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Question
Comment on the influence of English – the language and the way of life – on Indian life as reflected in the story. What is the narrator's attitude to English?
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Solution
When the English came to our land, they did not bring the industrialisation alone. They carried with themselves their culture, their religion and their language to our home. We, who had been ruled by the Slaves and the Moguls for centuries were now about to face yet another foreign dominance, which was to leave an impact on us that was to live for ever in the future. The biggest of all influences was the language English. Even after so many years of independence, we Indians are not able to pull ourselves out of this inferiority complex. They ruled our nation once and now even after so many decades, they rule our minds. We consider those inferior who do not know the English language. It is nothing but a language after all, why feel so proud about it when it is not even ours. Yes it is a global language and it is good to know foreign languages, however we must treat a language as language only and not as a status symbol.
This falsehood has been reflected very well in the story. The narrator, Shyama, showed how when Ranga returns from Bangalore, after completing his studies, the way people anticipated his return and the excitement on knowing that Ranga now knew English, “a priceless commodity”. They all wanted to see if there has been any change in Ranga after studying English in Bangalore. However, there was no change or little in Ranga's personality. He even did the traditional namaskar to Shyama by bowing down and touching his feet.
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