Okay, I agree I don’t have real content here to talk about. But then, I don’t make sense most of the times anyways and that has never stopped me from blabbering. So I ramble on…..

I work in the IT industry and needless to say I have to deal with a lot of desis. Now, that has lots of perks. You get to hang out with buddies and fellow Indians. You get to ogle at Indian girls. And you can get over the fact that the American girls will never really want anything to do with you. Along with that, comes a fair share of idiosyncrasies which a lot of desis share. Now, I am taking a dig at the official communications with the desi employees in office. Also, I am not poking fun at people with bad English but at those who claim to be the elite English speakers with the entire Webster’s’ as their vocabulary. Before I start, let me clarify, that I am no English pundit. So, if you find any grammatical mistakes and /or anything else related to my writing skills, I am making my backside secure by saying that ‘I am writing a blog’ not an essay in English class. But seriously, if you find any, suggest corrections and I will make those.

I am sure you have met one of these high and mighty souls in your life. Now, I am not saying what they write is wrong. But, it just doesn’t sound right. Let me give you an example. Ever read mails saying ‘I shall take care of this’ or ‘I shall call you back’. Now if you look at the sentences, there is absolutely nothing wrong there. But then, if you look up your dictionaries you will find that ‘shall’ is an outdated word. Its not wrong to use it but its just not happening. Now some will argue, we use the British language as opposed to American (and that’s an excuse most cited by the elite Indians). I agree, but, even in England how many people (other than the queen) use such language. When I read such mails I feel I am receiving commandments from Moses – ‘Thou shalt fix the bug’. The same applies to people who use ‘would’ instead of the simpler ‘will’ in sentences when what they really mean is ‘will’.

Let me tell you about my English teacher in school who corrected me when I said that ‘Rajesh and I have done the homework’. She insisted that I had to say that ‘Rajesh and me had done the homework’. Being in class 5 or 6, I did not have the sense to look it up (and yes it was in the pre-internet days) so I had been using that ever since. Not till I started studying for the verbal section of GMAT, did I know that I was right in the first place. I thought of all the people who might have had fun at my expense all these years. (Yeah, if I find something funny, I laugh. The guilt about laughing at someone’s innocence spoils the fun. So, I try to avoid getting it in the way. And I can take a joke when you laugh at me). Coming back to the point, I am thinking of how many poor souls might have been (mis)guided by their English teachers during their schooling.

Have you ever met a person who introduces himself as: ‘Hi, myself Rajesh’ (I don’t know why that name has got stuck today). Yes, sure ‘You are Rajesh’. But, how much does it take to learn to say, ‘Hi, I am Rajesh.’ or ‘Hi, My name is Rajesh.’ It just isn’t the right way, Rajesh.

My point here is not to berate the English of fellow Indians. We are on the verge of becoming the largest English speaking population in the world. But, we seldom forget the basics and we are too proud to accept our mistakes when we are corrected by someone else. You may say that the point is to communicate and as long as the emails convey information, it should be okay. It is definitely ‘okay’, but wouldn’t it be ‘great’ if we could do it in the right way. I make a lot of mistakes and maybe my English makes people laugh at times. But if you can correct me then it will save me from more embarrassing situations in the future. If not, just have fun at my expense.