Barkha Dutt wrote a thought provoking article on the English divide in India a couple of weeks back, and somehow I have still not been able to decide what I feel exactly about it.
It's true that English in India, and it's knowledge, is one of the most real divides that exists in the society and classifies people. It's more tangible than any of those caste, and creed blasphemies that exist for centuries, and the least irrational of them all.
We all laugh at people who make grammatical errors, or who are not so fluent with the language, thereby creating some very peculiar and amusing situations. I was browsing through a job application some time back, and the cover letter read, "I am attached with my resume." Now you know what was meant to be conveyed, and you also know what was conveyed. Am I supposed to feel guilty then for finding it funny?
A lot of people in India do not have access to quality primary school education, if any at all, and while we know that English is an empowering tool being a global language as it brings a vast stock of resources at our disposal, what about those who don't have the tool, or the skill of practice. Is it their bad luck, or the society's failure.
I have lots more on mind, but something prevents me from typing too much. I just have one thought that's disturbing me.
Language is supposed to build civilizations, and to bridge people. But when the connect becomes a divide, what do you do?
UPDATE: Thought about it more last night, and the realisation is startling. The number of people in India who are deprived of the "class" education that India-shining and Vision 2020 advocates so firmly rely on for their claims, is HUGE, and it far exceeds the 39% that counts the country's illiterate. As a matter of fact, the 61% literacy, 2001 census, of India, includes many people who can barely write their names and no more. If you are reading this piece, you're definitely NOT one of those I'm talking about, and that's the irony of the situation, because the ones I am talking of are certainly not going to read this. Who bridges this gap?
The Govt is toying with a proposal, which I personally think is quite ridiculous, of making Maths and English optional at schools, ostensibly to reduce the work loads on students. I completely fail to understand if the problem is that a majority of our society is below par, should the focus be on raising their standard, or at lowering the bar itself? This was a major question that anti-reservationists have been voicing in the recent past too. But the pro-reservationists are also not wrong when they say that an enormous section of the Indian population is deprived and outcasted because they do not have access and hence knowledge of the "sophisticated elitist" language that English has come to become. It is true that English in India is a personalised softer Indianised version more often than not, but that's a creation of people who were already fed on Queen's english basics and then adapted it to convenience, which is something very natural (afterall, don't the British kids talk in the way of "Chillin out sounds nang, but who wants to end up flat-roofin laters?"). The problem is even in a majority of schools where english is taught complusorily, the teachers do not have the skill to impart efficiently a knowledge that would be sufficient for all. Infact, i have to admit that even in north, even in the "good" schools of a city like Delhi, the number of students who do pathetically at hindi and cant get one spelling write is actually more than those who mess up English. That's because English gets all the importance, but many of us dont have the skills in it, and Hindi is anyway ignored even though that may be the language peeplee speak everyday. We are really a Hinglish generation, and I dont see much harm with that. The harm rather lies with our treatment of English. The instinctive superiority it commands, is it a product of a colonial mindset that refuses to recede, or simply of a need to position ourselves competitively in a global environment where most nations speak English. And even if it is the latter, is it OK to divide ourselves into the English-speaking and the wannabes? I have a fear this is a divide far more deep and far more humiliating than who you were born as, and the shame is solely on the society.
P.S. Click here for link to Barkha Dutt's article.
12 comments:
Yippe! I am first one to comment.
Well you are so right. I have laughed at people and then felt guilty about it so many times.
I once started writing a potentially defining piece on the division of our society on this basis but gave up midway.
It's something I find very interesting. I would be grateful if you could provide a link to Barkha Dutt's article. Or mail it please. :)
Btw, I liked the stories you forwarded. Sweet and sentimental. Looks like I stil have a heart after all. :|
i'm not good at hindi, so often i realize how deep the divide goes. its not fun at all.
[waterhouse king]
Nice new nick, and no posts still?
Anyway I know ur situation. It's the same with all of us.
