Dear Editor,

EVERY time I visit India, and I am in India currently, attending an academic conference, people seem fascinated by my distinct Guyanese accent. My feature address was on Indentureship in the Caribbean at the conference being held at the prestigious BHU in Varanasi.

Throughout my many stays in India, I have found in my encounters that students tend to flock English speakers seeking opportunities to practise or improve their spoken English. I, on the other hand, have sought to improve my limited Hindi and Bhojpuri, languages of the indentured slaves or girmityas, and their descendants, inclusive of my third-generation parents, who learnt the languages from their parents and grandparents.

In all my countless trips to India, attention was focused on me whenever I opened my mouth to speak. They were agog and awestruck at my soft, gentle voice. They found the accent strange, and different. With looks in their eyes and many gazes towards me, I could sense they wanted to know who this person was speaking a different version of English, and not speaking in the local language or dialect in vernacular or idiom or lingua franca. And they routinely asked, “Sir, where are you from?”

Going back to summer 1985, my first trip as a foreign exchange student on a private foundation scholarship, people were drawn to my Guyanese accent at all locations. They were curious about the distinct accent that was neither British nor American. Since 1985, I would have made several dozen trips, travelling to almost every corner of India; multiple trips, annually, to either attend conferences or give lectures or lead tours or to report as a journalist on events. Everywhere, the reaction was the same; gaze and wonderment.

I also did post-graduate studies in India, spending a considerable amount of time at campuses, researching, writing, taking exams and teaching. The attitude towards my accent was the same on campus and everywhere else, with an often repeated question: “Where are you from?”

After responding, “I am from Guyana in South America or the West Indies,” they often responded: “Sir, you look Indian.”
They were not familiar with the migration of Indians overseas as labourers, or traders or seafarers. I had to educate them on that aspect of British-India history. I obtained a PhD in history, among other subjects.

Every time I opened my mouth to speak; in trains, on the streets, on aircraft, on campuses, at hotels, concerts and shopping malls or elsewhere, almost everyone within earshot would turn towards me.

I could sense they were curious to know who this person is, speaking in this unique foreign accent. Sometimes, it was distinctly West Indian. At other times, I imitated the British or American accent.

I lacked ability to imitate the Aussie, Kiwi, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh accents in speaking the King’s English, although when on trips to Australia and New Zealand, I tried to imitate their accents.

I can’t imitate the traditional Indian accent when speaking English, which is routinely poked fun at in the USA, particularly by Hispanic, Afro-American, White, and even Guyanese, Jamaican, and Trinidadian students with limited knowledge of language.

India is the world’s largest English-speaking nation; the people of every English-speaking country speak with their own distinct accent.
The Scotch, Welsh, Irish don’t speak in the same accent as the English or Anglo-Saxons. The Jamaican, Bajan, ‘Trini’, Fijian, Mauritian, and other English-speaking nations don’t speak in the same or one accent.

Hispanics, Irish, Italians, Polish, and other ethnic groups speak in their own accents that are understandable among their own, and are acceptable among native speakers (like me) of English.
So, why poke fun at Indians! One country’s English accent is not better or superior to another’s. English is standard everywhere; there is not a version for each country. Thus, one must not ridicule or mock others who speak with alien or strange accents. At any rate, Indian English speakers; in fact, most Indians, are multilingual, unlike most English speakers in Guyana, West Indies, America, the UK, Canada, etc.

Indians are not only multilingual, they are also outstanding communicators in English. India produces some of the leading English scholars. They are some of the finest users (writers and speakers) of the King’s language, many of which words come from Sanskrit, the mother tongue of many dominant European languages.

Their English accent is different from mine, but their use if the English Language is perfect, and, perhaps, even superior to my choice of words in communication. Their use of words is standard, like every English- speaking person. And, not all Indians speak with the same accent. In every State, and even in each State’s districts and cities, the English accent is quite different.

But for their own reasons, Indians are drawn towards foreign-accented speakers of English. Thus, they gaze at Indians like me who speak English with an alien accent, curious to know from where I come. They seemed amazed and fascinated at my speech accent and pronunciation of words. Every time I opened my mouth, many heads turned towards me with astonishment. They love my accent, and don’t ridicule it.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram