Saturday, June 5, 2010

Spelling our blood

Out of the past 11 years, 7 Indian Americans have won the spelling bee contest. Many of them went to the IV league universities after that, which means if you spell right, you are IV smart.

But, I really don't know. What I figured out from the GMAT was that the GMAT tests just one thing: how good you are at taking the GMAT. Some of the smartest people I have known have been at sea when it comes to English. Our inane passion for the English language, has been at the tragic expense of our mothertongue. I, for one, live a life so culturally impoverished that I will take my embarrassment to my grave. Having failed to learn Malayalam (the only palindrome) during my formative years, I am always forced to switch to English to convey anything meaningful. But the Generation (Why) will do anything and everything to flaunt their English range at no given opportunity, while simultaneously tucking in our Indian heritage under the carpet of self-inflicted shame. Every time I go to Bangalore, I sense this sentiment. The yearning for the American passport, the retching in tavern fashion, the mini-skirting of Indian dressing, et al. This overwhelming identity crisis has hit even Kerala, where people were, hitherto, only foolish enough to be Communist. You go to Cochin, and they respond in English, although they still sneeze in Malayalam.

Why the urge of every Indian to renounce the Indian in him/her? The British were good at two things,- enslaving us physically, and disrobing us psychologically. A body dies with death, but a cultural leftover leaves a very long hangover.

We are still not free to be Indian again.

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