[Reader-list] To Sir(S) with Thoughts

[Dr. Reyhan Chaudhuri]

Dear Mr.J.Chaudhuri,
I read with great interest your inbox droppings.This is because (at the cost of sounding unpatriotic to some) I strongly feel in many ways English may be the language if not the only language that can save us.It is already you shall agree,well on it's way to becoming language of the world if not the cyberscape;
However I beg to disagree with your friend from Bangladesh Mr.Chisti about Muslims not taking to the angrezi bhasha with the same fervour.There was an equally large proportion babucized among Muslims(I have a monstrously large matriarchal  ancestral clan to vouch for that ).However during partition most of them if not nearly all, chose to or were preforced to (depends on the way you look at it) drive through the desert into the new country.It is common knowledge they became the new intellegentisia and began to run or manage key corners of education,public works,economic corporations.The white collar working class created a new, hardly snobbish elite, where  the only remaining elite  had been the feudal landowners and the military machines.You may yourself have heard of the remark ,"How the cream went off at Partition and the remaining ones to lead and steer the muslim community intelligently were woefully inadequate.Hence some  terribly misguided self-defeating souls took the helm leading to the morass today.Of an actually very creative and equally capable community;
Yrs Informatively,
R.Chaudhuri.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jyotirmoy Chaudhuri" <jchaudhuri at mantraonline.com>
To: "Sarai" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2002 5:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] To Sir(S) with Thoughts


> The culture that is associated with the English language in India is
> certainly elitist. But, then, different groups have become elitist and
> English still remains with them. In colonial India English was taken as a
> route to jobs, entry into spaces of the powers that be, a kind of
> emancipation which opened out many spaces but locked away many; rather, the
> English speaking classes seem to have locked themselves into
> neo-conservative rooms from where there was no escape, not that they wanted
> to! So, our 'brown-sahibs', the 'baboo' class enjoyed a remarkable degree of
> comfort and priveleges while they worked for the Raj. Then these sahibs
> seemed to ebb away over the next many years after 1947, and it was often
> lamented in certain circles that a kind of civility would never be seen
> again. 
> 
> Aside: [At this point, my friend from Bangladesh, Istiaq Chisti who watches
> and reads as I write has this to say: the Muslims who had been rulers of the
> Indian sub-continent and were already ebbing away as the westerners came in
> did not take up English as quickly as the Hindu baboo classes and thus were
> not emanicpated. He also added that the present day necessity for English as
> a language-for-jobs has come about because of the overwhelming influence of
> the US post-World War. ???] As far as I can say, Istiaq's comment on
> Americanization as far as the influence of Hollywood, 'the land of plenty/
> land of happiness' mantra and emigration of many peoples to the US goes;
> people certainly look towards the US and its English as the right key. At
> least in Delhi, where i live, I have seen a lot many kids emulate the
> Cartoon Network or Hollywood movie twang, and all my Barista's attempt the
> same. 
> 
> BUT, did they die away, or were they replaced with similar people, similiar
> governmental structures, and ways of life. The progeny of these individuals
> still held onto power and were joined by others to whom independence allowed
> access. However, they had to emulate the past masters in so many ways and a
> bureaucratic behemoth and culture grew, flourished like the rich green moss
> on a rained-on parapet. They also learned English. Privately funded
> 'english-medium' schools kept mushrooming (and do so now), many with the
> prefix of 'Saint' attached to them [Christian missionary schools and
> colleges have always been in demand, even by sections who love push the idea
> that conversion by the church fathers is very very bad], many with the
> suffix of a 'public-school' [if not a boarding school in the hills,
> certainly a look-alike in your own backyard in the muggy, polluted city] -
> and all so that the SON and the daughter learn English. So, is it just
> 'all'?
> 
> And, so, you had a system back in my home state of West Bengal, where they
> were trying to strengthen the mother-tongue, Bengali, a huge system of state
> schools where teaching in the English language started from Class 6. While,
> the Saints and the Publics were busily trying to learn the language; they
> always had to speak in English in school and theoretically on play-field and
> listen to BBC English Language cassettes to get the right tone, and were
> told that there was a Queen's English to learn. Never met the Queen, do not
> know if there is one! So, Jeebesh quotes the friend "Well you see Indians
> evaluate (tolte hain) you when you speak to them in English, that makes us
> completely speechless. you feel you are lower (neecha) type (ka log) people.
> You are looked differently if you speak English differently...."
> And then one has heard of our ministers and others who push the National
> Language, Hindi but send their children to Saints and Publics.
> 
> It seems to me that a knowledge of spoken English (in the 'right tone')
> becomes a kind of ACCESS CODE to all kinds of benefits of metropolitan
> society. So, I would tend to agree with Joy when he says that it is a
> cultural issue and the question of language seems to be intricately linked
> to it. English, as a language is certainly not a problem.
> 
> But, it still seems that a knowledge of English does open doors. If I could
> make a guess, our schools system is woefully inadequate to ensure even
> literacy for all children. Then we have the disparate system of state
> schools and private elite schools. A lot of the students attending state
> schools can never afford the private ones, and even if one could, there are
> so many ways the schools sieve students since seats are limited. If a
> certain kind of spoken English was not an access key, why would there be a
> mushrooming of ELT centres?
> 
> 
> 
> 
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