Chalta hai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got back to the ole place I call my hostel, waited for Friends to have food, then we decided to go for a cuppa of coffee. With the cool breeze that was indicating the end of a season of what must be the coldest weather Mumbai has seen, we walked towards the coffee shack. That’s a place where the odd couple is there to share their woes and dreams. Mind you it is strategically positioned in the insti, not to incite any trouble, and not to be interrupted at the same time, for the ones looking for a bit of privacy. Looking up at the coffee board we began cracking jokes at all the varieties of coffee that was on the menu. Cafe Latte became Cafe Laatte, of course you will have to have the pronunciation in Hindi and so on. The jokes went so far as to mock the people who are connoisseurs of coffee. In all of the joking we were really mocking ourselves rather than others.
The cuppa served as the right time to delve into some discussion. Being in an institute of this size and renown gives a rare opportunity to interact with the best minds and to learn ideologies and a way forward in thinking. The discussion was centered around how the “Chalta hai“attitude is inculcated in us, and of course the inertia won’t let us change. It reminded me of a close friend who said “Hum english bolenge toh hamari gaon ki accent mein hi bolenge “, goes without saying that his English has a lot to be desired. We realised that early on whenever there is an effort by the child to speak English, it is discouraged. The statement “kya re, khud ko shyana samajhta hai” is all too familiar. Later on the person makes an effort only when he/she is faced with dire consequences otherwise e.g. seminars (which carry marks), presentations and exams, after overcoming the same the inertia sets in again. Even there until the SSC we were told to use simple language if we were to get good scores in the boards. Finally we land ourselves in renowned institutes were writing a simple mail becomes an arduous task.
The growing feeling was that since we all have come from places far and wide, the regional language schools that we studied at made the first impact. t ensured that we did not gain a chance to improve the basic knowledge of a global language. There was an incident that came to mind in which when i was in school i had heard about this group at the +2 level. The companions of this group were not from the same school or locality. The so called leader was a Bengali convent educated student. He made sure that all within the group spoke English at all times. Not to mention most in the group were educated in the native Marathi language up until they were faced with the daunting task of learning English at the +2 level. Later i heard that one person in the group attributed his admission to the Civil Services just because of that one initiative. We touched upon how there has been a gradual decline in the quality of the English that we speak. Though all of us agreed that the English was not good in the first place to start with, but is is compounded with the fact that we as individuals do not want to accept that our English needs improvement. HSS 699 is an all too familiar course, it is an effort by the insti to make students adept at this language, but although the teachers take a lot of effort in teaching the course, being a pass/fail situation, the students fail to take it seriously. Only to realize that the quintessential Personal interview, HR interview as most would have it, in the placement process requires a sound knowledge of good communication skills.
Aspirants for MBA come to know it the hard way, since getting into a good institute involves the knowledge of English, comprehension and of course communication skills. This is evident with the number of levels one has to pass to get through. There too there is room for short cuts, which is promptly in the offing and is a flourishing industry.
On a more funny note the oddities the English language has can beat all others, e.g. there is not Pine in Pineapple, neither is there Ham in a  Hamburger, the boxing ring is not shaped in a ring at all, and many others, Google is better than me on the other oddities……..
Cheers to this funny but most sought after language!!!!!

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