Which Language?

After the fiasco at the swearing in ceremony about the use of Hindi or English or Marathi, our media (as usual) went berserk and there were endless debates. Most of them revolved around which language is most suitable for us. Should our children learn Marathi or Hindi? Or should we all just switch to English as it's the one that's understood and used globally. And then there were protests against this which said that we are all 'Indians' (laughable) and that our own languages must take precedence.

And as I was hearing these debates, I was wondering why this was a topic that was even being discussed. Why should children be taught either one or the other? Why not all three (as we used to) or four, five or six? We had a Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao who was a polyglot and could read, write and speak 13 different national and international languages. At one time this used to be a great thing. Knowing multiple languages was a sign of great intellect. When did we deteriorate to a point where we chose to teach our children 1 language as a matter of cultural pride?

For that matter, at one time being secular and inclusive was the way to be and such people were respected too. Look where that's gone today so I suppose language being victimised is a small matter and is to be expected.