How Proficient Are Indians In English?

Hello everyone. I hope all of you are looking forward to a great weekend. It will be interesting to see who all will catch Dhobi Ghat over the weekend or settle for the confines and luxuries of their home. Honestly, I had no plans of updating here till R-Day(26 Jan). But late last evening, something my dad saw on the road made it mandatory to hit the keys and spark of this debate; "How proficient are Indians in English?"

The announcement on a digital signboard on Victoria Road ( which I assume will spark this debate) said "AOVID ANIL KUMBLE CIRCLE TO MISSION ROAD DUE TO BWSSB WORK". In Bengaluru. Goodness Gracious!!!

The obvious error which our so called HI-TECH workers at the BBMP are oblivious to is that they do not know how to spell AVOID (AOVID here). A certain R K Narayan would have definitely had a heart attack (pun intended).The good folk of the town, who are in favor of making Kannada language compulsory from the primary schooling level ( well a novel concept and which might be essential) and those against it well, lets just say were ears and eyes shut to this brazen and unacceptable misuse of a language. Well it should serve as a wake up call.

Bengaluru (henceforth I urge everybody to shun the use of Bangalore) has been a harbinger of the new technological revolution of the last decade and is comparable to Silicon City,CA ; Shanghai and many more of the likes. Hence it also has been a place where medium of communication has primarily been English. But really has anyone stopped for a while and thought as to how proficient one is in this language? We just head to the drawing board when we want to write TOEFL to achieve our (U)States dreams or when we have to achieve bragging rights in front of someone else. A deeper research unearths that students in their undergraduate courses, use messaging

language in the exams.

Also, interesting to note is the number of bureaucrats, ministers and members of the democratic machinery use English. We have had many a misinterpretations and misconceptions due to some silly mistakes. It is always good to brush up our language skills. It is interesting to note the advocacy of certain people that, in inculcating the very nuances of this language, we are following the Westerners. Frankly, its no harm to have the best of both worlds, isn't it.  

I would, however, like to continue more about this topic only after hearing from all you people, as I feel the common opinion must be honored. I will also write about this in the future. This would be my cue for an update on R-Day.

English is a funny language; that explains why we park our car on the driveway and drive our car on the parkway.

Well lets see whether its funny or serious?

New Look Royal Challengers Bangalore

Hey everyone. Hope you have had a great new year. Well the second weekend was surely an eventful one in my life as this time around, I explored a place where it snows even during afternoon. And no its not the Himalayas but closer home, about 10 km from Bandipur. I will write about it on a later date. But back at one of Bengaluru's retreat I envy most, the ITC Royal Gardenia, the Player's Auction for the fourth season of the Indian Premier League took place. This was where two days of action, drama and pure team building tactics were brought to the fore by certain svelte beauties and a host of corporate brains. Being a native of Bengaluru there are no prizes for guessing that I fully support Royal Challengers Bangalore (Honestly I feel they should change the name to Royal Challengers Bengaluru). Here's their new look team. They have sure pulled some rabbits out of the hat;

Virat Kohli(Retention, Ind)
Daniel Vettori(Likely Captain, NZ)
Zaheer Khan(Ind)
Mohammed Kaif(Ind)
Saurabh Tiwary(Ind)
AB De Villiers(SA)
Abhimanyu Mithun(Ind)
Tillakaratne Dilshan(SL)
Dirk Nannes(Aus)
Cheteshwar Pujara(Ind)
Charl Langeveldt(SA)
Johan Van der Wath(SA)
Luke Pommersbach(Aus)
Nuwan Pradeep(SL)
Rilee Rossouw(SA)
Jonathan Vandiar(SA)

The uncapped Indian players are yet to be finalized at this point of time yet there are a few players whom I wish to see in RCB colours ; C M Gautam, Deepak Chahar, Murtuza Vahoora, Manish Pandey, S Arvind, Gaurav Dhiman, Amit Verma, C Ganapathy, Shadab Jakati, Aditya Sagar to name a few. Yet the core of the team will be the 16 players mentioned before.

One look at the team and we can identify that the RCB think tank are going in for a younger looking side which can give them sprint starts and provide death bowling supremacy. The fact that mentor Anil Kumble fiercely bid for and eventually claimed Daniel Vettori indicates to the fact that Jumbo sees in him a potential captain. The loss of Dale Steyn and Ross Taylor for sure will hurt their prospects even for that matter that of Jacques Kallis and Kevin Pietersen. Jonathan Vandiar could be a stable opener who can hold up one end while Dilshan and Co. can deliver the fireworks. Zak can be the bowling spearhead with the spin attack and the second seamers being called only as a rearguard measure. Fielding will definitely bolstered by Mohammed Kaif, Saurabh Tiwary and the likes.

On a grim note though, I certainly have a hunch that this could be another test team in the making. Firstly, we should keep in mind that only four foreign players can be inducted into the playing 11. This means that the crux of the playing 11 will be the Indians and honestly, we cannot expect the Indians to put their best efforts at the big stage. Also certain buys in the auction aren't quite justified. Cheteshwar Pujara, who is in the lineage of Rahul Dravid (We will miss the wall), is not a proven T20 performer (His KKR record speaks for itself). So are Aussie discard Pommrsbach and unheralded Pradeep. Also it will be interesting to see if Dilshan's indifferent form continues as he is expected to give a fiery start at the top of the innings.   

With a prayer on our lips and hope in our hearts let us hope that this time around, a repeat of the first season doesn't occur and look forward to an explosive IPL 4. But before, let us pray that there are no controversies, slapgates and scandals this time around for any of the 10 teams. Wishing each of the new reds godspeed and good luck.

Game for More, anyone?