Bengaluru: A social media post of a Bengaluru resident about a plumber from Odisha has come as a bright spot amid the growing discontent in the city over perceived reluctance of some migrants to learn or speak Kannada.
In the post on X, which has now gone viral, the user described how a plumber booked via Urban Company impressed him with his punctuality and beginner-level Kannada skills, despite still learning the language. “Today the plumber whom I booked from Urban company said working in Bengaluru from past two years, Already spoke decent beginner Kannada, and said still learning. He was from Odisha. – was on time and behaved professionally. This I have observed seen in workers from that state,” he wrote.
The post quickly gained traction, with many others joining in to share similar experiences.
Earlier, another post by a resident of Bengaluru about his friend refusing to learn Kannada even after 18 years in the city had triggered a sharp debate on social media over language and local identity. A State Bank of India (SBI) branch manager posted in Surya Nagara, Chandapura, an area in Bengaluru’s Anekal Taluk, was recently transferred after a video, showing her refusing to communicate in Kannada with a customer, went viral.
In June, another video of a woman firmly insisting that a street interviewer speak in Kannada instead of Telugu while conducting a public interaction had ignited fresh discussions around the ongoing language tensions in Karnataka.