Us Third Worlder South Asians are always looking for a hint, an indication, that the rest of the world takes us seriously. It does not matter if it is about Pakistan or India or Bangladesh, the collective pride rises to just under the surface when something is said or done by the West which acknowledges that any one country of South Asia has made it, such as when Bill Clinton visits Bangalore or Swraj Paul is knighted.
And so, South Asians in general must celebrate regardless of caste, creed or national origin when Swiss International Airlines (successor to the late lamented Swissair) provides not only Hindi and Tamil films as part of its inflight entertainment, but the flight information is also provided in chaste sanskritised Hindi. Together with seeing where your plane is on its trajectory from Zurich to Delhi, you can also now know that the baahar ka taapmaan (outside temperature) is – 42 degrees centigrade, while the bhutaal gati (ground speed) is 890 ki mi prati ghanta (yes, kmph), and the gantabya sthan par doori (distance to distance) is 1245 ki mi.
It would do well for the Western world to provide other examples to show that they regard us South Asians as equals rather than just a source of readymade garments and cyber coolies. For example, turning to the United Nations in New York, when are you guys going to start simultaneous translations in Hindu and Urdu? What? You do not think we have the numbers? Then make it Hindustani and you will have a cool 500 million, plus a cool another 200 million who profess they do not understand but do, thanks to the almost imperialist invasive virus known as Bollywood. If you can have Chinese and Arabic, besides English, Spanish and French simultaneous translations from the UN conference booths, surely Hindustani deserves a head nod rather than a noncommittal waffle?
I will tell you what, the moment the Kashmir tangle is resolved, the first thing Islamabad's chief executive and New Delhi's pradhan mantri should do is to tie themselves together and sit on dharna outside the UN Secretariat at 43'd and 1′, demanding the inclusion of Hindustani. If rebuffed by Mr Coffee Anon, they should engage in a relay fast, that interesting South Asian invention, where you can even break for coffee. The Secretary General would surely get the message when two formerly warring partners join together for the sake of linguistic representation.