuals and looked quite bored as well.
“I’m sorry but I don’t know any Hindi ”, he apologetically replied.
Cursing myself over my stupidity, I awkwardly replied, this time in English, “I’m sorry. So stupid of me to assume that everybody in India speaks Hindi. It’s a mistake we Northeners often make. I hope you are comfortable with English.”
“Yeah!”, he replied with a broad smile, “It happens with me a lot, especially when I visit Delhi. People just start talking to me in Hindi. It takes them a couple of minutes to realize that I’m not getting a word they’re saying! And the looks on their faces when they finally realize… priceless…”
“You mean the look that I’m wearing right now?” I quipped.
At this we both started laughing.
“So, do you speak any other languages?” I asked idly.
“Yeah… Actually I speak four.”
“Four! Are you kidding me?” the look of disbelief on my face must have been quite genuine. Perhaps that’s why he started grinning again.
“Yes. I’m from Karnataka. So Kannada is my first language. Recently, I learned Telugu as well. It was quite difficult, but my prior knowledge of Kannada eased my transition into Telugu. And having studied in Chennai for four years during college, I’m well versed in Tamil too.”
“And what about the fourth one?” I asked.
“I’m not sure if you’ll believe this, but I speak Sanskrit as well. My mother was a Sanskrit professor. She taught me to both read and write in it when I was just a kid.”
“Wow!” I exclaimed
“Yes. But what about you though? How many languages do you know?” he asked.
“Well, my count isn’t as impressive yours. Apart from English, I just know three – Hindi, Punjabi and a few broken bits of Garhwali”, I replied in a humbled tone.
At this, the South Indian gentleman said something – something so deep that it has kept me wondering in amazement since then.
He said – “Isn’t it strange? I speak four Indian languages. You speak three. And yet, we are forced to communicate in English!”

So, only in India, can two people speak a total of seven Indian Languages, and still be forced to talk in English!

*Originally published by Abhimanyu Sood on Quora