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8/15/2005 - The Tower of Babu: Hindi, Hinglish, English and the Evolution of Language in Uttar Pradesh by Richard D. Connerney

ICWA LETTERS Since Institute Current World Affairs Crane Rogers Foundation provided fellowships enable outstanding young professionals outside United States write about international areas issues An exempt operating foundation endowed Charles R Crane Institute supported contributions minded individuals foundations TRUSTEES Bryn Barnard Joseph Battat Mary Lynne Bird Steven Butler Sharon F Doorasamy Peter Geithner Gary Hartshorn Katherine Roth Kono Cheng Li Peter Bird Martin Dasa Obereigner David Z Robinson Carol Rose John Spencer Edmund Sutton HONORARY TRUSTEES David Elliot David Hapgood Pat M Holt Edwin S Munger Richard H Nolte Albert Ravenholt Phillips Talbot Institute Current World Affairs The Crane Rogers Foundation Four West Wheelock Street Hanover New Hampshire 03755 U S A RDC SOUTH ASIA Richard Connerney Phillips Talbot Fellow studying influen impact religion Indian society The Tower Babu Hindi Hinglish English Evolution Language Uttar Pradesh By Richard D Connerney AUGUST LUCKNOW India Before Asia friend recently returned New Delhi Deborah You learn Hindi Every India speaks English She believed fiction until arrived Lucknow hired Sona kitchen Sona great speak English Worse assumed understand spoke normal volume would surely fathom meaning yelled During those first weeks lived dinnertime From kitchen Sona would scream mirch pepper namak voice while flipped through Hindi dictionary trying translate request before lentils burned The claim Indians English accurate Utt Pradesh While cities India Ma Bombay standing traditions indigenous English speakers stretch origins British involvement subcontinent Lucknow Never widespread English literacy declined further British Raj Today number farangi foreign residents represents smaller percentage overall population As result residents today probably opportunity native English speaker their ancestors century Waning British influence apparent number English language newspapers India The percentage dailies English fallen percent percent while number Hindi papers grown percent percent during period Hindi slowly replacing English source written Uttar Pradesh It replacing other regional dialects Urdu In Lucknow center Urdu publishing Urdu language presses newspapers closed Hindi popularity receives further boost Bombay entertainment industry Hindi language Bollywood movies screened theaters In areas where Hindi native Fans Kerala Kashmir learned enough Hindi follow their favorite latest A remote cause Hindi growth simply matter numbers Of indigenous Indian tongues Hindi enough speakers claim title national language The census showed Hindi million speak compared nearest rival Bengali about million As language Hindi going With syllabary allows Brass Paul The Politics India Since Independence Cambridge University Press Cam bridge Source languageinindia Christ Church Cemetery Nishatganj gives evidence thriving British Anglo Indian community Lucknow Today these unvisited headstones remain A casual survey inscriptions indicates fatalities diseases typhoid cholera common Most deceased passed before Overgrown neglected correct unknown gatekeeper called simply kabristhan white cemetery greater range sounds alphabet spelling phonetic English Hindi relatively learn In addition neither perplexing tonal system difficult character based writing system Mandarin other East Asian languages As Indo European linguistic family Hindi distant cousin almost European dialects shares family resemblance Hindi Me mother called Mata The difficult learning Hindi neither grammar pronunciation reluctance native speakers converse foreigners anything En glish In hallway apartment building I tried speak Hindi neighbor children They sponded saying Why talking Please speak English I persisted explaining I needed pronunciation Still refused answer Hindi I wondered expression hospitality these children ashamed their mother tongue Hungry Kya The Rise Hinglish When needed break Sona cooking Deborah I sometimes ordered pizza Dominos American style pizza growing Uttar Pradesh large Western pizza chains Dominos Pizza Hut opened branches state In Lucknow cover Dominos Pizza displays company slogan Hungry Kya A conjunction Hindi question English adjective hungry Hungry Kya apparently means Are Out context however example Hungry Kya painted slogan deeply ambiguous Without Hungry Kya makes little grammatical sense either Hindi English A literal translation would Hungry which could taken question Are hungry rhetorical musing What hungry What exactly hungry Phrases Hungry Kya characterize spread Indian pseudo language popularly referred Hinglish Hinglish Hungry Kya exists matical between Hindi En glish Currently vogue Hinglish appears newspa magazines Bollywood scripts Even daily proceedings Indian parliament often occur wildering mixture Hindi English Many urban In dians sprinkling their sentences English words makes sound cosmopolitan Sometimes English words their parlance virtue their brevity This particu larly prominent speaking modern technology The Hindi television example doordarshan literally sacred vision clumsier English abbreviation TV Likewise vertisement