Englishing of India

Lord Macaulay must be celebrating in his grave even if history took nearly two centuries to echo his minute: the creation of “a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals and in intellect”.

A little more than a week ago, newspaper headlines confirmed that more Indians speak English in India today than any other language, barring Hindi. Reportedly, there are 125 million Indians who speak English (and use it as their first, second or third language). This adds up to more than the entire number of English speakers in Western Europe – barring the UK. Sometimes, history doesn’t just repeat, it also surpasses itself.

Many believe that  Macaulay’s minute stirred the beginnings of bilingualism in India. Almost 200 years later, we might well ask: So what?

While the statistics augur well in terms of entering into the likes of the Guinness Book of World Records, what does it spell in terms of impacting our lives? Macaulay’s minute may have brought about the ‘Englishing’ of India — as Bangalore dramatist Poile Senguptaa’s play Keats was a Tuber defined. But what does this mean for the masses?  Actually, quite a lot. Bangalore and Cyberabad experiences have already confirmed the co-relation between speaking English and the IT world. But history tells us that there is more to learning English than BPO or call centre jobs.

Full report here Bangalore Mirror