Hyderabad: From Yemi Guruvu Garu to Yem anna, Yem Tammi, promoting the region’s own god, Yadadri Lakshminarasimha Swami, to revival of the famed Hyderabadi lingo, the last 12 months have seen a cultural renaissance in Telangana.

Telangana dialects, cuisine, songs, personalities, schemes are the flavour of the new state. TRS chief and the state’s first Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who regularly used Telangana slang during the statehood movement and flattened rivals with his dialogues, has revived the culture of the region, especially language.
What once was taboo and not considered Telugu, is now fashionable. Freedom and self-rule certainly brings a radical change in all spheres and Telangana witnessed the same.

In Karimnagar district, one will find tiffin centres, kirana stores, wine shops, cloth stores and business establishments named after Telangana. This tendency has grown drastically after the state’s bifurcation and they are all trying to sell products that establish Telangana identity. Literary personalities have started writing indigenous stories in the Telangana dialect and amateur and professional filmmakers are making short films depicting stories of the region.

Priority is also given to Urdu and signboards, wall paintings, posters and official programme banners in Urdu are displayed at government departments along with Telugu and English, unlike in the past. Cabinet meetings are now in the Telangana dialect and ministers, officials, media persons and the common man, all speak in the language they always knew but were shy to speak. Bonalu, Ramzan, Dasara, Deepavali and Christmas are now important festivals and Sankranti, more of an Andhra Pradesh festival, has taken a back seat.