Why my Videos are in Telugu?

I think, time has come for me to express my stand in the matter. Before I tell what I have in mind, I am reminded of an instance in Gandhiji’s life.

During independence struggle a person approached him and said, "Gandhiji, I want to get converted to Hinduism". Gandhiji enquired as what prompted him to take this decision? The visitor replied “I like your ideals and want to follow you. Therefore , I want to change my religion”. Gandhiji told him, that no religion is inferior or superior and one should love his religion and follow the path of righteousness.

From this incident, I take a clue that a person should first love himself. If he loves himself, he would love his family, his society and his country. Loving one-self includes loving ones language too. Often there is a tendency to misinterpret that if one loves something, he hates the other. This is far from truth. Example, if one says that he likes mangoes, it doesn’t mean that he dislikes other fruits. If I love my child, it’s never to be interpreted that I hate other children. I love INDIA, it doesn’t mean I’m at war with other countries to annihilate and obliterate them from the face of Earth.

Since my marriage I have been out of Andhra Pradesh till 2006. My child was born and brought-up entirely outside Andhra Pradesh. Unlike many of my other Telugu friends, I adopted a policy to speak only Telugu at home. Today my child can speak chaste Telugu with Krishna District accent. Surprisingly it is these Telugu friends, who did not speak and encourage Telugu at home with their children in the past, started complaining now (at a much later stage in their life), that their children are getting lost culturally and are picking up Non-Andhra Cultures. Here the moot question is, were we able to help them to “Love Themselves”, when they were small? If they have to love themselves they should love their home, of which their mother-tongue is also an important factor. Loving oneself is a crucial aspect of personality development, where it connotes self-confidence.

If we start loving ourselves, we also start looking around to see how others are enjoying their life. I celebrate Sankranti with Pongali, Dusherra with Chenna Podo Pitha, Eid with Semvia and Christmas with a Cake. I love my culture, therefore I am able to appreciate other languages, festivals, food and cultures too!!

I’m proficient in English, Hindi and Telugu. I understand Oriya and Marathi also. I have adopted a policy to speak in Hindi with a North-Indian, Telugu with an Andhrite and English with others. If there is a common Indian language between me and my visitor, I prefer to talk in that language and express my respect to my visitor.

Similarly, I like English too!! To balance between my love for my mother tongue i.e Telugu and show respect to the audience’s accessibility, I have decided to narrate in Telugu on my Videos and post the Text of the recipe in English. If one reads the English text of the recipe on my website and watches my video, he is bound to understand the content in its entirety. The first comment mentioned above in this article is from a US settled Gujarati lady. It is a testimony to indicate that language is never a barrier.

If language was to be an hinderance for understanding my videos, a little more than 15 % of my viewers wouldn’t have been non-Telugus. At times I ponder whether man’s evolving a language, (unlike other animals) is in itself has become a mental barrier for which he is becoming a brute fanatic? Click here to watch a video on making Tofu, where the person in the video hasn’t uttered a single word, yet conveyed beautifully what he wanted.

Thus my videos would continue to be in Telugu, and I respect all other languages, cultures and foods. I promise to post and share with you more and more videos on the dishes which I have prepared at home and enjoyed with my family. They need not be only Andhra Dishes!!!

Honestly I also do not believe in superlative phrases like, “The most Authentic”, “The Best”, “Purely Traditional” etc.

No one can be branded as a bad cook and no one can be adjudged as the best chef. Both the extremes do not exist. It’s just an experimentation in ones kitchen. Some have time and interest to share, while some don’t have the opportunity to share their knowledge with the world.

I am blessed for being able to share and have your viewership.

Enjoy viewing my videos in TELUGU and keep reading the Text of the recipe in ENGLISH !!!!!!!

Our Earlier discussions on the Blog

Gayatri Vantillu said...

Miss VS

Thanks for the feedback and concurring with my idea of posting the recipes in Telugu, especially you being a Non-Telugu

August 30, 2010 4:31 AM

Nimi said...

Hi Gayathri,

Am from Kerala and I don't know Telugu,but step by step English translation along with those pictures are perfect and very easy to understand.Would have never known any of these dishes without the effort from people like you.Am amazed by the variety of dishes we all have.Reminds me of Disney song "Its a small world after all".Thanks to internet.

