It's been a year and a half that I've been back in India and yet, our great country still surprises and disgusts me to no end. This time, it's about the language we speak. We all know how many languages are spoken in India. Actually, we don't. It goes into the thousands and many tribal languages are still unknown.
Now my situation is pretty unique. Despite being brought up all my life in Hyderabad, the capital city of a Telugu speaking state, I've spent most of my time speaking in English. I don't mind admitting that I'm more comfortable speaking in English. It's been a thing right from school, and I've continued speaking English with my classmates through college and my also with my telugu-speaking roommates in the US. I occasionally get a surprised look on people's faces when I tell them I'm more comfortable speaking in English, but it never bothered me and it never will. I can understand the surprise factor there. 23 years in Hyderabad, India and not comfortable with Telugu? - yes surprising but not criminal, surely! But when someone steps over the line and orders me to speak in Telugu because I am Telugu, that's when I get royally pissed off!
It started with this old man that turned up at work today and asked for the guy who runs the office. I instinctively replied in english that he wasn't here. This man suddenly gets all offended and asks me, "Do you know Telugu?". I said yes. And then he goes on - "Speak telugu. When you know how to speak telugu, then speak to me in telugu". Was that an order? He didn't stop there. He suddenly felt obliged to ask me what I was working as in the company, and what I had studied prior to this. I barely opened my mouth through all this. I was offended that he wanted to judge me by questioning my academic background.
If someone had a thermometer around, it would have exploded. My blood was boiling. It was more about the way he said it than what he said. It was sheer contempt - like I was a piece of dirty cloth he wanted to throw away. Wow, never before had I come across a person so judgmental that I spoke in a different language despite knowing Telugu.
Yes, I could've spoken back in Telugu, all it needed was a simple polite request. But looking at the way he treated me like I was a traitor to the telugu speaking clan, I felt a rebellious monster rising in me. To hell with his linguistic demands. Last I checked, we live in a free country that speaks thousands of languages. I can speak 3 languages (something almost any mildly educated Indian can do), but I'm good at just one. I speak in the language I'm good at. I put my best effort in making sure the other person understands what I'm saying. Now if the people around me have such a big problem with me not speaking one of their preferred languages, it's their own problem. I never demanded anyone to speak in English to me, I sure as hell don't get offended if they speak back in Telugu or Hindi or even a language i don't know a word of!
So what's with our mentality of not being able to accept anything that's not native? Why the arrogance? What if I had grown up learning only Spanish all my life despite being a Telugu person? And worse, what if I couldn't speak at all? Would he still judge? If he did, then I don't think he deserves to be human.
I honestly feel people should calm down with their judgmental thoughts. Even if I keep the telugu speaking part aside, I don't understand why people (especially the elder ones) demand to know what others had "Studied" in their past. Obviously, any answer without the words "computer" "engineering" and "technology", means that the guy is completely worthless. So if I said I had a degree in Puppetry or I had a career that involves Fermentation of Beer, that old man might even get me arrested or something. In my personal experience, I've come to realize that quite a lot of "Educated People" and "Wise Old Men" I've met are actually pretty narrow minded. So if you ask me, I would rather proudly say "I'm Uneducated" despite holding a Bachelors in Aeronautical Engineering and nearly getting a Masters too...
Now my situation is pretty unique. Despite being brought up all my life in Hyderabad, the capital city of a Telugu speaking state, I've spent most of my time speaking in English. I don't mind admitting that I'm more comfortable speaking in English. It's been a thing right from school, and I've continued speaking English with my classmates through college and my also with my telugu-speaking roommates in the US. I occasionally get a surprised look on people's faces when I tell them I'm more comfortable speaking in English, but it never bothered me and it never will. I can understand the surprise factor there. 23 years in Hyderabad, India and not comfortable with Telugu? - yes surprising but not criminal, surely! But when someone steps over the line and orders me to speak in Telugu because I am Telugu, that's when I get royally pissed off!
It started with this old man that turned up at work today and asked for the guy who runs the office. I instinctively replied in english that he wasn't here. This man suddenly gets all offended and asks me, "Do you know Telugu?". I said yes. And then he goes on - "Speak telugu. When you know how to speak telugu, then speak to me in telugu". Was that an order? He didn't stop there. He suddenly felt obliged to ask me what I was working as in the company, and what I had studied prior to this. I barely opened my mouth through all this. I was offended that he wanted to judge me by questioning my academic background.
If someone had a thermometer around, it would have exploded. My blood was boiling. It was more about the way he said it than what he said. It was sheer contempt - like I was a piece of dirty cloth he wanted to throw away. Wow, never before had I come across a person so judgmental that I spoke in a different language despite knowing Telugu.
Yes, I could've spoken back in Telugu, all it needed was a simple polite request. But looking at the way he treated me like I was a traitor to the telugu speaking clan, I felt a rebellious monster rising in me. To hell with his linguistic demands. Last I checked, we live in a free country that speaks thousands of languages. I can speak 3 languages (something almost any mildly educated Indian can do), but I'm good at just one. I speak in the language I'm good at. I put my best effort in making sure the other person understands what I'm saying. Now if the people around me have such a big problem with me not speaking one of their preferred languages, it's their own problem. I never demanded anyone to speak in English to me, I sure as hell don't get offended if they speak back in Telugu or Hindi or even a language i don't know a word of!
So what's with our mentality of not being able to accept anything that's not native? Why the arrogance? What if I had grown up learning only Spanish all my life despite being a Telugu person? And worse, what if I couldn't speak at all? Would he still judge? If he did, then I don't think he deserves to be human.
I honestly feel people should calm down with their judgmental thoughts. Even if I keep the telugu speaking part aside, I don't understand why people (especially the elder ones) demand to know what others had "Studied" in their past. Obviously, any answer without the words "computer" "engineering" and "technology", means that the guy is completely worthless. So if I said I had a degree in Puppetry or I had a career that involves Fermentation of Beer, that old man might even get me arrested or something. In my personal experience, I've come to realize that quite a lot of "Educated People" and "Wise Old Men" I've met are actually pretty narrow minded. So if you ask me, I would rather proudly say "I'm Uneducated" despite holding a Bachelors in Aeronautical Engineering and nearly getting a Masters too...
