English encodes class in India. It does so by sliding into the DNA of social division: income, caste, gender, religion or place of belonging. The threat it poses to social cohesion has worried public commentators across the political spectrum. In an address delivered as independent India’s Parliament dilly-dallied over the suggestion to replace English with regional languages as the medium of instruction for higher education, Gandhi said, ‘This blighting imposition of a foreign medium upon the youth of the country will be counted by history as one of the greatest tragedies. Our boys think, and rightly in the present circumstances, that without English they cannot get government service. Girls are taught English as a passport to marriage.’
A hundred years later, the language continues to be seen as a tool of exclusion. The problem now is about inequality of access. ‘To be denied English is harmful to the individual as well as our society,’ writes Chetan Bhagat, self-appointed leader of a class war set off by unequal access to English.
Bhagat, an engineer-turned-investment banker, wrote his first college romance in English in 2004. Then only a certain kind of person—someone who grew up reading, writing and speaking the language—wrote books in English—big words, long sentences, literary pretension, heavy with orientalism. In the ten years since Bhagat put the popular in ‘popular’ English fiction, he has written six other novels and sold millions of copies all told. With every new book, all written in deliberately simple English, Bhagat has recruited thousands of new soldiers in his crusade against what he calls the ‘caste system around the language’.
Bhagat even has a term for Indians who ‘have’ English: E1. ‘These people had parents who spoke English, had access to good English-medium schools—typically in big cities, and gained early proficiency, which enabled them to consume English products such as newspapers, books and films. English is so instinctive to them that even some of their thought patterns are in English. These people are much in demand.’
The people E1 presumably control, through a nexus of privilege built on ownership of English, are E2: ‘probably ten times the E1s. They are technically familiar with the language. [But] if they sit in an interview conducted by E1s, they will come across as incompetent, even though they may be equally intelligent, creative or hard-working.’
The situation may not be so comically stark. The haves and have-nots may not exactly fit into Bhagat’s stereotypes of urban, sophisticated rich people and provincial, unworldly poor. His argument does not factor in many other walls around English in India. You are more likely to learn English if you are born a man rather than a woman, high caste rather than low caste, south Indian rather than north Indian. There is more than one kind of E1 and more than one kind of E2. And there is more than one way E2s can overthrow E1s. The joke is to speak it like they do.
[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from: English and Class in India]
Who among the following would defy Chetan Bhagat’s neat categorisation of Indian English-speakers into E1 and E2?
Correct Answer :
Both (A) and (B)
Solution :
The correct answer is Both (A) and (B).
Step-by-Step Explanation:
1. Understanding Chetan Bhagat's Categorisation (E1 vs. E2):
According to the passage, Chetan Bhagat divides Indian English-speakers into two rigid categories:
• E1: Individuals who had parents who spoke English, attended good English-medium schools in big cities, gained early proficiency, and naturally navigate English-speaking environments without issue.
• E2: Individuals who are technically familiar with English but lack early privilege/proficiency, causing them to come across as incompetent or fumbling in interviews conducted by E1s.
2. Analyzing Option (A):
Savitha: English-medium, upper-middle class; fumbles in interviews due to nervousness.
• By Bhagat’s classification, being from an English-medium background and upper-middle class automatically places someone in E1, where they are expected to effortlessly excel in interviews.
• However, Savitha fumbles in interviews purely due to nervousness, not a lack of English fluency or privilege. This defies the simplistic assumption that E1s will seamlessly succeed while E2s are the only ones who fumble.
3. Analyzing Option (B):
Moin: Milkman’s background; learns English at 17; becomes a spoken-English instructor.
• By Bhagat’s classification, someone from a humble background (a milkman’s child) who learns English later in life (at age 17) would fall into E2 and remain at a disadvantage under E1 control.
• However, Moin goes on to master the language so well that he becomes a spoken-English instructor. This defies Bhagat's rigid boundary that non-privileged learners remain trapped as incompetent E2s.
Conclusion:
Since both Savitha (A) and Moin (B) present real-world counter-examples that challenge Bhagat’s binary E1/E2 stereotypes, Both (A) and (B) defy his neat categorisation.
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