August 13, 2010 5:37 AM

Gayatri Vantillu said...

Nimiji,

Thanks for the feedback. I watch regularly Lekshmi Nair on Kairali TV. I too don't know Malayalam. Yet I can follow what she shows. Language is never a barrier if we want, isn't. The sanskrit word "Vasudaiva Kutumbam" denotes its only one world of Lord.

August 14, 2010 4:23 AM

Mohamed Sabir said...

Madam,

From your comment about using the Telungu language in your Recipe video, I think all the Indians have a message in it and there are lot of things to learn from you. However,it will be useful if you add method of making food in english also as showing the ingredients. Thank you for your good work.

July 20, 2010 12:58 AM

Gayatri Vantillu said...

Mohamed Sabirji,

Thanks for supporting my cause. I'm revisiting my old recipes and adding english titles for the convenience of Non-telugu viewers.

July 23, 2010 6:31 AM

Arthy said... Hi Gayathri ji,

I recently came to know about your beautiful website from my friend. I am a tamilian living in USA. I love cooking all types of vegetarian food and literally fell in love with your site. The slide show of the wonderful dishes in your website make me hungry and every time keep wondering how wonderful those recepies look.

I have a few telegu friends but never understood telegu. But it is very easy to follow your narration in telegu as you show each and every ingredient and the written procedure in english solves if at all I have any queries. I haven't prepared any of your dishes yet. But I am going to try one by one. I love Andhra cuisine which is very hot and spicey. Keep up the good work. Your kitchen makes me feel at home. Great that you are sticking with your mother tongue. Its quite a bold decision and doing thinks in the way you believe.

Hope people have already answered about your question about indian food in South Korea. I think Korean food is little similar to indian food and he should be getting a good deal of fresh vegetables,wheat flour and rice and hope he manages.( Hope he has the cooking gene from his mom). I think there are quite a bunch of indians and there should be indian restaurents too.

Thanks a lot

Regards

Arthy

Gayatri Vantillu said...

Arthy ji,

Your mail was quite interesting. Thanks for the feedback.

My son didn't get the cooking gene from me. I had to pack a survival kit which he says is the only help (rescue) there!!!

June 4, 2010 4:28 PM

Anonymous said...

Hi gayantri anti or akka

i am studying intermediate 2nd year in sri chaitanya jr college near paradise

maku daily 12:45 ki lunch bell

12:45 kagane andaru tiffins tesi spoon tho jaldina tenestaru nenu matram tiffin tesi kalipi chetito tintanu

we r not poor but ma mummy ki chala vanalu elidu bcoz she is bengali telugu vantalu antha ga telidu

daily bengali vantalu teni tini bore kotindi and mummy daily ttiffin lo chepati , idly ...etc pedutunaru

i am really bored .... nen kuda bell ring kagane spoon tesi chaka chaka tene vantalu naku kavali like pulihora eggrice enka chala ela easy ga unde vantalu chepandi please

waiting for ur reply akka/anti

this is my gmail id

sandeepsagar009@gmail me kotha kotha vantalu maily tiffin loki easy ga cheskovadaniki help chestaru ani korukutunnanu ....:)

sagar

June 25, 2010 11:53 PM

Gayatri Vantillu said...

Padma Garu,

Thanks for your long post. I enjoyed reading it especially studded with a few words in Telugu. I admire your broadmindedness in watching videos which are not in your mother-tongue. Hope my site would continue to help your family in day to day cooking

February 21, 2010 5:46 PM

Your Earlier comments on the Blog

sat said...

Hi mam,

Thanks for u r recipes

I am working in singapore and i feel very comfortable to cook u r recipes

Thanks for u r quick recipes

i read comments abt u r telugu langauge by some people, but i don't feel that they are correct u have u r way/style of speking some how that will also attract more people

Thanks for helping people who are away from india espiceially away from their mom

Sateesh Kola

May 10, 2011 10:25 AM

Anonymous said...

