Not to be cowed, that impugned senior member while roundly castigating a junior party colleague, also implied that undeniable fluency in English is at least partly to blame for that person’s continued highhandedness and belligerence. That raises the tantalising question whether there is something about the language that two centuries of colonial rule bequeathed to India that imbues its speakers with secret superpowers? Or, is English fluency (or lack of it) increasingly irrelevant now?
Old news clips of Indian politicians of yore-our first few presidents, prime ministers and other senior leaders-reveal that almost all of them had what used to be called ‘cut glass accents’ or the clipped English tones of the upper class in Britain. Not surprisingly, that accent, quaintly called ‘Received Pronunciation’ is hardly heard anymore in Britain, much less in any of its colonies. Even Prince William’s enunciation is not as ‘crystal’ as that of his father, King Charles III!
English has always been spoken as a first language only by a minuscule minority in India. While in percentage terms those who understand and speak it now, with varying accents and degrees of fluency, may indeed be more than in 1947, their relationship with it is far from reverential. It is no longer the language of power; or at least not the only one. Moreover, grammar, syntax and idiom are not the most important aspect of knowing English; it all hinges on confident delivery.
What students read when studying English as a subject in schools here has also changed considerably in the past 75 years. Therefore, many phrases and allusions familiar to earlier generations leave the younger ones quite mystified. For many, if not most Indians, English has also become less a language of expression and discourse than of utility and information-school textbooks, examinations and applications. English very often is used in conjunction with Indian languages.
In most public spaces, even the so-called ‘upmarket’ ones, English does not necessarily predominate either anymore as there is no snob value attached to it in ‘real’ India. Even for those young Indians who aspire to study abroad, learning English is not aspirational in a social sense now; it is just an enabling tool. In that scheme of things, cultivating Tharooresque accents and spouting “idiomatic English” are quite optional though fluency is still needed to get good grades.Speaking English in any accent other than mainstream ones in Britain, US, Canada and Australia once used to embarrass desis. But thanks to India’s rising economic and cultural profile and Indians’ rising self-confidence, not to mention stringent norms for politically correct social behaviour there, such concerns have faded. With technology offering instant translations in situ, soon maybe fluency in any language apart from mother tongues will no longer be necessary.Yet, one veteran MP thinks English fluency is to blame for a junior MP’s hubris while his fellow senior MP avers that the first MP’s persistent purported lack of proper articulation in the same language is reason enough for him to be put in his place! Ironically, there are not too many people in India these days who can discern correct or incorrect English anyway, so the finer nuances of this piquant regional discord may totally elude them. Lucky for all parties concerned!
