OH, TO BE IN ENGLAND!

Constant conversation in English among elite Indians speaking the same vernacular is a disease rampant, pernicious and reprehensible. This shallow sense of self-identification through reflected culture having no roots in one's own national heritage is a sort of cultural treachery that is gaining moment among the growing middle class as well and is proof of our lack of knowledge of our glorious cultural traditions, rich and diverse, one that has nourished the civilisation of Asia for long and whose influence was once felt even in ancient Greece.

An incorrect and biased history of India presented by Western historians and Indologists coupled with independent India's capitulation to and furtherance of such a narrative where the West has ever been portrayed as the major civilising and modernising force for India and the abysmal ignorance of one's culture thereof, has been the cause of this debasement of educated India. This sort of rootlessness in language comes from a shameful complex of inferiority vis-a-vis the British and must forthwith be rectified through an amendment of our attitude towards our vernaculars. Only when we feel proud of our heritage and culture will we gain national efficiency in work and will be respected in turn by all the peoples of the world who for their part have always retained their cultural identity through strict adherence to their language and lore.