Varanasi : So, Our Man in Parliament speaks English ! And Quite Fluently !!

Varanasi / New Delhi. July 1 .So, here is yet another revelation; our man in Parliament speaks English; and that too quite fluently. The Gaurdian was not quite off the mark when it published its historic editorial on India's 2014 general elections :- Final Departure of British Raj;  Narendra modi only assured the Firangi retainers that all is not lost, they can still remember that once upon a time there was British Raj in India.

                                             Occasion was the launch of  PSLV carrying five satellites from 'developed' countries; PSLV performed its fete successfully. Modi keeping in mind the gathering, consisting of scientists, spoke in English, in spaces switching over to his natural language- Hindi. How was his communication level in these two languages, comparatively ?

                                             For Banarasis, it was the first occasion when they heard our man in parliament speaking English. He spoke extemporally , that too in English ! Did he memorize his speech or some body was there doing prompting ? Impossible skeptics, Banarasis raise doubts. It was live speech and whole nation watched and listened the Modi's oratory skill, it was really an extempore speech and speaker was quite at ease and confident. When ever he had to add some lively inputs  he switched over to Hindi.

                                             The Guardian, in its ' Final departure of British Raj' editorial also took note of language skill of Indian leaders. It wrote, " Modi is not a natural English speaker ";  as if it was one of the proofs that the colonialist had left the wild sub-continent with no left overs. His British biographer said, Modi interacted with him in English ; the so called national media reported that Modi interacted with US ambassador 'poor'  Nancy Powell in halting English, Powell had to utter some sentences in broken Hindi to establish some sort of  rapport with a hard nut. This is all known to us before the speaker himself opened his mouth in Sriharikota.

                                            A few days ago a foreign correspondent recalled that about 15 years ago he participated with Modi in a TV debate where the then  BJP office bearer  put forward his opinion in forceful English. The correspondent, however, added,  Modi spoke in heavily accented English. One wonders how to describe the peculiar  accent of Modi's English, was it Hinglish tone or Gujarati dhokla flavour. Was it pleasant or annoying ?

                                          We Banarasis don't believe in niceties of language. You can deliver sermons or you can hurl score of galis. It is all the same for us. The only condition is-  it should be sweet and refreshing and on this count Modi failed ! Fortunately.

                                          His Hindi oration, though a nasal voice, a technical fault according to sangeet martand, is heart felt- penetrating and convincing . English version is just like official press release, soulless and marred with faulty  pronunciation and emphasis; for example "rich culture" becomes " reech culture". More over it was not pleasant at all.

                                         In Hindi he is a Koyal ( cuckoo) and in English he is a Kauaa ( crow).