10. They Can’t … They Shan’t

[Originally published in  ELT Chat  of  www.Free_esl.com  on 15^th August 2007, the day India celebrated its sixtieth year of Independence]

Half a century ago   an Indian  scholar of repute, C. Rajagopalachari, made the following statement. :

“We in our anger and the hatred against the British people should not throw away the baby (English) with the bath water (English People)

Years have passed and ELT in India received several jolts . The following composition attempts to capture the essence of the impact.

 Neither  Can’t  nor  Shan’t

We shouldn’t ….we cannot

Speak like the Britisher

Said the Raja to the Praja

And the Raja sprayed an Indian flavour

And the Praja preferred the  Indian savour

Shun RP….Shun King’s English

Shun BBC accent….Shun Daniel Jones

Are slogans that echoes and re-echoes.

And shun and spun they did indeed …

Spun Hinglish ,  Spun Manglish

And other inglishes to ones ease

What Shakespeare ….What Joyce

What  choice   for ‘em without poise

They shan’t teach …they won’t teach

But they’ll teach… who can’t teach!

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Glossary

Raja: The renowned Indian writer whose writing smacked  of  an Indian idiom

Praja: The word in most Indian languages means the public/ the citizens.