Accents

On my first day back in India, a friend remarked that I had a slight accent, which evoked mixed reactions in me. As much as I want to, I can't disown the hint of pride I felt at being foreign-returned and noticeably so. At the same time, I recoil with disdain at people who flaunt their accents as a marker of their perceived superiority.  Many people from a certain part of Mumbai speak with an accent which can best be described as hoity-toity. I have always maintained that it doesn't really matter how little time you've spent abroad--if you want to get an accent, you do. It bothers me that Indians, particularly from my class, put on an exaggerated accent especially while talking to Brits, whom we consider more polished than Americans. I was watching a video of an Indian comedian performing in Britain who was speaking with a strong accent. I checked some of his other videos on youtube, and sure enough, he had a different accent when performing in India.

But, maybe our accents change slightly without us knowing depending  on our audience. On a US trip five years ago, I noticed my friends from India spoke English with an Indian accent with me but effortlessly switched to an American accent when speaking with Americans. After all, when we talk we are mostly talking to someone, so its natural for our tone, inflection and even accent to change depending on the audience. How we speak says a lot about us but it is easy to slide into a mode of judgement, which we need to be watchful for.