DAILY DOSE ENGLISH IS NO CRIMINAL English is not a language in India. It is a caste. It is also a free pass to the best of jobs. And anyone tells you differently they are hypocrites. Besides, it is the most powerful weapon in the arsenal to take on the world. That is why our diaspora is so strong and vibrant. We’d be isolated from that stage if we gave up our collective command of this language as well as the offshoots it has spawned, that vibrant Hinglish equivalent which is truly ours…as much as the Wren and Martin grammar book gives us the written edge against all comers. There is not one Brit, American, Aussie or Kiwi who know how to parse a sentence or underscore a past participle or engage in clause analysis. Ergo, there is nothing colonial about English in India. Nor is it elitist and saying escargot and indubitably and ratiocinate is not English. English, even at its basic level, is the verbal glue that keeps India together. You kill English you fracture the nation and you sideline the country globally. For all the pious bull I am reading these days by the anti-English brigade no one is seeing the risk in making the majesty and grandeur of English an equation with misplaced chauvinism. Believe me, all those politicians who are knocking it send their kids to English medium schools. Check it out. Would you give a job in the private sector to someone sans a command of English. Medicine. Banking. Much of media. Industry. Retail. Education. Tarde. Commerce. The corporate world. Just because some affected folks say ‘dahlingggg’ or twang away in that nauseating fashion at airports or look down on those who don’t speak English doesn’t make it the fault of the language. That’s their foolishness, their social snobbery and blatant stupidity. Be careful, lest you throw the baby out with the bathwater. Try applying for a job with the boxwallahs and the hospitality industry and tourism and all the top Info companies but tell them you ‘no speak inglis’…see how far you get. Not even past the doorman.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 08:21:26 +0000
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