[smruti koppikar]

Hi all

 

I am reading "Entry From Backside Only -- hazaar fundas of indian english" by Binoo K John. I have completed about half the book.

 

It is delightful, entertaining, educative and hugely contemorary of the times we live in. The irony, for me, could not have been more stark as I heard and saw Mulayam Singh Yadav releasing his party's manfesto for general election and declaring, among other things, that English is unnecessary and should not be the official language.

 

John's book is not just a compilation or compendium of English as she is spoken/written in India, but carries many anecdotes within a frame of reference of how English came to be imposed on the then-disparate India and how she came to adopted by Indians and made their own. I will write a larger proper review of the book, once I am done with it.

 

For now, here's a para from the book (pg 10):

 

In the Shah Rukh Khan blockbuster Main Hoon Na, there is this classix instance of a spoof o Indian-English. In the school compound, a flirty Hindi teacher accosts the hero with the favourite Indian openign word, 'myself'. Normally it is "myself in charge here", or "myself an engineer", or "myself own this harvest land", and "myself do all the culture here", a typical misuse of agriculture. So this teacher too adopted the same opener: "Myself HIndi teacher. You meet me in the backside when my period is empty".

 

Backsides have a frontal position in Indian-English. In cluttered, crowded alleys, there can be seen the notice 'Entry from Backside', a usage not exactly meant as a come-hither line to gays. In India, backsides are not just entered, they are beautified too. However, when there is "backside beautification in progress", entry is banned....

 

(Pg 17)  India's dalliance with English began when the East India Company arrived in India in 1608. It became a marriage of two incompatible partners through centuries of the Raj. The fascination for English gathered momentum -- ironically enough -- after the British left. This strengthening could be nostalgic harking back to the Raj or it could have been the urge to better what the colonial regime left behind...Either way, English in India grew on steadily...

 

More later

Smruti