Hi Gayatri garu,

today is the 1st time i saw ur video on youtube and i am completely thrilled the way u proceed. Even thou i dont speak telegu i can clearly understand wat u saying. Great work madam i have made it a point hence forth to visit ur site to try out more receipes. All the very best.

Pooja

January 28, 2011 4:03 AM

matrajan said...

Hi Madam

A very good site. Just checked out the Poori Potato recipe. Though the narration was in Telugu, the accompanying English comments in the video made it easy to follow. With my Tamil roots it was not too difficult to decipher most of the Telugu either.

Thank you

Mathew.

January 3, 2011 10:48 PM

August 13, 2010 9:33 PM

Anonymous said...

hi,

Great work! I like the way u present the videos. Very useful.

Especially I like the videos in Telugu!

Thanks a lot,

Indira

August 5, 2010 10:40 PM

Anonymous said...

Although my Telugu is basic, your instructions are easy to understand and the outcomes are great! Thanks!

July 23, 2010 9:42 PM

Anonymous said...

Hi Gayatri Garu

I am delighted to see your web-site and I appreciate your decision to narrate recipe preparation in native language Telugu which is heard by many beyond its boarders (Telugu Ellalu). I made my family members also watch some narrations which are very clear and appreciable. I am also happy to know that you are handling this web-site single handedly.

With best wishes

D.V. Prasad

September 9, 2010 10:30 AM

kaviharsha said...

Hi Gayathri garu,

This website is excellent and explanation is really good...I learnt cooking as well as telugu from ur cookery videos..

Thanks and regards,

Kavitha

June 23, 2010 9:53 PM

Your emails to gayatri@gayatrivantillu.com

Gayatrivantillu opinion on the mail forward from Lakshmi Jyothi Manapragada, on Nathuram Godse's statement

In "Parasurama" Avatara, powers of Parasurama were taken back by Lord Rama after it served the purpose of uniting small small kingdoms. Every Avatara has to come to an end and so is the case with Gandhiji also. When British adopted "divide and rule", there is no doubt about Gandhiji and his role. This Avatara was required for the undivided India to bring unity between Muslims and Hindus. Probably, this Avatara of Gandhiji needed to have ended a bit earlier, much before the eruption of ego-clash between Nehru and Jinnah, for which the country was divided to serve their respective individual aspirations. Remember, in Mahabharata also the country was divided into Hastinapur and Indraprastha to serve the aspirations of Kauravas and Pandavas. Yet Bhisma's endorsement to this solution couldn't avert Mahabharata War. In both these instances, individual aspirations took precedence over people's aspirations for which the country was divided. And probably that's what made Godse unhappy. Godse's statement makes a good reading & is thought provoking

Following is a mail forward from Lakshmi Jyothi Manapragada, on Nathuram Godse's statement

Mohan K Gandhi's Assassin: Nathuram Godse's Final Address to the Court.

Nathuram Godse was arrested based on a F. I.. R. filed by Nandlal Mehta at the Tughlak Road Police station at Delhi . The trial, which was held in camera, began on 27th May 1948 and concluded on 10th February 1949. He was sentenced to death..

An appeal to the Punjab High Court, then in session at Simla, did not find it favourable and the sentence was upheld. The statement that you

are about to read is the last made by Godse before the Court on the 5th of May 1949.

WHY I KILLED GANDHI

Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history, and Hindu culture. I had, therefore, been intensely proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up I developed a tendency to free thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance to any isms, political or religious. That is why I worked actively for the eradication of untouchables and the caste system based on birth alone. I openly joined RSS wing of anti-caste movements and maintained that all Hindus were of equal status as to rights, social, and religious and should be considered high or low on merit alone and not through the accident of birth in a particular caste or profession.

I used publicly to take part in organized anti-caste dinners in which thousands of Hindus, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Chamars and Bhangis participated. We broke the caste rules and dined in the company of each other. I have read the speeches and writings of Ravana, Chanakiya, Dadabhai Naoroji, Vivekanand, Gokhale, Tilak, along with the books of ancient and modern history of India and some prominent countries like England , France , America , and Russia . Moreover I studied the tenets of Socialism and Marxism. But above all I studied very closely whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji had written and spoken, as to my mind these two ideologies have contributed more to the molding of the thought and action of the Indian people during the last thirty years or so, than any other single factor has done.

