THICK INDIAN ACCENT

Racism has many manifestations. The latest in

limelight is by a Trump supporter and a commentator
with conservative views. She said of Fareed Zakaria;
the promint Tv political analyst that he had a thick
Indian Accent. His comments have been rebutted by
Zakarias sister. However the point remains that amidst
the bitter campaign between Republicans and
Democrats revolving around the checks on Muslims and
controlling the Mexican all norms of civility have been
set aside and one does not know , what would come
next. The season is to mark people based on their
peculiarities in order to segregate and hit and hound
them to submission and escape. The purpose of Ann
Coulter was to point at the distinct Muslim identity of
Zakaria who is known to be against Trump. Therefore to
criticise his thick Indian Accent was to say that he
was a commentator with unpolished accent and that he
was an Indian Muslim and therefore the natural
antagonist of Trump; further it was to convey that by
opposing Trump with a thick Indian accent Zakaria
was leading a Muslim campaign against a person who
wants America to be safe.
We leave the Americans for a while and concentrate on
India and the problem of accent. Though prima facie
the issue of accent is taken lightly but it shows our
prejudice. Our Comedy shows on Television thrive on
making fun of various Indian accents such as Tamil,
Malyalam, jat, Bengali and host of others. It is assumed
that the other person would not take it seriously.
However this culture of poking fun at non standard

accent is so wide spread that it seems difficult to

control it. However not for a moment we consider as to
how that other person was feeling.
This bias by accent has two distinct facets: the English
and Hindi; the two most popular means of
communication in urban India. The bias against those
who have strong regional twang whilst speaking English
is mostly by those who are brought up in English
medium schools. It is a bias held against those who are
though doing well in life but have an accent carrying
their region . In this category would fall many. For
example our President speaks with a heavy load of
Bengali which is distinguishable by many and there
was this joke in media that he may have to employ an
English interpreter in order to make himself
comprehensible. Then we have Shri Anthony the
longest serving Defence Minister in the U P A cabinet ,
he speaks with a Malyalam accent and is at times
difficult to understand. The second facet is of those who
speak Hindi with an accent of their region and these
may not be of non Hindi states necessarily but even
from the rural heartland of the cow belt, Bhayaas as
they are generally known in metropolis.
This issue of accent has not come to the fore of
social issues as we as Nation are groping with larger
problems of caste community region,Gender etc.
Further it has not posed any problem for meritorious
people who ignore this deficiency and move ahead in
life and it has indeed not stopped people with talent to
move up in life. Politicians concentrate on their
constituencies and communicate to their people in the

language they understand. Bureaucrats make their

mark with their work and ability. It only poses problem
for those who have to communicate regularly like in
media but they too cover their deficiency with their
talent.
However in a true democracy we must be able to
absorb all such peculiarities and judge people on merit.
The old school of having a Queens English( Richard
Burton/Rex Harrison ) as the standard of English
language has faded and now there is larger acceptance
( with the rise of American Actors ). However we have
to cover much distance. Sometimes I think that these
issues are more class based than any other. The accent
of Katrina Kaif and Jaqlene Fernandis when they speak
Hindi is acceptable to people because over the years
they have accepted the fact that women of English
speaking background speak Hindi with an Anglicised
accent. The most striking case is of Mrs Sonia Gandhi
who is a powerful political person and has led her party
to victory twice with an accent which is so unpleasing
but she has been accepted being a powerful person.
Therefore as a society we should be more sensitive to
those who are on threshold and talented but have an
apparent handicap of an affected accent because
ultimately it is not important what the quality of their
accent is but what matters is the content. Gandhiji was
a poor orator but a champion communicator !
Finally; among the varied languages of our Nation we
have varied accents too and to accept and include all
such accents is a true sign of a mature democracy
toward which we all citizens should Aim.