A couple of weeks ago, I was watching a TV show in which a well-heeled second-generation South Asian immigrant woman addressed a working-class woman in Hindi/urdu when they met for the first time. The working-class woman replied in jerky English. It struck me that I have had the same experience with some South Asian shopkeepers when I addressed them in Hindi. Did they feel I was patronizing them by speaking in Hindi because they weren't fluent in English? It is possible. Now, I don't initiate a conversation in Hindi unless the opposite seems friendly, and open to replying in Hindi. Class relations and class resentments change their form when the context changes. For instance, I have noticed that working-class Indians treat well-heeled Indians with less deference when there are white people also present. Is that because the presence of white people gives them a chance to air their class resentment? "i might have to defer to you in everyday life, but if there is someone higher than you, I can treat you with the contempt that you show me, give you a taste of your own medicine". Fair play to them if they do.
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