All this reading and thinking led me to believe it was my first duty to serve Hinduism and Hindus both as a patriot and as a world citizen. To secure the freedom and to safeguard the just interests of some thirty crores (300 million) of Hindus would automatically constitute the freedom and the well-being of all India , one fifth of human race. This conviction led me naturally to devote myself to the Hindu Sanghtanist ideology and program, which alone, I came to believe, could win and preserve the national independence of Hindustan , my Motherland, and enable her to render true service to humanity as well.

Since the year 1920, that is, after the demise of Lokamanya Tilak, Gandhiji's influence in the Congress first increased and then became supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their intensity and were reinforced by the slogan of truth and non-violence which he paraded ostentatiously before the country. No sensible or enlightened person could object to those slogans. In fact there is nothing new or original in them. They are implicit in every constitutional public movement. But it is nothing but a mere dream if

you imagine that the bulk of mankind is, or can ever become, capable of scrupulous adherence to these lofty principles in its normal life

from day to day.

In fact, honour, duty, and love of one's own kith and kin and country might often compel us to disregard non-violence and to use force. I

could never conceive that an armed resistance to an aggression is unjust. I would consider it a religious and moral duty to resist and, if possible, to overpower such an enemy by use of force. [In the Ramayana] Rama killed Ravana in a tumultuous fight and relieved Sita. [In the Mahabharata] , Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness; and Arjuna had to fight and slay quite a number of his friends and relations including the revered Bhishma because the latter was on the side of the aggressor. It is my firm belief that in dubbing Rama, Krishna , and Arjuna as guilty of violence, the Mahatma betrayed a total ignorance of the springs of human action.

In more recent history, it was the heroic fight put up by Chhatrapati Shivaji that first checked and eventually destroyed the Muslim tyranny

in India . It was absolutely essentially for Shivaji to overpower and kill an aggressive Afzal Khan, failing which he would have lost his own life. In condemning history's towering warriors like Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh as misguided patriots, Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit. He was, paradoxical as it may appear a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and non-violence, while Rana Pratap, Shivaji, and the Guru will remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen for ever for the freedom they brought to them.

The accumulating provocation of thirty-two years, culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately. Gandhi had done very well in South Africa to uphold the rights and well-being

of the Indian community there. But when he finally returned to India he developed a subjective mentality under which he alone was to be the final judge of what was right or wrong. If the country wanted his leadership, it had to accept his infallibility; if it did not, he would stand aloof from the Congress and carry on his own way.

Against such an attitude there can be no halfway house. Either Congress had to surrender its will to his and had to be content with playing second fiddle to all his eccentricity, whimsicality, metaphysics and primitive vision, or it had to carry on without him. He alone was the Judge of everyone and every thing; he was the master brain guiding the civil disobedience movement; no other could know the technique of that movement. He alone knew when to begin and when to withdraw it. The movement might succeed or fail, it might bring untold disaster, and political reverses but that could make no difference to the Mahatma's infallibility. 'A Satyagrahi can never fail' was his formula for declaring his own infallibility and nobody except himself knew what a Satyagrahi is. Thus, the Mahatma became the judge and jury in his own cause. These childish insanities and obstinacies, coupled with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty character made Gandhi formidable and irresistible.

Many people thought that his politics were irrational but they had either to withdraw from the Congress or place their intelligence at his feet to do with as he liked. In a position of such absolute irresponsibility Gandhi was guilty of blunder after blunder, failure after failure, disaster after disaster. Gandhi's pro-Muslim policy is blatantly in his perverse attitude on the question of the national language of India . It is quite obvious that Hindi has the most prior claim to be accepted as the premier language. In the beginning of his career in India , Gandhi gave a great impetus to Hindi but as he found that the Muslims did not like it, he became a champion of what is called Hindustani.. Everybody in India knows that there is no language called Hindustani; it has no grammar; it has no vocabulary. It is a mere dialect, it is spoken, but not written. It is a bastard tongue and cross-breed between Hindi and Urdu, and not even the Mahatma's sophistry could make it popular. But in his desire to please the Muslims he insisted that Hindustani alone should be the national language of India . His blind followers, of course, supported him and the so-called hybrid language began to be used. The charm and purity of the Hindi language was to be prostituted to please the Muslims. All his experiments were at the expense of the Hindus.