vigyapan succinct Other words computer IT allels Hindi joined vernacular without alteration Similarly changing social realities adoptions English words This summer I visited friend Dr Mukta Gupta state Punjab RDC Mukta I decade graduate school We became friends lively correspon dence since While visiting Gupta household Chandagarh I mistake referring Yaar slang means friend commonly refers casual acquaintance Formerly however refer woman connotation lover Mukta warned father understood I should front You saheli Even choice because seheli traditionally between women By saying I effectively labeling myself female The masculine equivalent seheli better because tradi tionally between Remarkably proper Hindi platonic mixed gender friend between unrelated individuals Given linguis conundrums wonder neutral friend gaining currency In other instances English words entered speech average Indians reasons remain obscure In decade I words right replace equally handy Hindi words baayaan daahinaa while perfectly serviceable given English equivalent English inserted Anglo Saxon sphere family relations where Hindi expansive variety words which choose In Hindi relative unique title A paternal uncle example chacha while ternal uncle Lamentably common uncle refer family relation though English precise Hindi As almost English phrase enter popular vernacular Hinglish potentially goliath vocabulary When combine lexicon English largest language earth considerable vocabulary Hindi possible choices given concept Hinglish legion To refer example Sanskrit derived pustaka Arabic kitab English Even omits numerous other choices grantha adhyaaya volume Hinglish extremely awkward means expression Any given speaker Engl synonyms Hindi equivalents Rarely individual erudite enough possible terms This leads endless snags conversation speakers Hinglish wrack their brains allusions their audience understand In Lucknow I often myself using Hindi Urdu English words convey single Moreover intent speaking Hinglish sound sophisticated often opposite Many Hinglish speakers effectively monolin speak neither proper English proper Hindi One writer laments A diculous situation developing which people earning B A M A speak write language INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS He college courses English rarely progress beyond potboilers written popular authors Sidney Sheldon Jeffery Archer while Hindi erature almost completely neglected Grade school students literature their syllabi either Ms Swaran Bhattra principal Children Intercollege Academy Lucknow admits curriculum school require students either Hindi English literature cover cover Given these trends primary secondary education surprising Lucknowites conversation either English Hindi letters Sadly question arises regarding Hinglish speakers Educated Kya English Citizens Uttar Pradesh share common notion proficiency English requirement landing As columnist Far being colonial hangover accent today English pragmatic acceptance globalised world English For reason parents increasingly prefer English medium schools their children Al though English eracy overall clining Uttar Pradesh English medium secondary schools prolifer during decade prise fifth available second schools state Wondering Indian students lived linguistic world moving different direc tions I visited Children Academy Intercollege private grade school Lucknow about their English medium curricu The principal Ms Swaran Bhattra requires single Hindi course Otherwise interaction between faculty students takes place English I asked students diffi switch language another Actually answers because competitive place practice English playground While these children speak English ground often speak Hindi Our neigh Meenu sends English medium schools unable communicate En glish herself This source embarrassment husband Raju One evening Meenu Raju invited Deborah their apartment cocktail When arrived Raju congenial enough Meenu spoke little seemed sullen evening Later learned Raju insisted remain silent during visit because English This unfortunate woman alone Much English I spoken Lucknow rudimentary English language newspapers better While journalists local office The Times India could passing grade average school English class indefinite articles remain mystery The traffic system haywire Friday gathering Bahujan Samaj Party workers movement vehicles As definite articles Visit New York Washington their scrapers opera lovers spend evening Broadway course You could visit Miami Beach cross western coast San Francisco Las Vegas Los Angeles At first broken English I heard neigh press bother Rather endearing hearing young child speak first words Moreover obsession English Deborah easier If knowing English created employment opportunities I reasoned Translated Hindi Mishra Awadesh An Advanced Hindi Magazine Reader Padhe Pandit Hoya Agravaal Daamodar Aabhaas Prakashan Varanasi Reprinted Dainik Jaagaran Times India Lucknow Edition Based study schools Bijnor district Chopra R Jeffery P Educational Regimes Contemporary India Sage New Delhi Social Inequalities Privatisation Secondary Schooling Roger Jeffery Patricia Jeffery Craig Jeffrey Times India Lucknow Edition Times India Lucknow Edition Zip Off Loan Trek Times City Fact checking This author cared neither Washington DC