Now that I have settled down and the hammering has died down to a mere drone, I am back to writing my heart out! And I have realized that so much happened during the trip to India and there is so much I have to say, so I guess the next few posts will be a jist of the things that were.
From walking everyday to the local train station to boarding the train back during rush hour, I have enjoyed the daily humdrum of Mumbai to the fullest in this one month. However, one thing that irked me no end was the constant use of the English language throughout the city. It is not that meri angrezi se koi poorani dushmani hai, or not that I don’t want people to learn English. It is just that English seems to have taken over every aspect. Sure this blog is in English and someone who did not know it might not be able to blog or even read this, but I think it is given way more importance in the city than it should get! And it is not so much the case in several other cities.
Every big store in Mumbai (and in Bangalore for that matter) has more salespeople than there are customers. Thats not the issue though. Was at Shoppers Stop the other day with two of my friends. One of them is a staunch advocate of Hindi! So we are looking at this display of shades at SS and B asks them in Hindi about its specifics and costs etc. The guy replies back in English. Okay no big deal. B asks some further questions in Hindi and the guy replies back in English. OKay again no big deal. But this went on throughout the store. Then all of us purposely talked to salesmen and women in Hindi and ALL of them replied back to us in English! Arre baba pata hai sabko angrezi aati hai but whats this dushmani with talking in HINDI!
At checkout, me with my jhola paid with my credit card. Had a conversation with the guy in Hindi and needless to say he replied back in English. Then when the transaction was done, he looked at the credit card and then at me, then at the card and at me and asked are you so and so? I was like jee haan mera naam hi so and so hai. And he was like “Can I see your ID?” Okay sure….and I said jee ek minute rukiye and then I pull out my license and showed it to him. He seemed to be dumbfounded when he saw a US drivers license. He actually had the nerve to ask me “Aap Hindi main baatein kar rahi thi isiliy” and then he mumble something incoherent! I dont understand! Me and B and this other friend F were just standing there gaping at this guy. I did not know if this was a situation where I would laugh or cry or get angry at this man!
Another instance was when I was in a taxi lost somewhere in Bandra. The taxiwalla asked a rickshawalla at one of the signals “Hill road kidhar se jaana hai” The rickshawalla asked the passenger, who seemed to be a nice man. The three talked in Hindi. The rickshawalla then confirmed the place and I replied in Hindi and then when the passenger talked to me he started in English “where did you want to go?”
The NGO I worked with had a strict English speaking policy for the children. I did a lot of my sessions with the kids in English, using Hindi where they did not understand. The NGO argues that they would prefer teaching the kids Hindi if given a choice but to get by in Mumbai one has to know good English. The goal is to prepare kids to be good professionals and if two people with the same skills come forward, and one of them spoke English fluently and the other one did not but was actually more eloquent, it did not matter!….which is why the kids at the NGO learnt English!
Now, friends have argued with me numerous times saying “What is the big deal? So what? Not everyone in India knows Hindi so they presume that you might know English and thats why they start off that way.” I object! Isn’t Hindi the national language of India? How can you be Indian when you don’t want to use your national language? And for me it is a big deal!
Others have argued that now to work in the international market you need to speak in English. Ya sure! Agreed but thats in the international market. Why is there so much importance given within the city? France, Germany, Russia, China….all of these have huge international markets but the conquest of English isnt noticeable at all in these countries. The French, the Germans, the Russians and the Chinese all know how to speak, read, and write english but they use their language more than any other.
Now this is not a problem in all of india …..but only in Mumbai. Now not all of Mumbai but MOST of Mumbai! I don’t know if I got my point across in this post or if my arguments even came out right, but this is how I feel and had to vent it out. Even on the local trains, I had women replying to me in English. I do not have an accent when I talk in Hindi, I do not look white or american in any way nor did I dress that way…but EVERYTIME i talked to someone in Hindi they replied back in English even though they knew hindi! Just frustrated me a whole lot and had to pen it down.
Does anyone else think this is a problem in Mumbai or is it just me?
