When you are an Indian outside India, you are bound to get 2 questions sooner or later. #1 How do you speak English? and #2 X and you are both from India but why do you speak to each other in English and not in your local language?
The first one is obviously easier to answer with a little bit of history about how India is a commonwealth nation. The second one is a bit trickier to answer without going into the North/South divide in India and how the South considers English as the Lingua Franca while the North considers Hindi as the Lingua franca.
So which one should be the Lingua franca. To be honest , I don't care much. In fact I don't care much about languages in general.
You know why? I think language is overrated. Language is a way of expressing your thoughts. Your thoughts are important , not your language. If you stop speaking in one language and pick a new one , do your thoughts change too? Not quite right. In fact the more I think about it , I feel dividing states on a linguistic basis ended up glorifying languages all the more. That takes me to one of my favorite debates on
How do you classify someone as belonging to one state? For instance who is a Tamilian?
Language? Anyone who speaks Tamil should be a Tamilian.
All right but I am dumb. Which state do I belong to?
Hmm , okay the definition is not quite correct , anyone who resides in Tamil Nadu is a Tamilian?
Okay I am out of Tamil Nadu this week but I will be back next week. What does that make me?
Well , what about anyone who is born in Tamil Nadu?
Yeah right, we have Nasser Hussain born in Tamil Nadu.
Combination of all of these maybe? Maybe , but a better definition would be anyone who identifies himself/herself with Tamil Nadu. Some sort of an emotional connect which goes beyond language.
I don't think you need any other pre-requisite.
The first one is obviously easier to answer with a little bit of history about how India is a commonwealth nation. The second one is a bit trickier to answer without going into the North/South divide in India and how the South considers English as the Lingua Franca while the North considers Hindi as the Lingua franca.
So which one should be the Lingua franca. To be honest , I don't care much. In fact I don't care much about languages in general.
You know why? I think language is overrated. Language is a way of expressing your thoughts. Your thoughts are important , not your language. If you stop speaking in one language and pick a new one , do your thoughts change too? Not quite right. In fact the more I think about it , I feel dividing states on a linguistic basis ended up glorifying languages all the more. That takes me to one of my favorite debates on
How do you classify someone as belonging to one state? For instance who is a Tamilian?
Language? Anyone who speaks Tamil should be a Tamilian.
All right but I am dumb. Which state do I belong to?
Hmm , okay the definition is not quite correct , anyone who resides in Tamil Nadu is a Tamilian?
Okay I am out of Tamil Nadu this week but I will be back next week. What does that make me?
Well , what about anyone who is born in Tamil Nadu?
Yeah right, we have Nasser Hussain born in Tamil Nadu.
Combination of all of these maybe? Maybe , but a better definition would be anyone who identifies himself/herself with Tamil Nadu. Some sort of an emotional connect which goes beyond language.
I don't think you need any other pre-requisite.
