India deliciously spices up its English as well as
its food
by
Howard Richler
Guess which country possesses
the second-most speakers of English after the US? The apparent answer is the
United Kingdom, but sometimes what seems apparent is erroneous.The correct
answer is India where approximately 125 million people (10% of the population)
speak English as either a first or a second language. English also serves an
important function in India as the country possesses almost 1000 languages, but
only Hindi and English are likely to be
understood throughout the country.
This past February I went on
a three week tour of India where judging
by the English used by tour guide Amit, one wouldn't suppose that Indian
English was at all distinctive. But given he was addressing two dozen North
American tourists, he wouldn't use
normal vernacular. Had he done so, an example of the particular flavour
of Indian English would be the following sentence I've concocted where the
italicized terms represent Indian English: “The puskee goonda holding
the tiffin carrier was eve-teasing the young woman
notwithstanding that the police-wallah with a lahti was standing
next to the grameen bank near the kaccha road.” Some translation
is in order. A puskee goonda is a feeble-minded hooligan and a tiffin carrier
designates a small lunchbox; eve-teasing is a euphemistic reference to sexual
harassment of women; a police wallah is a police officer (wallah denotes a
profession) and lahti refers to a long
stick two to five feet long which may be lead-weighted. A grameen bank refers
to a village bank designed to aid the less affluent and a kaccha road is a dirt
road.
British journalist Malcolm
Muggeridge quipped more than thirty years ago that the last Englishman would be
an Indian. Particularly in the past this held true and I recall when I was researching Indian
English for my book Global Mother English fourteen years ago I came upon
some Internet usages that described some of the words and expressions that have
become archaic in England. For example, one site stated “now we can all enjoy a
few glasses of jolly good Indian wine without spoiling our reputations” and
another used the phrase “out of station chappies.” Terms such as these are now less likely to be
used in India , however, words that are still used have actually been
declared “obsolete” by the OED. These
include “condole,” for to grieve and “prepone” to mean the opposite of
postpone.
In addition to archaic use,
Indian English tends to be replete with effusive phraseology. “Don't eat my
head” denotes irritation, and if your
head is “eating circles” you are most
likely giddy. If someone utters “My head
is paining, father serious,” the person has a headache exacerbated by their
father being very ill. Should an Indian
inquire “For what joy?” the individual is trying to find out your reasons for a
particular action.Also, nobody can accuse Indian English of brevity. The expression
“Please respond” is likely to be replaced with the long-winded “Beg the
pleasure of your response” or if a quick answer is required, “Please revert at
the earliest reply.” The Indian English newspapers have large matrimonial
sections where you`re likely to find wordy entreaties such as “seeking mutual
alliance for a daughter.” My favourite description of the ideal partner for a
bride-seeking fellow, however, was the
oxymoronic “traditional with modern outlook.”
The syntax and grammar in Indian English can sometimes be perplexing to
outsiders. The sentence structure can vary from the norm. In Indian English it
is acceptable to say “What you would like to buy?,” “ It is the nature’s
way” or “my all friends are
waiting.” Also acceptable are verbal
constuctions such as “He is having many
books” or “I am understanding it.” The present perfect is used often instead of
the simple past so someone might say “I have brought the book yesterday.” Single nouns are sometimes assigned a plural
form of the verb or plural nouns a singular verb, e.g. “My marriages was
typical arranged.” Certain verbs might
be employed differently. For example, one doesn’t “obtain” permission; rather one “’takes” permission.
Notwithstanding that even some Indians view Indian English as
sub-standard, for more than fifty years,
Indians have been exacting a modicum of revenge on the legacy of the British
Raj by re-inventing English. In 1947, Indian writer Raja Rao was one of the
early advocates of a distinct Indian style of English: “We cannot write like
the English. We should not… Our method of expression therefore has to be a
dialect which will some day prove to be as distinctive and colourful as the
Irish or the American. Time alone will justify it.” Given that in the last three
decades India has supplied several Booker Prize winners for the best novel in
any Commonwealth country, I think it fair to say that time has spoken. As
a character in Hanif Kureishi’s 1995 novel The Black Album affirms “they gave us the language but it is
only we who know how to use it.”
Richler's book Wordplay: Arranged & Deranged Wit will be
published in spring 2016.
