THICK INDIAN
ACCENT
Racism has many manifestations. The latest in
limelight is by a Trump supporter and a
commentator with conservative views. She said of Fareed Zakaria; the promint
Tv political analyst that he had a “
thick Indian Accent”. His comments have been rebutted by Zakaria’s sister.
However the point remains that amidst the bitter campaign between Republicans
and Democrats revolving around the checks on Muslims and controlling the Mexican
all norms of civility have been set aside and one does not know , what would
come next. The season is to mark people based on their peculiarities in order
to segregate and hit and hound them to submission and escape. The purpose
of Ann Coulter was to point at the
distinct Muslim identity of Zakaria who is known to be against Trump. Therefore
to criticise his “thick Indian Accent” was to say that he was a commentator
with unpolished accent and that he was an Indian Muslim and therefore the
natural antagonist of Trump; further it was to convey that by opposing Trump
with a “thick Indian accent” Zakaria was leading a Muslim campaign against a
person who wants America to be safe.
We leave the
Americans for a while and concentrate on India and the problem of accent.
Though prima facie the issue of ‘accent’ is taken lightly but it shows our prejudice. Our ‘Comedy shows’ on
Television thrive on making fun of
various Indian accents such as Tamil, Malyalam, jat, Bengali and host of
others. It is assumed that the other person would not take it seriously.
However this culture of poking fun at ‘non standard’ accent is so wide spread
that it seems difficult to control it. However not for a moment we consider as
to how that other person was feeling.
This bias by accent has two distinct facets: the
English and Hindi; the two most popular means of communication in urban India.
The bias against those who have strong regional twang whilst speaking English
is mostly by those who are brought up in ‘English medium’ schools. It is a bias
held against those who are though doing well in life but have an accent
carrying their region . In this category would fall many. For example our
President speaks with a heavy load of ‘Bengali’ which is distinguishable by
many and there was this joke in media that he may have to employ an English
interpreter in order to make himself comprehensible. Then we have Shri Anthony
the longest serving Defence Minister in the U P A cabinet , he speaks with a
‘Malyalam’ accent and is at times difficult to understand. The second facet is
of those who speak Hindi with an accent of their region and these may not be of
non Hindi states necessarily but even
from the rural heartland of the cow belt,
Bhayaas as they are generally known
in metropolis.
This ‘issue’
of ‘accent’ has not come to the fore of social issues as we as Nation are
groping with larger problems of ‘caste’ ‘community’ ‘region’,’Gender’ etc.
Further it has not posed any problem for meritorious people who ignore this deficiency and move ahead in life and
it has indeed not stopped people with talent to move up in life.
Politicians concentrate on their
constituencies and communicate to their people in the language they understand.
Bureaucrats make their mark with their work and ability. It only poses problem
for those who have to communicate regularly like in media but they too cover
their deficiency with their talent.
However in a true democracy we must be able to
absorb all such peculiarities and judge people on merit. The old school of
having a ‘Queen’s’ English( Richard Burton/Rex Harrison ) as the standard of
English language has faded and now there
is larger acceptance ( with the rise of American Actors ). However we have to
cover much distance. Sometimes I think that these issues are more class based
than any other. The accent of Katrina Kaif and Jaqlene Fernandis when they
speak Hindi is acceptable to people because over the years they have accepted
the fact that women of English speaking background speak Hindi with an Anglicised
accent. The most striking case is of Mrs Sonia Gandhi who is a powerful
political person and has led her party to victory twice with an accent which is
so unpleasing but she has been accepted being a powerful person.
Therefore as
a society we should be more sensitive to those who are on threshold and
talented but have an apparent handicap of an affected accent because ultimately
it is not important what the quality of their accent is but what matters is the content. Gandhiji was a poor orator but a
champion communicator !
Finally; among the varied languages of our
Nation we have varied accents too and to accept and include all such accents is
a true sign of a mature democracy toward which we all citizens should Aim.
