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Jyoti Yadav
MC- 10
Professor Hany Babu
April19, 2016

Indianisation of English: Desification

Kal Bombay mei red alert tha, Chill kar yaar, You just shut up zyada na
bola kar, Arey beta! breakfast to karti ja, Metro stations par aaj - kal security
badha di gayi hai, JNU ke anti nationalist ko bahar karo, trade union ki strike jari
hai, You know what mujhe bahut jor se bookh lagi hai. These are the sentences we
are speaking, reading and listening in our day to day life. What is this new language?
that we are adopting? When we look at it, it neither appears as Hindi nor English; it
looks like a new form of language which is the result of English and Hindi, i.e.
Hinglish. It can also be defined as the use of English words and structure in Hindi or
Hindi words in English. Now certain questions arise: When did this Hinglish come
into existence? What purpose does it serve? Is it the result of Democratization of
Hindi with English? This 'new language' i.e. Hinglish is spreading in all the spaces of
Indian society, be it social media, news agencies, bollywood, radio stations, political

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campaigns or literature. Can we see it as a threat to vernacular languages? For

example, if high school students were asked what a ' telephone' is called in Hindi, I
wonder how many of them would know the correct answer. Probably, very few. It's
not surprising that some English words have become a natural part of our speech.
Even with no formal education, a street hawker uses the word telephone despite
Hindi being his mother tongue. "Change nahi hai madam", the Hindi word 'chhutta' is
started being missed out in a rikshaw puller's vocabulary these days. This research
paper aims to look at different angles of the relationship between these two languages,
in the context of Chutney" and " Hinglish". What politics has to do with the growing
demand of Hinglish? Dr. Rita Kothari responds in an essay published in the anthology
Chutnifying English: The Phenomenon of Hinglish, "The debate on Hinglish could be
on either end, Hindi mein English or English in Hindi, the two are not mutually
exclusive . The idea of naming the conference "Chutnefying" was to suggest a larger
framework of hybridization of English worldwide which can provide on overarching
context".
To begin with the questions we have raised, we could assert that Hinglish is not a new
phenomena, its roots could be found in the British India. The book Chutnifying
English gives an account of evidences of the history of Hinglish. For instance ghazal
written by Ayodhya Prasad Khatri in 1887 illustrates the interaction between Hindi
and English. An extract from the ghazal:

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Rent law ka gham karen ya Bill of Income Tax ka?

Kya kren apna nahiin hai sense right now-a-days
...Darkness chaya hua hai Hind men chaaron taraf
Naam ki bhi hai nahiin baaqi na light now-a-days.
There is another poem written by Khatri which includes the line:
Ja ke London mein badal daalenge nation apna
These poems are viewing Hinglish from Hindi point of view.
Khatri has distinguished different kinds of Hindi: Sanskritized Hindi, Theth Hindi,
Maulvi's Hindi, Munshi's Hindi in his points. But Nissim Ezekiel (1924-2004) gives
us a different aspect which looks at Hinglish from English point of view. The poem
was written in Hindi but the poet has added few English words to give this poem a
satirical tone. Citing a passage from one of her poems:
Why all the people of the world
Are not following Mahatma Gandhi,
I do not simply understanding.
Ancient Indian Wisdom is 100% correct,
I should say even 200% correct.
But modern generation is negatingToo much going for fashion and foreign purpose.

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Or
That shopman he's giving me a soap
But I'm finding it defective version.
So I'm saying very politely-though in Hindi I'm saying it,
and my Hindi is not so good as my English,
Please to excuse me. . .
The second passage mentioned above projects that the poet is not speaking in
English but in Hindi, because in the kind of commonplace everyday situation
described on the lines, even this kind of English would be incomprehensible to the
shopkeeper.Ezekiel and Ayodhya Prasad show the two sides of Indian attitude
towards English and it's Indianization. Khatri on one hand, has sturdiness of a
propagator of Hindi, on the other hand Ezekiel, is that anglicized Indian, who is
laughing at Indians For not having a good English as good as his own.
There is another such example of the use of hybrid language could be found in
gossip column of Stardust magazine 'Nita's Natter by Shobha De. She came up with
spicy Hindi words in her script to add some real zing and sting. The gossiping about
the most popular form of entertainment- the Hindi film- was conveyed in Hindi words
in an English magazine. It could be seen as an attempt to design a linguistic

