A heartwarming incident in Bengaluru’s Basavanagudi area has gone viral, sparking conversations around cultural assimilation and language learning in the city.
A post titled, ‘Crazy how Gujaratis have assimilated into the Kannada culture in South Bengaluru’, shared on Reddit narrates the touching moment when a Gujarati mother encouraged her young daughter to speak in Kannada while shopping at a local coffee powder store near Gandhi Bazaar Circle.
The Reddit user, who was at the shop speaking to the shopkeeper (a family friend), noticed the Gujarati duo arriving on a scooter to buy coffee. The mother nudged her daughter to take the lead, likely trying to instill independence and shopping confidence. But it wasn’t just about buying coffee, the lesson was deeper.
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Read his full post here:
“She told her daughter: ‘Speak in Kannada only. No English or Gujarati,’” the user recalled. The child initially spoke in broken Kannada, but gradually improved with her mother’s support.
{{/usCountry}}“She told her daughter: ‘Speak in Kannada only. No English or Gujarati,’” the user recalled. The child initially spoke in broken Kannada, but gradually improved with her mother’s support.
{{/usCountry}}“Everyone there felt so happy seeing her effort. The shopkeeper even said, ‘I’m so proud of you.’”
The moment resonated deeply with readers, many of whom praised it as a model for cultural assimilation in India’s cosmopolitan cities.
Reactions online
Reddit users quickly flooded the comments with support and similar anecdotes. “They learn it for business, but it’s also cultural,” one user pointed out.
“OG Bengaluru has a strong, culturally rooted crowd, so it’s natural for newcomers to adapt and learn the language to feel part of it.”
Another user joked, “I’m Gujarati, we’ll speak even Mandarin if it means business!”
Many agreed that language shouldn’t be a barrier. “Go to Gujarati or Marwadi shops on Avenue Road, they speak fluent Kannada, Telugu, Tamil. Anyone saying ‘South Indian languages are hard’ is just making excuses.”
One person shared a quirky example. “I know a Marwadi who’s a die-hard Dr. Rajkumar fan. He randomly quotes his movie dialogues during conversations, and it’s hilarious!”
(Also Read: ‘I’d speak English in Bengaluru, not Kannada': Viral post says no point learning languages of poor economies)