The other day me and a few colleagues along with my boss,
were seated in a training room discussing some usual office stuff!
Conversations slipped from formal to casual and jokes surged in! And the reason
for a whole hearted laugh was given by me! I spelled a word so miserably, that
my team burst into laughter! On top, to
add to the embarrassment, I justified saying ‘’My tongue got rolled’’.. And I
could only get a what-did-you-just-say
look from Vaidya (READ : Vaidyanathan Iyer )
“Tongue got rolled.. What English is that Gargi’’...?, he
commented! And of everything Era and Firdos, two of my good buddies at work
could do, was join vaidya in further making jokes out of me. You know friends
are meant for that.. Before they could even pick you up they make sure they
have their share of laugh! Shamelessly I laughed at my own silly mistake.. For
had I been in their place.. I would have imitated the same thing.
Though I do not recollect the word that I spelled, but I remember
Vaidya telling me that it had a weird mix of Marathi and Malu accent! Heavens!
English and its Pronunciations... Perhaps the importance it gets from us, Indians...
it wouldn’t get from any other corner of this globe! We find a great deal in
speaking it crisp and right! And why not, we are pro’s at things we do!
This little fun conversation at work triggered a few thoughts
in my mind! Rather it streamlined the bits and pieces my brain had stored since
long!
I do not want to get into the battle of; if English language
should be given importance over our native tongue and related topics! All that
I want to put across are a few light hearted thoughts! We already live a way
too serious life!!!! I do not intend to add to the seriousness!
Shit Happens! That’s life! A person who has been educated in
an English medium school could make a mess of that language... while a
vernacular student, who might have a little MTI problem, may throw a vocab at
you, to understand which you might want to refer to a dictionary! Irony, isn’t it?
Again an accent is something we do not appreciate! Agreed it
sounds gross when a normal English word is spelled in a manner that reminds you
of the various existing Indian dialects, but isn’t it funny that when an
Italian, French or a Spanish person speaks English with a hint of their native
language, it is a thing of fancy! Serious Double Standards we deal with!
All this is so funny and so paradoxical that sometimes I
wonder what possible solution I could have! If I say an accent is ok, I am sure
as hell I will have my English teachers slam me down with all possible logical
explanation! And If I say, Thy English shall
be perfect, I will again trigger debates!
So let me take a neutral way! ( The safest bet, perhaps!)
Let us treat every language with the beauty it carries from its origin! Yes, we
do speak the purest form of this globalized language, so let us not fall into
the glamorous western trap and try to neither adapt their accent nor mix it up
with various permutations and combinations of Indian languages and their
dialects , just like I did ( Mistake accepted)
Let us neither
underrate it nor overate it! Keep it simple silly, should be the tagline!
Yes, I am a proud Indian and I take pride in saying that everything
we do is a perfecto! It isn’t just for statistics that the Indian ICU and its
human resources are just as precious!
If you are struggling with it, be rest
assured, you are not the sole soul.. You have bunch of idiots in the league who
act as if they are Shakespeare but cannot even the compete the understanding you
pursue of the language! Learning takes time, and when it comes to a particular
language, it hell does! But eventually you will master it! For those who aren’t
struggling, remember, learning a language is a never ending process! Make
mistakes.. Learn! The learning curve can be tricky at times but is eventually
fun!
Till then let’s keep it
light and bright!
Adios Amigo!