skyscrapers Metropolitan Opera City Opera Lincoln Center rather Broadway means theater district Times Square Las Vegas western coast RDC grammar thing Please Leave Message Sound Appogiatura Certain aspects people linguistic behavior still mystified however I found people obsessive inter English spelling particularly flabbergasting At Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee Wash ington DC Indian children regularly first prize In decade South Asian competitors dominated contest producing eight champions The Indian juggernaut rolled victory Anurag Kashyap triumphed spelling appogiatura correctly Coverage National Spell Bee impossible Uttar Pradesh media treated Mr Kashap athlete As speller I found Anurag Kashyap intimi dating Ever since I failed third grade spelling I tried master peculiarities English spelling without success To matters worse since intro duction spellchecking software motivation prove spelling wholly evaporated If someone writes living content SpellCheck dirty motivated In people attain spelling glory after More Appoggiatura means melodic importantly National Spell Bee fascinating residents Uttar Pradesh Anurag Kashyap status simply expres regard which Indian parents demic financial success fascination spell fetishization lexical minutiae limited value marketplace After candidate programming position career which dentally young Anurag aspires needed spell appogiatura during interview In closer I looked suspicious I learning English essential landing For several consecutive weeks I ducted informal scientific survey Help Wanted section Lucknow edition The Times India Counting number positions advertised comparing number positions explicitly required English I arrived surprising conclusions Out positions about percent listed En glish necessary requirement employment Moreover I relation between salary offered English In paying technical tions programmers mechanical electrical neers explicitly require fluency dialect unless perhaps computer language Most positions require E nglish sisted other Indian states Middle East Oman Qatar Despite producing large English speaking graduates recent years Uttar Pradesh failed interest large foreign nesses As director technological institute Kanpur recently remarked pains cities Lucknow Kanpur which supply English speaking graduates centres operating Noida Gurgaon towns Delhi single centre seats The local required En glish teaching positions English medium schools The showed certain fields mained exclusive domain Hindi speakers All ernment positions required Hindi legal fessions excluding High Supreme Court where proceedings English June Mishra rector Children Academy Intercollege employee large multi national covered required legal documents Hindi After years exclusively English medium education required tutor teach finer points Hindi grammar Like statistics these figures should taken grain The number available positions necessarily approximation because exact number often printed unspecified number drivers When estimating I tended towards conservative If advertisement listed position plural managers I counted positions singular position The randomness sample suspect because I editions printed within short Lastly The Times India being English newspaper possible although opinion likely employers considered speak fluent English evident Times India Lucknow Edition Pg Is UP enough IIT Kanpur alumni Prashant Sriva stava INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS If results survey indicative regular demand English speaking professionals doubtful employment sufficient cause English medium instruction Uttar Pradesh Not enough positions require English legitimize number English medium schools Nor situation likely change Serious obstacles infrastructure inept government general lawlessness rampant corruption preclude large scale influx IT BPO business state future Like teaching Hawaiian children instruct children Uttar Pradesh English grammar local realities If people Uttar Pradesh learn English solely learn Perhaps linguistic history Deccan penin In ancient India divide separated vernacular literary languages The upper Sanskrit social shibboleth language deliber ately retained maddeningly complex grammatical struc You could learn Sanskrit month years It required lifetime continual study conquer confined Brahmin priests mastery Sanskrit often gious imperative ruling castes which Cowboys Indians Spelling champ Anurag Kashyap meets President George W Bush enough leisure sense Average people engaged trade agriculture could foster pretensions becoming priest prince because could never imitate jargon upper castes A guistic encircled Brahmins Kshatriyas warrior caste ensconced halls power In short Sanskrit rabble With arrival Mughal invaders Sanskrit Persian Farsi language political In Banares young seated eground white shirt recites Sanskrit hymns devotional offering while Brahmin priest water turned camera looks Brahmin children begin committing their Sanskrit lessons memory young Upper class Indian girls through before their elders recited arcane linguistic formulae their education RDC You social economic multi valance English easily looking store signs Lucknow Signs fancy shops appear English Businesses hoping reach general audience banks phone services Hindi English Stores