This time, Varalotti talks about our common problem !

There are many such examples, Usha!

Dear Usha,

I am happy that my article came at the right time when you and your husband were discussing about somebody's English.

Well on the one extreme we have people who are afraid to talk in English; and on the other we have specimens like that speaker who are very strong in their innocence.

We once had an office boy. I had trained him to ask every morning at about 1030, "cheques ethavathu irukka?" just to remind me in case I am holding any cheques to be deposited. The very next day when I was discussing something with my client the office boy came to my seat and said in a loud voice, "sar innikku sex irukka?"

It took the whole of five minutes before the laughter subsided. And I had one friend who had the strangest defect of all he did not know the difference between the words fortunate and unfortunate.

One day he met a known company executive by chance and to express his happiness said, "I wanted to see you. But today I met you unfortunately met you."
The executive corrected that it was fortunately and not unfortunately. My friend insisted he was right whereupon the executive said, 'Yes it is really unfortunate that I met you.'

I have sat in many interview panels and have seen people giving enormous weightage to English communication skills. In the case of IT and ITES it makes a difference of life and death.
High time we focussed on this issue.
Thanks for the post, Usha.
regards,
sridhar

 

Thanks Shahana!

Dear Shahana,

I am happy to have kindled your childhood memories. You and your hubby have a good sense of humour, especially when he advised you about taking all the grammar out of the language.

A south Indian who goes to Delhi and works there for 6 months speaks excellent hindi. But even if he works for 60 years in London his English will not improve because of the psychological barriers he has created between him and English. I want this to change. I want all of us to view English for what it is - a foreign language. And if it is necessary for our purpose then we should master it. There is no harm or shame in talking bad English as we talk bad Tamil. Our TV announcers speak the most horrible Tamil and are proud of it too! You tell them that your Tamil is bad, they will smile at you for the compliment. But you tell them their English is awful (in many cases it is) they will pounce upon you with such a force as if you have commented on their chastity.

If we want to master that language this condition should change.

And Shahana can you please translate the poem into English for me? I could broadly understand what does it mean; but would love to know the exact meaning. Please do it.
regards,
sridhar

 

About Kunjunni mash

Kunjunni, popularly known as Kunjunni Mash writes small poems which appear to be childlike. These verses, carry great messages that convey the deepest of philosophies.
He wrote about people who ran to get admission in English Schools, to make their children speak English.
Janicha udan thanne en makan english samsaarikkuvaan
Bharya than prasavamangu englandilakkee njan!

To make my son speak English, soon after birth
I decided , my wife's delivery will be there, in England!

Teased about being short, he wrote: Pokkamillayma'yaa'nente pokkam. pokkam means height and vanity, illayma - state of having nothing, ente - mine...
It is not easy to translate his poems into English, I am not confident to provide his real message..
click here to read more about him

 

Yet another Varalotti!

Sridhar, how many roles can you don?? Just as I was getting used to you as a writer who is a CA and also a lawyer, you come out as this HR person!
Thanks to Chitra, we get to read your article in DH and a useful and enlightening one at that.
Besides that, I also enjoyed reading all the posts and your responses to them here, some funny and some with painful facts too.
English language...a bane to many in today's world, no doubt! It is my favorite language. Today, I am not so sure if I am totally happy about that because having learnt English since childhood, I am not good at any of my own Indian languages But I keep telling one and all of my foreign friends that English is not a foreign language for us Indians...it is also another Indian language, the fifteenth one!! I hope all of you agree with me No matter where you travel in India, you many not be able to converse in their native languages, but you can get along if you know English. In Bangalore, for eg, every autorickshaw driver will muster a few words of English and every restraunt waiter too! If you happen to live abroad like me and there is a get together of Indians, we end up conversing in English! Like it or not, it is in India to stay. So, pidgeon English, butler English, broken English...whatever...it is Indian English. Like the aussie slang and the American twang, we have our own Indian English. The British can claim the Kohinoor, but they cannot ever retrieve their language from us, ha ha ha. We are better at it than the British themselves...refer Vikram Seth, Salman Rushdie, Varalotti Rengasamy and co
Sometimes, we Indians ourselves are the ones who hinder other Indians to better their English language. I remember having an upper hand in college due to my proficiency in English as compared to my classmate who schooled in a vernacular language medium. This psyche should defenitely be changed in our country. It is in Germany that I realised how it did not matter at all if one didn't know English! I needed to know the German language and that too, very importantly. So, it is that we have to realise. It is enough to be proficient in one language and it can be your native tongue. Only, to be successful out there in today's world, it is necessary to learn English, like we do other sciences. No more, no less.

L, Kamla

 

Very Kind of You, Safa!

That was very kind of Shahana. At times it is surprising to know that we do not know such eminence living close to us. From what you write I can infer that he was a great poet of very few words containing very poignant messages.

I also followed the link you have given and came to know about the life and times of Kunjunni Mash.

Thanks Shahana,
Varalotti

 

And Finally This Honour...

Kamla, I am a jack of all trades and have to don many roles. If you want to survive as a professional in a mofussil town like Madurai all these roles constitute your survival kit.

You have bestowed the greatest honours on me by mentioning my name in the same line where the names of Seth and Rusdie appear. (By the same token, you have lashed out on them, ha ha ha)

Kamla, when it comes to English you are a perfect natural. English has seeped into your being and when it is used to express your beautiful thoughts it is a feast for the reader. Vidya's appreciation of your language is just a plain fact.

One request to you as your friend: please start writing. To start with there is no need to publish. Just write for an hour a day. Within a matter of months you will be surprised to see where have you gone.

Talking about English as the Britishers legacy I am reminded of the meeting we had when we were about to leave England after 45 days' stay. I was a member of a Group Study Exchange Team that toured South Western England (so interior that when we walked down the street people would stop to openly stare at us because they had not seen coloured people at all) On the final day of the programme was an elaborate farewell meeting. I was the last to speak. I told them,
"Our cultures are different. No one is good or bad; but just different. And we are able to appreciate the difference thanks to the gift of English language. The greatest gift you gave us Indians was the gift of English Language and English literature. English is as much a part of our culture, as Himalayas, of our topography and marriage, of our tradition."
I was moved to see some Englishwomen shedding tears on hearing this.

And using your beautiful post as an excuse I want to drive home another idea. Recently I finished translating an English book into Tamil. I had to search English and Tamil dictionaries, look deep into the usages and idioms of both the languages. At the end of the day what struck me was that both English and Tamil have a majesty of their own. Both are living languages spoken by people who have a hoary tradition. That is reflected in the way the language is used. You are awed by the beauty of these languages which have survived for thousands of years.

But all these thoughts are to come only after one gains command over English. Till that happens English is to be treated for what it is - just a foreign language. If we don't do that we would let the BPO boom slip through our fingers. For China is now hell-bent on teaching English to its children.

Thanks Kamla for your wonderful post,
sridhar