I do not fancy my English was exceptionally brilliant when I came to Bangalore a few years ago, but it definitely was passable and the grammar was fine, all picked up from school days and nurtured with the lot of fiction (American, British, translations from Spanish, Hindi Bengali,..) I used to read. And also complemented perhaps by the innumerous movies along the way. But English in Bangalore was a revelation. A jolt. A real disaster. I had curiously observed the warped usage of the people with whom I had occasion to interact, but never realised the depth into which I myself was sinking and the deterioration beyond recognition of my own precious little knowledge of the language.

It took me more than a couple of years to realise that my perfect grammar was almost history, my vocabulary was becoming extinct, and I had begun to speak like the rest of them.

“For what this is?”
“What you are doing?”
“Where you are going?”

Urrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh…

It took two of my friends to poke me awake, make me sit up and take notice that my language was decaying and if I did not take hold of it now, the Queen’s English will be non-existent in my life. But these two friends to whom I am indebted, do not know how they have influenced me. So began my journey to revamp my vocabulary and here I am, clinging to the little language I grew up with, but determined to salvage it. I haven’t the least idea whether I will be successful – but I believe I have made a good start by realising that my language is not currently the best.

This thought was triggered by an article in the Times of India a couple of days ago, and the following internet link I came across.

http://www.chillibreeze.com/articles/IsitIndianEnglishorEnglishinIndia.asp

This site sums it all up.
“Indians from different parts of India, especially those who learnt another language before English, speak English as a translation of their own mother tongue using the same grammatical rules.“
Well said!

Hey, don’t rate my English but would certainly like to hear your experiences on English in the Indian soil 🙂