Cactus Chords

The extent to which people, in Kerala with a Mother Tongue Influence (MTI), lose out on opportunities, is not a joke. Before you go ahead and rebut my post and try and prove me wrong, take a second to ponder on my point. Look around you. Isn’t it true? I will substantiate all my allegations, accusations or claims or whatever you want to term it.

Like Russell Peters (stand-up comedian) points out, “You can’t expect to go into a club and pick up a chic with an Indian accent”. The thing with stand-up comedians is that, they speak the truth, unbearable to some, but its the stark truth. If the American find our accent funny, a parallel can, as well, be drawn to how the Malayalee accent is considered hilarious compared to the rest in India. I am a Malayalee and I frankly don’t care about the rest. It ain’t that an Oriyan, Punjabi, Marwadi or Bihari or any other accent is the best (no offense meant guys, if you didn’t realize, am taking my own race’s @$$). But comparatively, the way we pronounce words are, in fact, chuckle-worthy.

No matter how much of a person of substance one is, the Malayalee accent will have an impact on their speech and people will take a moment before they start taking you seriously.

Mascot pronounced as Muscat, Twenty as Tondi, Thirty as Thyerti, Eleven as Elavan, Twelve as Tolve, Bomb as Baumb, Lab as Lhaub, Madam as Maudam, Centre as Cender, Drink as Dring, Girl as Gerl, Employ as Embloy, Aunty as Andi is just a fraction of the (Malayalam-English) Manglish dictionary. If you are a Malayalee, you will know exactly what I am talking about. Such trivial words need to be corrected in school.

Who is to blame? Up bringing or Educational Institutes? I would solely blame the latter. An educational institute’s sole aim is to educate, impart knowledge to distinguish right from wrong. A surprising number of the teachers themselves speak with an MTI. There remain, just a handful of schools and colleges that teach the right pronunciations in Kerala.

I have met scores of youngsters that are talented and skilled in their respective fields but lose out on an opportunity outside Kerala merely on the basis of their communication skills. It is disheartening and shameful. I am expecting the usual “If a person has the skill and talent, he is bound to make it despite his speaking skills” and the sorts…I can’t possibly help people living in denial. I ain’t a psychiatrist!

The only solution I see, for youngsters, a chain of English Coaching Institutes that have well educated teachers and not the usual blend of illiterate mongrels that ill-educate students. For kids, school authorities must ensure the teachers employed are well educated and up to the challenge.

Don’t let the children suffer for the illiteracy of the teachers and inconsideration of educational bodies.

Cheers!!!

image reference: www.truthtree.com, www.bizzia.com