There was a famous Amitabh Bachchan film called Namak Halal. His character plays a prince hidden away in the village brought up as a country bumkin with a heart of gold. He comes to the big bad city – Mumbai where else, and ends up working in a 5 star hotel. There is this really cute scene in the film, where Amitabh is asked at the job interview whether he speaks English. And his respnse in a very bhaiya accent is

”I can talk English, I can walk English, and I can laugh English because English is a very phunny language. Bhairo becomes Byron because their minds are very narrow.”

and then he launches into this completely hilarious bit about Vijay Merchant and Vijay Hazare batting for India. The English speaking elite was being poked fun at (very nicely). The Indian born confused desi was some one who was really out of it.

For a long time English was an elite language. But suddenly it has changed. I saw something on NDTV the other day on water problems in some remote part of Bihar. I nearly fell of the chair when a village woman said ” is gaon mein to paani ka bahut problem hain”

And now comes The Week article – which i saved from being chewed by Rani- that focuses on the craze for learning English. Everyone and his cousin, and probably his/her kitchen sink – has decided that they want to speak the language. Properly. Reasons vary. Some want to emmigrate. Some see it as a status symbol. For some it is a better self esteem. And for others it is a gateway to opportunity.

There would be those who see it as a loss of cultural identity. but i don’t. English is as much an Indian language now, as any language that originated here. It is a part of our culture. I only wish that it isnt’ Yanklish. I much prefer the Brit variety.