proletarian clientele smoke shops stalls exclusively Hindi religious elite Those seeking royal patronage whether Hindu Muslim speak Persian The pattern however remained linguistic barriers reinforced social hierarchy In modern period English replaced Sanskrit Farsi language prestige entitlement In similar inhibits social mobility creating linguistic passkey appearance resists replication Since English medium education privately funded Uttar Pradesh beyond means lower classes serves bolster social financial barriers between castes economic strata The spread institutions therefore modernizing trend rather receives impetus ancient cultural sions serves perpetuate medieval inequali Many Indians consider English necting modern world means disassociating themselves Hindi speaking masses Uttar Pradesh suffers dichotomy between goals state goals individual The state whole would surely benefit population spoke wrote single language proficiency while national level contin spread Hindi could Uttar Pradesh interest For individuals however English attractive choice Ambitious students dream IT Bangalore Hyderabad America More significantly fluency English promises respectability culture obsessed pecking order The tension between collective individual advantage shapes linguistic Uttar Pradesh edifice which English steep staircase climb INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Current Fellows their Activities Alexander Brenner June CHINA With B A History Yale M A China Studies Johns Hopkins School Advanced International Studies Alex China examining country adapting economic cultural globalization following accession World Trade Organization Richard D Connerney January INDIA A cturer Philosophy Asian Religions Logic Rutgers University Rick Connerney spending years Phillips Talbot Fellow studying writing about intertwining religion culture politics India described former U S Ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith functioning anarchy Rick B A M A religion Wheaton College University Hawaii respectively Kay Dilday October FRANCE MOROCCO An editor New York Times Op Ed years Kay holds M A Comparative International Politics Theory Graduate Center City University New York Bachelor degree English Literature Tufts University graduate Universiteit Amsterdam Netherlands Cours Civilisation Sorbonne She traveled written Haiti began journalistic council reporter Somerville This Week Somerville MA Cristina Merrill June ROMANIA Born Bucharest Cristina moved Romania United States mother father Learning English retaining Romanian majored American History Harvard College there became captain women tennis She received Master degree Journalism New York University worked several U S publications Adweek New York Times spending years Romania watching emerge darkness Ceauscescu regime presumed light membership European Union NATO Nicholas Schmidle October IRAN A journalist researcher Pew Forum Religious Public Life Nick finishing Master program Comparative Regional Studies Middle East Central Asia American University Washington DC He studying intensive Persian fiancee Rikki Bohan anticipation departure Iran after marriage autumn And J Tabler February SYRIA LEBANON Andrew lived studied worked Middle East since Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Fellowship enabled begin Arabic language studies toward Master degree American University Cairo Following Master editorships Middle East Times Cairo Times before moving Turkey Lebanon Syria working Senior Editor Oxford Business Group correspondent Economist Intelligence Unit His ICWA fellowship bases Beirut Damascus where report Lebanese affairs Syrian reform Jill Winder July GERMANY With B A politics Whitman College Walla Walla WA Master degree Art Curating Bard College Annandale Hudson NY Jill ICWA Donors Fellow looking Germany through ideas viewpoints contemporary artists Before months intensive study German language Berlin Thomas J Watson Fellow looking communist practice cultural politics transition former Soviet Czech Republic Slovakia Poland Croatia Hungary Latvia Romania Slovenia Ukraine Institute Fellows chosen basis character previous experience promise They young professionals funded spend minimum years carrying designed programs study writing outside United States The Fellows required report their findings experiences field month They write subject formally informally The result unique reporting analysis periodic assessment interna tional events issues Author Connerney Richard D Title ICWA Letters South Asia ISSN Imprint Institute Current World Affairs Hanover NH Material Type Serial Language English Frequency Monthly Other Regions East Asia The Americas Europe Russia Mide North Africa Sub Saharan Africa ICWA Letters ISSN published Institute Current World Affairs Inc exempt operating foundation incorporated New York State offices located West Wheelock Street Hanover NH 03755 The letters provided charge members ICWA available libraries profes sional researchers subscription Phone Fax E Mail valley Web address Executive Director Peter Bird Martin Program Administrator Brent Jacobson Publications Design Management Ellen Kozak Institute Current World Af fairs The Crane Rogers Foundation This newsletter reprinted republished without express written consent Institute Cur World Affairs