NOT QUITE A RAY OF LIGHT, O ANGLOPHILE SISTER, O ANGLOPHILE BROTHER !
When shall we learn to unlearn whatever nonsensical stuff in the pronunciation of Indian names that we have slavishly imbibed from the mispronouncing Anglo-Americans? Is it not time to call Satyajit Ray as 'Ray' (Raaey) with the Bengali turn in accent rather than the English mispronunciation 'Ray' (Rae) which in another context would seem to mean 'a ray of light'. Well, certainly, Satyajit Ray was not merely a ray but a veritable sun beaming out rays in diverse directions of the cinematic world. His literary contributions were not mean either nor his artistic ones in so many modes and manners.
It is time to rectify our servile mentality with reference to the West and adopt Indian modes and manners where it concerns the representation of our own culture in the world. That is the least that may be expected of any self-respecting Indian. Did not Satyajit Ray from his final hospital bed insist that Audrey Hepburn should pronounce his surname the way we do it in our vernacular in Bengal? And did not the cinematic celebrity take especial care to see to it that she pronounced it to perfection as she announced Ray's receiving the Lifetime Honorary Oscar? Then why on earth do we remain so negligent in doing so? Why even now the references to his name here in English bear the unmistakable stamp of the British pronunciation? Why this affiliation to everything English if even in the erroneous way at that? When will this colonial hangover 'shake off its sterile curse'? My countrymen, I seek an answer.
Satyajit Ray was himself culpable to the same offence in his film 'Sikkim' where he pronounced 'Himalayas' as 'Himalayas' as the Englishman does instead of pronouncing it as it ought to be, that is, 'Himaalayaas'. So, you see, he has himself sown the very seeds in the soil of the Indian consciousness that ought not to have been done in the first place and now it refuses not to sprout the infertile weeds which need uprooting constantly to purify pronunciation of like words, one of which happens to be his surname itself.
God bless the Indian English-educated intelligentsia and their pronounced Anglophilia ! May God save the Queen and if He does not, surely her Indian subjects will substitute well to prolong her reign over her commonwealth !
Written by Sugata Bose
When shall we learn to unlearn whatever nonsensical stuff in the pronunciation of Indian names that we have slavishly imbibed from the mispronouncing Anglo-Americans? Is it not time to call Satyajit Ray as 'Ray' (Raaey) with the Bengali turn in accent rather than the English mispronunciation 'Ray' (Rae) which in another context would seem to mean 'a ray of light'. Well, certainly, Satyajit Ray was not merely a ray but a veritable sun beaming out rays in diverse directions of the cinematic world. His literary contributions were not mean either nor his artistic ones in so many modes and manners.
It is time to rectify our servile mentality with reference to the West and adopt Indian modes and manners where it concerns the representation of our own culture in the world. That is the least that may be expected of any self-respecting Indian. Did not Satyajit Ray from his final hospital bed insist that Audrey Hepburn should pronounce his surname the way we do it in our vernacular in Bengal? And did not the cinematic celebrity take especial care to see to it that she pronounced it to perfection as she announced Ray's receiving the Lifetime Honorary Oscar? Then why on earth do we remain so negligent in doing so? Why even now the references to his name here in English bear the unmistakable stamp of the British pronunciation? Why this affiliation to everything English if even in the erroneous way at that? When will this colonial hangover 'shake off its sterile curse'? My countrymen, I seek an answer.
Satyajit Ray was himself culpable to the same offence in his film 'Sikkim' where he pronounced 'Himalayas' as 'Himalayas' as the Englishman does instead of pronouncing it as it ought to be, that is, 'Himaalayaas'. So, you see, he has himself sown the very seeds in the soil of the Indian consciousness that ought not to have been done in the first place and now it refuses not to sprout the infertile weeds which need uprooting constantly to purify pronunciation of like words, one of which happens to be his surname itself.
God bless the Indian English-educated intelligentsia and their pronounced Anglophilia ! May God save the Queen and if He does not, surely her Indian subjects will substitute well to prolong her reign over her commonwealth !
Written by Sugata Bose
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