COLUMN: For diversity ambassadors
Multiculturalism is a strange doctrine.
It has transformed me — an average, upper middle-class Indian immigrant from Bombay — into an exotic creature, worthy of considerable praise. Even my most basic skill seems to inspire wide-eyed amazement and jaw-dropping awe.
I’m referring to my ability to communicate in English with relative ease, and the reaction it often inspires. I first encountered it four years ago at the Utah State University Card Office, one of my first stops when I reported to campus as an incoming freshman in 1999. The nice lady at the counter appeared a tad uneasy as I approached.
“How may I help you,” she said.
“I need to get myself an identity card,” I answered.
She whipped out a form, and pointing to it, began to explain its contents.
“Now, you’ll need to enter your name here,” she said, speaking at a pace slower than a tape recorder powered by dying batteries.
I was slightly taken aback. My ego, perhaps a little hurt, I politely informed her in as crisp a British accent as I could muster, that I had no difficulty whatsoever in comprehending the instructions she was giving me.
Her white face turned a bright red.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I thought you spoke Indian. Where did you learn to speak such good English?”
That question has haunted me for four years now.
I have it put to me almost unfailingly by all and sundry, most recently at an international beauty pageant I hosted last week. This time, however, it got me thinking: Why is my language ability so remarkable to everyone?
The result of my inquiry appears as the opening remark to this column. I owe my unwilling celebrity to the ludicrous oxymoron known in the academic world as multiculturalism — the presumed equality of all cultures.
Let me explain.
English, in the Indian context, was the language of the colonizer. After all, India is an ancient civilization, and therefore has its own highly developed language and culture. Why would Indians not have preferred their own language — Hindi — to English?
It is the purpose of my essay to inform you that this notion of India — and the doctrine that has given birth to it — is actually quite erroneous.
English remains, to this day, the lingua franca of modern India. We retained it for our own betterment as it gave us a way to communicate with, and learn from, the world. Were it not for the British and their linguistic imposition, I would not be writing this.
English helped bridge a cultural divide within India. You see, Hindi may well be India’s “national language,” but in reality, it is the language of the northern part of the country.
Many south Indians do not speak Hindi. Bollywood, India’s Hollywood, pokes fun at virtually every southern dialect currently in existence. This has resulted in a cultural chasm between north and south. Each southern state tends to emphasize its own distinct regional language, so the only common tongue across the length of the country, is English.
Having been raised in a Catholic home, English is my first language, and the only language I’m completely fluent in — a fact I once struggled to make clear to a Mormon missionary who went to great lengths to procure a Hindi edition of the Book of Mormon in an effort to speed up my indoctrination.
“It won’t work,” I told him. “I can only fully understand the English edition.”
“But don’t you Indians speak Hindi,” he persisted.
“Yes, but not all of us do,” I explained.
He shook his head, confused.
I don’t blame him. Only 19, and fresh out of high school history, he had an image in his head of what I like to call the “National Geographic” version of India — a land where elephants still saunter the muddy streets of undeveloped cities. This portrait of India has been painted by multiculturalists who prefer aggrandized depictions to contemporary fact. They exaggerate the nature of things to make lesser-developed countries with long histories appear more exotic than they actually are.
The fact is many ancient cultures have declined significantly since their heyday. Equality is a myth, which any cursory study of immigration patterns would debunk. The multicultural view of the world breeds indifference to cultural change and must be replaced by a more balanced and progressive approach.
Here’s a cause for the so-called champions of diversity on campus. In your efforts to showcase cultural variety, don’t perpetuate clichéd images. Multiculturalism needs tweaking.
Leon D’Souza is a senior majoring in journalism, whose frustration with college has about reached its peak. Comments can be sent to leon@cc.usu.edu.