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Different Strokes From India Anand K Bhatt "I was born in 1944 in Lalooland. Did M.A. in Economics (Allahabad University) and later, on a sabbatical, did M.A. in Development Economics from Sussex University (U.K.). After putting in 34 years in the Indian Administrative Service, I put in my papers in 2003 when I was Additional Secretary to Govt. of India (working as Chairman, Forward Markets Commission, Govt. of India). Since 2003 I am Administrative Member in the Mumbai Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal which is a body to look into the grievances of central government employees. I belonged to Madya Pradesh cadre which is full of forests and wild life. I developed a keen interest in forests, trees and plants, both wild and ornamental. I was Divisional Commissioner in Bastar (now in Chhattisgarh) which has the largest area under forests in entire Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. I occasionally do some birdwatching as a hobby and like to read novels. I do try to write occasionally on anything which comes to my mind."

Professor Higgins, the famous Shawian character made famous by the movie ‘My Fair Lady’ could place a lady within 6 mile radius of her native place In England by listening to her accent, and for London he claimed that it was only 2 miles. I for one can place a man from the eastern part of UP and Bihar easily, and so can I a Bengali, Tamil and Marathi, but I certainly cannot claim the proficiency at the level of Professor Henry Higgins.

Two Indian men engage in a animated conversation as they sit on the promenade in Mumbai © AFP/File Indranil Mukherjee

Let us go to the different parts of our land of Bharat. To start with Maharashtra which is my abode for the time being. They do not have the typical nasal accent. ‘Mai ja raha hoo’, and not ‘main ja raha hoon’.. Gopal Krishna will be pronounced as Gopal Krushna. And Hrushikesh, not Hrishikesh. Another thing which was told to me my brother-in-law is that they do not use the possessive pronoun for the word 'aap'(apna and apnee). Like a child will say :'mai meri maa ke yahaa ja raha hoo, tum tumhari maa ke yahaa jaao.'

A Sikh in Punjab prepaing Bhaang © Sonia Toor

Punjabis have some difficulty in pronouncing joint letters (sanyuktakshar). Chandra becomes Chander, and Prakash becomes Parkash. However, surprisingly this handicap does not apply to words like kitthe! Another subtle difference, Pleasure will be mixed with ‘yy’ in ‘ea’.

Punita and Kaushik Phukan from Assam © Punita Kaushik

Bengalis do not have 'V' that is why you Birbhumi and not Virbhumi. They also have a typical round pronunciation. Assamese do not have 'Ch' soft. Chamcha would become samsa and c.utia will become sutia. This is how I used to tease Bezbaruah who was with me for some time in good old days.

Bihari accent has been made famous by Laloospeak. ‘Sh’ in most cases become ‘s’ as in ‘des’. ‘Maharastra ka prasasan baar mein bekaar sabit hua.’ The Hindi ‘D’ with a dot below the letter (this does not have an English equivalent) becomes a simple ‘R’: ‘sarak par ghora parak parak daurata hai’. Incidentally this softer (or is it cruder?) variety of D is absent in Sanskrit, and so is the nasal accent as in ‘saans’ and ‘maan’(meaning mother) of Hindi which is the Persian influence. Also 'kehta' (which the Hindi puritans insist is the correct way to pronounce it) becomes 'kahta' with vowelled 'ka' more straight and longer in the eastern part of the Hindi belt. Another peculiarity is to pronounce V with more of ‘bh’. This reminds me of a passage in Phanishwar Nath Renu’s novel ‘Maila Aanchal’. Somebody by the name of Vijay Mall acquired from God knows where the title of Mahamahopadhyay. He started writing his name as V.Mall M.M. Lo and behold, the entire village started calling him 'Bhimmal Mama' and the name stuck.

A Tamil wedding ceremony

Tamils do not have the correct equivalent of 'Bh'. They will pronounce Bhatt more as Butt. Once I mistook my colleague on the breakfast table who requested me to pass the butter as saying that he wanted me pass myself to him!

After the advent of English, Hindi evolved a half moon over the letters to pronounce correctly words like toy and God. ‘O’ in Hindi and Sanskrit is more straight.

I have spent sometime in Gwalior, the badland of Phoolan Devi and the ilk. The typical village accent of Chambal region is a strange slippery way of mixing letters and words, so that you will feel that the entire dialogue is on a slow roller skate.

I have been told, but not personally experienced, that Garhwalis have a way of mixing up the pronunciation of Z and G soft. Zanzibar for them would be janjibar and ginger will become zinzer.

Then there is the dispute between those who are advocates of Urdu and Hindustani on the one side and the Hindi puritans on the other about carrying to Hindi the softness of Persian words. 'Jazbat', 'khoon' ( with softer 'kh'), 'kagaz', 'cheez' or cheese (not the eating variety) and 'zameen' for a Hindi man will become 'jajbat', 'khoon' (with a much simpler 'kh'), 'kagaz', c'cheej' and 'jameen'. This dispute is still unresolved, although with the popular Hindi cinema especially the songs showing the way, most people accept the soft touch of Urdu.

To wind up, there is nothing to be ashamed of in carrying your accent. Laloo flaunts and revels in it, and a number of performers have made money by trying to imitate his inimitable style and accent (Shekhar Suman). Our Honourable Prime Minister shows his Punjabi accent, though rarely, and the Defence Minister does not hide his. Sharmila Tagore and Suchitra Sen carried their lovely Bengali accent to hit Hindi movies; and the Italian sex idols to English films. Johnson, they say, had the typical Texan accent, in sharp contrast to his very Harvardian predecessor.

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