[Robert frust]
Why do you leave the more interesting things you do midway?
Anyway, wouldn't mind a nice conversation on this someday, maybe even a debate.
Am putting the link in the update.
And glad that you liked those...
[vivek]
I know your situation, but the thing is, people would still understand you knowing less hindi than others in the north, but nobody wants to understand the person who makes grammatical and pronunciation 'blunders'.
[waterhouse king]
Nice new nick, and no posts still?
Anyway I know ur situation. It's the same with all of us.
[Robert frust]
Why do you leave the more interesting things you do midway?
Anyway, wouldn't mind a nice conversation on this someday, maybe even a debate.
Am putting the link in the update.
And glad that you liked those...
[vivek]
I know your situation, but the thing is, people would still understand you knowing less hindi than others in the north, but nobody wants to understand the person who makes grammatical and pronunciation 'blunders'.
Who bridges this gap?
I doubt if this can be answered even after few decades from now!!!
Its the same situation when i try to speak hindi.... aaahhh that really hurts.
still we try to speak, but its totally different if its english and the primary education is not completely into it. english is not important there.. am not talking abt delhi or any city but am talking at the grass root level... the government schools. English is they very last thing they care about.
In fact, sometimes I find a rift in my own thoughts because of these two languages. I find that some things cannot be thought of in English, and some in Hindi. This causes incoherence. And this is probably because of the same reasons as the social divide.
I actually suppport the idea of English getting a higher preferance in schools.
I know lots of people speak hindi in India, but the world is opening up for everybody, and English being the universal language, should be understood by all.
Its easier than Hindi too.
I have never considered one thing as superior to the other. Some says Sanskrit is the heart of every language, some say Latin. People says lots of things. But as Charlotte Bronte said, Conventionality is not morality, self-righteousness is not religion, to assail the first is not to attack the later.
To me English is a comfortale language to get your ideas across. My mother tongue is not hindi either, but I find it suitable for some particular circumstances.
I was never affected by the colonial rule, not directly anyway. Necessity made me learn english. Most books, technical or otherwise are mostly in english, blame the colonial british for that, but I would not. If I were born at a place which was not in the british yolk, I would have still learned english, if I could.
Since most ideas are revealed to us in that language, to translate it back to our mother tongue seems a little strange. I would normally speak about the "apple" falling from the tree instead of "sheb pehr se girrah" (My hindi is pathetic). "Sheb" makes my mouth water instead of instilling curiousity about the gravitational force.
Am I supposed to feel guilty then for finding it funny?
NO, you are not. But, you mat not laugh at their faces.
There are those who had that proverbial 'quality education' and still makes funny errors, there are the ones who have an appaling urge for being 'trendy' and mess it all up, there are the stubborn incorrigible ones and there are the plain stupid ones; besides the few who didn't have 'quality education'.
[chandu]
You're very right. and the disparity is supposed to be bridged. If the society cares, 'they' should care too, and if they shouldn't, why does everybody seem to care?
[the anon]
I agree. We sometimes cannot even think in only one language, or in one instead of the other.
Angelie Multani used to say all the time that english maybe the language of our intellectual make-up, but not the emotional make-up.
[johney]
It's all a matter of conditioning, of the environment we are born and brought up in...
[raja]
Aye aye sir.
1. humanize education.... work towards a better society of men/women ... not "educated" illiterates.
2. Maths/science necessary ... hmm, i dnt think so ... we need common sense and education which aims for the prosperity of the mind , not only economic prosperity.
3. I think in my mother tongue, believe me i have "eaten" water so many times its not funny (bengali has no word for drinking, its said aami jhol khaichi - which translates verbose to "i ate water" ). This after being surrounded by ppl with good english skills (father mother friends).
4. Disparity can be bridged, by putting more value in the regional languages, more s/w around regional needs. This will happen, but it is going to take time . But regionalism is a big no no.
now i gtg, but intresting points raised..
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