English Vinglish..

After five months I finally saw a movie in a theatre, which is a big deal for someone who is a movie buff and has to see the latest releases on a 70”mm screen. Even during my pregnancy I saw a lot many movies so it came as no surprise when I found my four month old watching tv with eyes wide open without batting an eyelid! Aahhh the damn genes venes I tell you! I always thought that I would be a strict parent and would never allow my children to watch tv till they start school. Well, it seems my thought bubble has already busted even before it was fully inflated. Sigh Vigh! 

Oh well, coming back to the point, as you might have already guessed we saw this movie called ‘English Vinglish’. It is a beautiful movie with fabulous acting by its actors. Nahh, this post is not about the movie review if that is what you are speculating. What inspired me and thereby this post was the simplistic manner in which the movie conveys the reality of life. The era we live in, if you don’t know the English language, you are a nobody. People judge you and your intelligence based on how good your English is. They look down upon you and laugh at your expense if you can’t converse properly in the language which is not your mother tongue. And I was no exception. Knowingly or unknowingly, I fell under the same category of people which I’m not very proud of. Until I went to the US of A. That changed my perception and there I was standing in the place of Sashi (Sridevi’s character in the film) being mocked at. Not because I didn’t know English. I won’t say that my English is terrific or brilliant but it’s not bad either. It’s pretty okay though I would say I’m more comfortable expressing myself in writing rather than orally. In spite of it all, I felt daunted by the American English and their accent. During the initial period of my stay there, I was really scared to venture out all by myself just because I was afraid that I will have to converse with someone and I won’t be able to understand the accent at all and neither will they understand mine. It felt like déjà vu when in the movie Sashi goes to the café and orders something and she didn’t understand what the lady behind the counter was saying. Although my experiences weren’t as appalling as Sashi’s, I could literally relate to what she must have gone through at that point. Gradually, over a period of few months I did get the hang of the accent and the slangs and I felt more confident to talk with Americans and eventually ready to go out all alone and do things by myself. It instilled in me an all new self-confidence and a sense of achievement just like Sashi did when she first managed to reach a certain place all by herself, the feeling of pride and triumph written all over her face. 

Incidentally, not all Americans are as rude as the lady at the cafe as shown in the movie. Some of them are really sweet and are very mindful, considerate and helpful if you can’t understand the language. But here in our country, if you don’t know English you lose respect and everyone’s outlook towards you changes in an instant. You are involuntarily tagged as ‘gawar’ (illiterate). Period. Despite it being their first language, if Americans can accept people and respect them for who they are irrespective of their English, then why can’t we in India accept the very same when it is not even our first language. I know, at an early age we are repeatedly told that if you don’t know English you won’t get a good education or a good job especially if you want to go out of India. So, partly the education system is to be blamed for enforcing such conceptions or rather misconceptions in our minds at a very tender age. If you want to remain in the rat race you need to know English. Well, it might be true to some extent but not to the extent where you dismiss the other person on his or her level of English rather than intellect. Ahhh well, some things don’t change overnight but movies like these can certainly get us pondering over it. Well, the irony here is, all that is being said about the English language in this post is written in English too! So apparently, it truly is all about English Vinglish, after all! :)