From August 1946 onwards the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the Hindus. The then Viceroy, Lord Wavell, though distressed at what was happening, would not use his powers under the Government of India Act of 1935 to prevent the rape, murder and arson. The Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with some retaliation by the Hindus. The Interim Government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League member's right from its inception, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which they were a part, the greater was Gandhi's infatuation for them. Lord Wavell had to resign as he could not bring about a settlement and he was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten. King Log was followed by King Stork. The Congress which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism secretly accepted Pakistan literally at the point of the bayonet and abjectly surrendered to Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of the Indian territory became foreign land to us from August 15, 1947.

Lord Mount batten came to be described in Congress circles as the greatest Viceroy and Governor-General this country ever had. The official date for handing over power was fixed for June 30, 1948, but Mount batten with his ruthless surgery gave us a gift of vivisected

India ten months in advance. This is what Gandhi had achieved after thirty years of undisputed dictatorship and this is what Congress

party calls 'freedom' and 'peaceful transfer of power'. The Hindu-Muslim unity bubble was finally burst and a the ocratic state was established with the consent of Nehru and his crowd and they have called 'freedom won by them with sacrifice' - whose sacrifice? When

top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore the country - which we consider a deity of worship - my mind was

filled with direful anger.

One of the conditions imposed by Gandhi for his breaking of the fast unto death related to the mosques in Delhi occupied by the Hindu refugees. But when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and censure the Pakistan Government or the Muslims concerned. Gandhi was shrewd enough to know that while undertaking a fast unto death, had he

imposed for its break some condition on the Muslims in Pakistan , there would have been found hardly any Muslims who could have shown

some grief if the fast had ended in his death. It was for this reason that he purposely avoided imposing any condition on the Muslims. He

was fully aware of from the experience that Jinnah was not at all perturbed or influenced by his fast and the Muslim League hardly

attached any value to the inner voice of Gandhi. Gandhi is being referred to as the Father of the Nation. But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty in as much as he has acted very treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the partitioning of it. I stoutly maintain that Gandhi has failed in his duty.

He has proved to be the Father of Pakistan. His inner-voice, his spiritual power and his doctrine of non-violence of which so much is made of, all crumbled before Jinnah's iron will, and proved to be powerless. Briefly speaking, I thought to myself and foresaw I shall be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people would be nothing but hatred and that I shall have lost my entire honor, even more valuable than my life, if I were to kill Gandhiji. But at the same time I felt that the Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and would be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan . People may even call me and dub me as devoid of any sense or foolish, but the nation would be free to follow the course founded on the reason which I consider to be necessary for sound nation-building.

After having fully considered the question, I took the final decision in the matter, but I did not speak about it to anyone whatsoever. I took courage in both my hands and I did fire the shots at Gandhiji on 30th January 1948, on the prayer-grounds of Birla House. I do say that my shots were fired at the person whose policy and action had brought rack and ruin and destruction to millions of Hindus. There was no legal machinery by which such an offender could be brought to book and for this reason I fired those fatal shots. I bear no ill will towards anyone individually but I do say that I had no respect for the present government owing to their policy which was unfairly favorable towards the Muslims. But at the same time I could clearly see that the policy was entirely due to the presence of Gandhi.

I have to say with great regret that Primes Minister Nehru quite forgets that his preaching's and deeds are at times at variances with each other when he talks about India as a secular state in season and out of season, because it is significant to note that Nehru has played a leading role in the establishment of the theocratic state of Pakistan , and his job was made easier by Gandhi's persistent policy of appeasement towards the Muslims. I now stand before the court to accept the full share of my responsibility for what I have done and the judge would, of course, pass against me such orders of sentence as may be considered proper. But I would like to add that I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me, nor do I wish that anyone else should beg for mercy on my behalf. My confidence about the moral side of my action has not been shaken even by the criticism leveled against it on all sides. I have no doubt that honest writers of history will weighs my act and find the true value thereof some day in future.

JAI HIND

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