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misalliance that natty Nita felt compelled to use the language of masses. Gokhale
celebrates De as the heroine who "unleashed a whole new dhakar street vocabulary,
"absolutely nanga-karoed things. If one claims Shoba De to be the Queen mother of
Hinglish, Salman Rushdie can be addressed as King emperor of Hinglish.
It seems that the effects of Rushdie's Hinglish has been quite different from that of
De's. While De used Hindi words to connect with her readers and subject matter,
Rushdie tried to excoticize his texts. Most of times when he was using Hindi words
were to authenticate himself in eyes of his Western readers.
Hindi Cinema has also played a significant role other than the literary contexts. Biwi
no 1 can be taken as good example of in this regard. There is one dialogue in the
movie:
Salman khan: Tu kya mujhe henpacked samjhta hai?
Sushmita Sen: Ye kutta jagah jagah shit karta rahta hai.
Here, it is evident that if the Hindi words for 'henpacked' or 'shit' would have
been far too humiliating for Salman khan and Sushmita Sen who played role of uppermiddle-class who went to Switzerland for vacations. Sometimes, it is noted that Hindi
words are included for cultural and class compulsions.
We can look at some contemporary lyrics of a song from Always Kabhi Kabhi:
"Thoda sa complicated hai yeh love ka art,

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Undi the condi of my heart;

Kehte hai ki pyar mein, Feelings ko feel karo;
Main toh kehta hun bas, Fun mein deal karo [Oh yeah]
The difference between Khatri's lyrics and the lyrics of the above song is that both are
meant as parody, while the 21st century 'Undi the Condi" is written entirely in earnest.
We have already talked about how borrowed English words into Hindi no longer
provide an existing Hindi vocabulary they substitute existing words and terms.
There is also a common joke (which most of us have grown up listening) at the cost
of
Hindi is that a cigarette is dhoomra-shalaaka and a train is lauh- path- gamini.
Today a large numbers of, Hindi speakers have equivalents English words for
relationship terms, colors, left/right directions, parts of a house, garments and time
says Hindi professor Rupert Snell. For instance: "dadu ki blue pajama drawing
room ki table par rakhi i hai," or "Mai apni mother ko fortieth birthday par necklace
present karungi
The major peril of thus promoting a demotic dialect like Hinglish is that we may
soon be left with neither Hindi nor English but just Hinglish argues professor Harish
Trivedi in the book .It's true in every sense that Hinglish is becoming more and more
popular every day. Our day to day life conversations are proof of that. This would be
the conversation of family (living in a metropolitan city) in the early morning hours:

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Mom: Good Morning Beta! Wake up jaldi se, school ke liye late nhi hona hai.
Kid: Mom, please five minutes aur.
Father: Arey! maine to ginger tea ke liye bola tha tumko.
Grandfather: Aaj iss newspaper wales ko kya hua, aaj aaya nahin dene.
Film industry has nonetheless played a huge role in the process of Hinglish becoming
the language of the masses. From the title of the movies to the lyrics and to
dialogues, this evolving language has developed as a "language of commodities".
Shree 420which came in 1955 was an attempt to make Hinglish a source of ready
humor. This mode of language is now a part of Hindi cinema which presents and
celebrates Hinglish.
Movies like Jab We Met, Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic, Breakup ke Baad, Shaadi
ke side Effects, Pyar mein Twist, Love Aaj Kal,Sorry Bhai,Desi Boyz,
Shudh Desi Romance generate new social meanings. They could be called the
documents of Hinglish in Hindi cinema, whilst repeatedly employing the
social behaviors and attitudes. Citing some dialogues from Jab We Met:
Line cross kartey kartey Train pakdi
Thank you baba ji
Mai na apni favourite hun
Tu original piece hai

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Tum hamesha aisi hi bakwaas karti ho ya aaj koi special occasion hai
Bachpan se hi naa ... mujhe shaadi karne ka bahut craze hai, by god
Tumhe uthakar museum mein rakhna chahiye ... ticket lagni chahiye tumhe dekhne
ke liye
We can say that Hinglish is seen as a good option to communicate with masses
in Cinema because Hindi helps to connect with the large number of people where as
English words serve status. On the one hand Hindi helps to relate, the other hand
English helps to buy dreams and commodities. Or we can say that if Hindi is used to
express emotions then English is used as intellectual make-up. The famous lyricist
Prasoon Joshi defends his song masti ki pathshaala from the movie Rang de Basanti
that we need this sort of words because we can easily express through this language.
The signature word of every media channel is Breaking News. They purposely used
the code mixing of languages that appears fascinating to the people and help them
making their news more spicy and catchy. The regular time pass of the masses is the
radio. Its reach has always been to the common people. Radio agencies too, use this
hybrid language for instance "Next song jo aap sun ne ja rahe hai woh hai" "ye ganna
chart buster list may top one. Some specific Hindi words for some specific political
campaigns depicts that this mixed language proves to be a milestone in reaching out
to
the people.

