The 'Accented' Indian

THE BELOW THOUGHTS ARE MY PERSONAL VIEWS ONLY ABOUT A CERTAIN SECTION.PLEASE DO NOT BE OFFENDED BY THEM.ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ANY PERSON,LIVING OR DEAD, IS PURELY CO-INCIDENTAL. :-)

It is not very difficult to guess the kind of people I am talking about. As a part of my job, I meet various people from other departments. I know nothing about them except their name. I schedule a meeting and meet them. In one of such meetings I had to meet an Indian guy. Glad to see the name, I thought finally some person with whom I might be talking freely right from the first moment. This guy comes in and introduces himself. He looks perfectly Indian till he opens his mouth and speaks his name and i go like what the hell!! What went wrong with his tongue. Can he not pronounce his name properly? Has he forgotten how is it pronounced in India? And he has been in USA for just 10 years.

And you get plenty of such people here. I call them the 'Accented' Indian. These are people who fake the accents to sound more American.Its disgusting when they stoop so low that they stop saying their names properly. Now 10 years here and 30 years in India, which accent should you probably have? You know the best part about Americans and worst part about Indians is that they do what they want and we do what 'they' want. They talk English in an accent which would sound so different from the actual British English. They pronounce most of the words in a different manner. An Englishman would probably laugh his guts out if he hears them talk. He does not do so cause he comes from a place with a culture that respects humans. I can understand Indians trying to fake accent as we need to mingle with them. But Why do we have to change the pronunciation of our name? Its a proper noun. As per the dictionary, a proper noun can be pronounced in the way you want it.

As far as my experience with Americans go, they make me repeat my name 10 times and they repeat it after me to get it right. They would always call you with the right pronunciation that you teach them. But still we have the accented Indians who will avoid it. And who are these guys? They are people who could not make it big in our country. I agree we have conditions that are tough and that's why a few people can make it big. It takes alot of efforts and skill to rise to the top back in India. They chose the easy way out. They know they are not probably skilled enough to make the kind of money they make here in India as easily as they do it here. I call you guys' Losers'. We have people who come here and be what they are and go back. They know they are useful enough that others would tolerate their ways and the way they speak.

Now back in India, I come from a convent educated school. we are taught fluent English but we speak UK English. We Indians speak more pure English than other Europeans and Americans. But guess what, rather than being proud about it, we change the way we pronounce our name. That's desperation to its limits. No matter how hard a Jewish or German name is, no matter what the french pronounce, they will make sure they are pronounced properly. But the lack of dignity in us makes us do things that others will not. I know a few students coming here and then decide to settle here cause they find the work culture better here. Well lets put it straight, they know they are not skilled enough for my country. They cannot survive in the fiercely competitive Indian work culture where survival of the fittest is the key.But to be a part of American culture, you may please pronounce a few words so that the common American understands you but at least get your names right.And to add on to this concept of making them understand what we speak, All the BPOs in India teach their employees to talk in American accent. The fact is none do after they are on job. They use their accent only when they talk to their friends. And I know this for sure as I have a few of my calls routed from other countries to the BPOs back in India.

We talk about India becoming the next super-power. We can with the kind of technology we have and the speed in which we are going ahead. But to make us a super power we also need to have the attitude of being one. We lack it big time. The number of people dying to settle abroad is so huge in certain parts of my country that I am ashamed. Mr Narayan Murthy had to say that young people should not look towards IT as an opportunity to settle abroad. I appreciate him coming ahead and saying this. We need alot more people doing it.

I know alot of people would not agree to my views here. But that's just me. A guy who is proud of his culture and has different ways in life. But with disgust I would appeal to all the people wishing to settle here and the ones settled abroad already. If you cannot pronounce your names right, better change it. We are as ashamed of you guys who portray Indians as desperate wannabes as you are of the country that made you capable of relocating yourself to a better environment. So to all those 'fakers' I say, get some self respect.

Jai Hind!!