Languages have the capacity to either fry bacon or stay gentle and pleasant. At times, simple and short words can be potentially more impactful in conveying powerful messages.

All these were easily noticed over the last week or so when phrases of two public figures from Tamil Nadu gained traction. In fact, the speed with which their utterances spread was faster than the time taken by Vande Bharat Express to cross the Chenab bridge, an engineering marvel.

But there the similarity ends. If actor-politician Kamal Haasan was intending to lay emphasis on some kind of familial relationship between Tamil and Kannada by his remark that “Kannada was born out of Tamil”, he ended up having a ‘Thug Life’ image in Karnataka and his movie shunted into the sidings.

On the other side of the world was a questioner in Spain who was perhaps yearning for quite a bit of thrill when he asked DMK leader Kanimozhi about India’s national language, but her reply that “the national language of India is unity in diversity” must have derailed the enquirer’s train of thoughts off its rails.

With her riposte, the member of Parliament signalled that she was in Madrid to guard Indian interests against any type of onslaught, including on languages which, like junctions, intersect and influence each other before reaching their respective platforms.

The gist of the two episodes is that, like people, languages travel far and wide and even to space, helping bridge the gulf, just like the Chenab bridge, which became possible only after people from all corners of India joined hands to conquer insurmountable challenges.

Just as Indian cinema and Indian Railways have crossed all hurdles, it’s hoped that Kashmir to Kanniyakumari track and field will inspire the nation to live in unity and take delight in diversity.