'Linguistic brawl': Some IT employees object as colleague speaks in Hindi in Zoom meeting, video goes viral

Bengaluru, Jan 2: A clip of IT employees, attending a Zoom meeting with the HR Manager, calling out a colleague who starts speaking in Hindi despite requests to stick to the common language, went viral on social media in Karnataka on Tuesday, evoking mixed reactions.

The video, posted on the X handle of "Ghar ke Kalesh" is captioned "Kaleesh (discord) between colleagues over one guy was speaking Hindi during Zoom meeting".

The 51-second video, which has garnered 1.2 million views, shows techies in a Zoom meeting and as as one of them starts speaking in Hindi, an employee from Tamil Nadu asks him to speak in English.

After starting in English, when the employee again switches over to Hindi, another employee from Karnataka asks what they would feel if she starts talking in Kannada to them in the meeting. She requests the HR Manager, who is coordinating the meeting, to ensure all talk in English. Another participant starts talking in Malayalam.

As the manager says that the conversation be translated afterwards and provided to all, another female techie intervenes and opines that they should not be fighting over such a petty issue.

The video also shows when everyone starts reacting to this, the person who was speaking in Hindi signs out and exits the meeting.

The video has generated mixed responses and many have questioned "hostility" towards Hindi, while many have also stressed that English is recognised as the medium of communication in the corporate world.