Mind your own English

I hear voices. Voices in English to be precise – that’s cheesy.. am pissed off.. screwed up totally.. catching up old blokes.. Oh my ghosh.. its rocking yaa.. awesome mahnn..blah blah blah WOAAAHH. I turn left or I turn right each day I hear people conversing in English. Undoubtedly, English is fast emerging as the lingua franca and over the years Indians have surely developed a strong liking or if I may say love for this global language. English has always conferred many advantages to the influential people who can speak it right from the time India secured independence. Well this is certainly not about bestowing English its impending glory but its unrivalled importance to Indians and the associated tasteless pride on their own spoken English. 

Each one feels that the way they pronounce words is the ideal and correct one and leave no stone unturned to prove it. They are so obsessed with the correct pronunciations and intonations that they completely jettison the situation and surrounding and jump at the opportunity to correct the other person. “Oh its not Photographer its (fo-tow-grapher)- with the British/American accent”. Absurd reasoning, justification and unapologetic ostentation go to the extent of their affluent schooling backgrounds – Convent, Military, CBSE board, State board and hence their enunciations are the right ones. Immature as it may sound this is absolutely true.

The fact of the matter is that in India how well one approximates British English often determines how well educated he/she is. From times when it was considered a matter of immense superiority if a person in the family could manage to write and speak English to times when a family was equated to being extraordinarily well educated if they conversed with each other in English to now where parents take pride that their wards don’t speak their mother tongue but only English, the transition has been painfully remarkable. I dread to predict what the future could be.

Not many of us know that what we speak in India is very less of British English and we have developed it in our own way influenced by our linguistic, regional and socio-cultural contexts. They are all mutually distinct varieties and I just hope that this uniqueness is valued and appreciated.

India and its God men

I was five when I first saw an addition to the existing number of framed god pictures in our home mandir. The 3 saffron garbed men with a stick in their hand and a gentle smile on their lips did not seem God to me. True to my ever questioning demeanour I asked my father “Who are they?” My father replied “They are our gurus” Not very happy with the answer I asked “Are they God?” A prompt NO came from my mother. “They are our gurus who lead an austere life and are considered most close to god” That was my earliest memory of holy men being considered equivalent to god and as I grew up I have only witnessed more and more of them in India.

As I grew up I read and saw the rise of many such sanyasis, spiritual gurus and self proclaimed gods. What amazed me was the huge(read huuuuuuuge) number of followers these god men had. The throng included not only Indians but Italians, Germans, Iraqis, Israelis and people from all over the globe.  Each one standing in endless queues to get a darshan of their god in the hope that their desires and wishes be accorded tatkal status in the cosmic scheme of things. Temples hanging their photos alongside deities, huge donations from the who’s who, educational institutions and hospitals opened on their names; these god men surely are amongst the most influential in India.

The recent demise of a self-proclaimed god and spiritual guru - his unique identity being the unmistakable halo of his jet black hair, got the nation mourning. From ministers to celebrities to the corporate biggies apart from the common man rushed to get a last glimpse of their god, to pay their last respects, to witness his Samadhi in the hope that it would wash away their sins.

Although the recent years saw many scandals and scams surrounding many god men India still largely is a country where even the most educated people willingly cloud their rationality when the subject is GOD!!!!!!

Words on Racism

We boast about this Generation

Of wit and Intelligence

Of success and patience

Sadly it could not reduce the decree

Or resolve the age old mystery

Of White and Black

 

White is a colour

Just like Black is another

What makes the whites superior

That gives them this right to injure

And discriminate

Is it the absent culture or the fair skin?

They need to be reminded even we are akin

 

Whites follow Christ’s teachings

And the Blacks swear by Christ’s preaching’s

For the Lord once said

All his children are one

Rich or poor

Menial or a Titan

Only good deeds and pure soul

Make us human

Colour and discrimination

Leave us with hearts broken.