Angrez chale gaye…Angrezi chhod gaye

Language, Identity and Social Prestige

"Angrez chale gaye…Angrezi chhod gaye"… Is English just another language or is it the standard-bearer of social prestige in today’s India? And should it be so?

• Hey I speak Hindi only with the drivers and maids, man!! … Obviously!” (Condescension).

• “Yeah, he seems intelligent alright; but have you heard him speak English? God, his pronunciation … real ‘Desi’, you know!! (obvious disdain).

• “We spoke to our daughter in English right from her birth. She hardly knows Hindi, you know! (undisguised glee) 

• “Include … in our kitty group? No way! She can barely speak English!” (plain horror)

Sounds familiar? If you happen to be in Delhi or any Northern Indian metro (and are honest enough to admit it) you know very well what this is all about. Delhi gets the (dubious) cake, for such unabashed snobbery! Such undisguised deprecation of Hindi, is just par-for-the-course … and nobody bats an eyelid!

Well, it gets my goat each time I witness it!

Proficiency in the King’s Language in today’s urban India is not only a marker of your exalted status in social/professional world; it is your gate pass to polite society. A veritable ‘sine qua non’ for social respect…even acceptance. Of course, if you speak English with cut-glass precision like a certain Mr Tharoor, you earn instant admiration bordering on reverence! Getting extra special attention at the Club; the Airlines Office; the Upmarket Restaurant; the child’s PTA meeting and of course the Job Interview, is a given.

So why does this bother me so much?

Well, it’s clearly not a case of sour grapes!! Having studied in Convent Schools, under Irish Nuns one grew up with a flair for English. Extensive reading starting from Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew, to Agatha Christie and Perry Mason, took me to choosing English Literature for my Bachelor’s Degree. Followed by decades of professional work as English/SoftSkills Trainer/Content Writer/Editor, only strengthened my love for the language

What bothers me therefore, is not the King’s Tongue per se, but rather Urban India’s obnoxious ‘Chip on the shoulder’ and deeply colonised mind which prides itself on running down all things traditionally Indian. Disdain for vernacular languages is only a symptom; the malady runs much deeper. The leitmotif of such peculiar self-deprecation marks the Indian psyche, breeding a false sense of superiority while pretending to be like our erstwhile ‘masters’. This is clearly reflected in our propensity towards continental cuisine, European art, western classical music; our penchant for occidental history, architecture, culture and all things ‘white’. We may not know Indian Classical ‘ragas’ or ‘mudras’ but dropping names like Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Beethoven fetches instant deference. Being able to pair your wines with your meat gives you a distinctly high perch on the totem pole. Naturally then, the ordinary folks unfamiliar with such tastes and sensibilities become an easy target of ridicule or labelling as ‘desi’ or uncouth. Their other accomplishments/qualities count for nothing.

Witness how Satyajit Ray and Pandit Ravi Shankar were celebrated in India only after they had enthralled Western audiences. Each time an Indian film/book gets nominated for Oscar, or Nobel Prize, we sit up and take notice; just not until then!! Craving western validation is almost an obsession amongst Indians.

This mindset has created visible class divides between India (English-speaking urban elite) and Bharat (vernacular-speaking, ‘unrefined’ folks).  As an English Trainer (working in both academic and corporate world) I have seen the horrendous effects of this painful social reality, especially in young students and job-seekers. So low is their self-esteem – when they compare themselves with their public-school counterparts – that they seem to lose the (Job Interview) battle even before it begins! It is a huge challenge to help them out of this self-imposed sense of inferiority and give them the social/professional confidence to find their feet. It is like crossing the proverbial Rubicon! 

Of course, in today’s globalised world, English is vital; as ‘lingua franca’. But can it be equated with intelligence? A benchmark for competence/employability? Can there be any justification for misplaced superiority among the English-speaking urban elite? Coupled with their ridiculous ‘pride’ in not knowing Hindi/other regional tongues!!  Where else in the world would you find people embarrassed of their own language! Fortunately, the position is not so bad in southern, eastern and western India where people are generally proud of their linguistic heritage (Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati etc) while equipping themselves with fair knowledge of English.

Delhi and other northern cities would do well to learn from here. Conventional wisdom, after all, supports ‘this AND that’ (expansive thinking) instead of the binary of ‘either this OR that’ (narrow thinking)! Modernity and global citizenship need not come at the cost of equity, inclusiveness and civilisational pride.