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If we examine Hinglish in the arena of advertisements and daily soaps, it

seems to fulfill the purpose of marketing values by mixing Hindi with English to
maintain hybridized language Snell adds to this argument that, "The medias
tendency to 'go native, while celebrating this process with active support from
increasingly vocal local media corporations has helped them present themselves as an
acceptable, even nationalist face of globalization". The dominant position of Hinglish
has been achieved by the ads, for example "Life is not always ha ha he he", "Zindagi
wins, Love By Chance" and "Emotional Attyachar".Thussu argues that " the rapid
liberalization of media and cultural industries in India and the increasing availability
of new and sophisticated communication technologies has created a market of an
increasingly Westernized and culturally hybridized audience, with growing
purchasing power and aspirations to a consumerist lifestyle " (page XXXIV)
Recently we have seen deliberate attempts of media houses in the JNU
incident where the use of code mixing of languages was used as a tool to promote
particular ideologies. Breaking News: JNU anti nationalists ka adda", Umar khalid
hai puri ghatna ka Mastermind, " JNU mei padhayi ya Deshdarohi ki P.Hd" " Desh ke
khilaaf bolna JNU me Fashion?"These are some selective headlines that were shown

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by many news agencies to gain TRP. "Adarsh liberals and Sickulars of India

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The survival of this language is also dependent on the youth... The youth is the
presenter of any new trend. Lets look at the sentences of college going student:
Oh god! do semester bhi gaye, hame realise bhi nhi"
"yeh kaisa fashion hai"
"I told ya in student acticivists ne naak me dam kar rakha hai"
"Jab dekho tab internals aajatey hain".
Social media proves to be one of biggest platform nonetheless
People's updates on Facebook, twitter, instagram are fine examples of how Hinglish

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has become a part of our life. The construction of a happy blend is both visible an
visual through Hinglish cultural products films, ads, signboards short text messages,
talk shows, T-shirt slogans, social networking sites-promoting in overt ways a
lifestyle that allows you to be desi and consumerist simultaneously
Today this hybrid language is becoming the instrument of economic capital.
It means different to different people. For some it is a way to brighten their political
careers, for some its a way to increase their TRPS, for some its a way to climb the
social ladder, for some it is a way to express themselves and for some it has become a
way of life. But what is common among all of them is that Hinglish is becoming an
identity of the masses. The commercial interest is putting both official languages
together in the Hinglish. This desification of Hindi and English is the new mantra to
survive. Writers like Chetan Bhagat and Durjoy Dutta have promoted the desification
of the languages in their fictions. The lingua franca of present Indian language called
Hinglish is largely spoken by the consumers. On being asked about the use of
Hinglish, one Delhi university student has to say - "Hinglish is now an accepted
currency in the popular culture of India and this popular culture is the participant of
linguistic revolt."Some hold the opinion that mixing of languages is a bad idea as the
former language loses its purity, essence and identity.

Conclusion:

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The way we look at Hinglish is a compilation of subjective opinions. Is it the voice of

elites who keep trying to sell a sophisticated version of languages or is it the
language of casual conversation on Indian terms? Is Hinglish erasing the gap
between the English speaking elites and the vernaculars? Or is it creating a divide
between the so-called perfect English (which itself is in a tug-of-war between
American English and British English) and this Desified version that people can relate
with. Jaise bhi dekho yaar, Hinglish seems to be our inevitable fate that most of us
have succumbed to.

Bibliography:

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1. Kothari, Rita, and Rupert Snell. Chutnefying English: The Phenomenon of Hinglish. New
Delhi: Penguin, 2011.

2. http://www.academia.edu/11004281/Popular_Indian_Culture_Cracking_the_Code_of_C
hutnification_of_Languages
3. http://www.afaqs.com/planning-room/article/138_Effective-Use-of-Hinglish-in-IndianAdvertisements
4. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28054460
5. http://www.firstpost.com/ideas/does-hinglish-democratize-english-33714.html
6. http://www.indiatribune.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=6130:hinglishlanguage--aaj-and-kal&Itemid=471
7. http://www.thehindu.com/books/chutney-meri-ketchup-teri/article2153021.ece
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdZ6uATY3TA
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIuuz6Q7TLI
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwyjLvEmzzQ