Native Tongue

I speak Hindi now 90% of the time, faltering only when the idea is complex (above 10th grade level unfortunately). It’s a wonderful unfamiliar feeling where everyone knows your name (or at least how to spell it).

But English is creeping in everywhere in urban India down to lowest socio-economic levels. Even when it’s written in Devangari script, the word is still “parking.” So it was a shock when I heard ‘mitti ka tel’ instead of the ubiquitous petrol. I know English is a necessary part of India’s future but something is lot in the English translation of ‘the oil of the earth.’