SHARED THOTS - 21.02.14.
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“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it.” ― Albert Einstein
In the book, “Once Upon a Wall Street”, Peter Lynch, one of the most successful mutual fund managers the Wall Street has ever seen, narrates a story:
“Consider the Indians of Manhattan, who in 1625 sold all their real estate to a group of immigrants for $24 in trinkets and beads.
For 362 years the Indians have been the subjects of cruel jokes because of it, but it turns out that they may have made a better deal than the buyers who got the island.
At 8% interest on $24 (note: let’s suspend our disbelief and assume they converted the trinkets to cash) compounded over all those years, the Indians would have built up a net worth just short $30 trillion, while the latest tax records from the Borough of Manhattan show the real estate to be worth only $28.1 billion.
Give Manhattan the benefit of doubt: That $28.1 billion is the assessed value, and for all anybody knows, it may be worth twice that on the open market. So Manhattan’s worth $56.2 billion. Either way, the Indians could be ahead by $29 trillion and change.”
If only the native Americans had the financial tools to invest in and make use of this math.
Will the white immigrants ever revert Manhattan to its original settlers? Have the Indians ever lived long enough to see their folly and regret?
( thank you Vishy )
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Revert !? Regret !?
I see two words used in perfect context. We all come across these two words and more so, being used randomly, without a thought of its correctness to context.
What we often see is that in communication, it is important only to somehow convey the meaning across to the other side. In doing so, never mind, if it is the correct usage or whether the terms used are accepted as correct.
English came to India as one would describe the coming of an all powerful conquering force.. it came, it saw and it conquered. English is here to stay. It is the link language that is holding the fragile fabric of India together… Today, India has modified English to suit its own need to express however unique it may be… resulting in Indian English.
In ancient times, India had the Gurukula system of education in which anyone who wished to study went to a teacher's (Guru) house and requested to be taught. If accepted as a student by the guru, he would then stay at the guru's place and help in all activities at home. This not only created a strong tie between the teacher and the student, but also taught the student everything about running a house. The guru taught everything the child wanted to learn, from Sanskrit to the holy scriptures and from Mathematics to Metaphysics. The student stayed as long as she wished or until the guru felt that he had taught everything he could teach. All learning was closely linked to nature and to life, and not confined to memorizing some information.
The modern school system was brought to India, including the English language, originally by Lord Thomas Macaulay in the 1830s. The curriculum was confined to “modern” subjects such as science and mathematics, and subjects like metaphysics and philosophy were considered unnecessary. Teaching was confined to classrooms and the link with nature was broken, as also the close relationship between the teacher and the student.
Thomas MacAulay's infamous 'Minute On Indian Education' (1835) encapsulates both the overt and covert agendas for such a policy.
The passage to which the term refers is from his 'Minute on Indian Education' delivered in 1835.
“How, then, stands the case? We have to educate a people who cannot at present be educated by means of their mother-tongue. We must teach them some foreign language. …”
“It is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.”
The success of this 'Indian Education Policy' can perhaps be measured, by the content of a recent address of Dr Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister of India:
Of all the legacies of the Raj, none is more important than the English language and the modern school system. That is, of course, if you leave out cricket! Of course, people here may not recognise the language we speak, but let me assure you that it is English! In indigenising English, as so many people have done in so many nations across the world, we have made the language our own. Our choice of prepositions may not always be the Queen’s English; we might occasionally split the infinitive; and we may drop an article here and add an extra one there. I am sure everyone will agree, Nevertheless, that English has been enriched by Indian creativity as well and we have given you back… Today, English in India is seen as just another Indian language”. .. and that’s Indian English.
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Let’s look at few of the words, that are unique to Indian English.
Recently at an airline counter, the well dressed gentleman ahead of me, was requesting the clerk to “prepone” his ticket. During a pause, I politely drew his attention and pointed out that there is no word as “prepone”; his reaction shocked me. He said, whether that word is there or not, the clerk understood what he meant and that is enough.
Well said.
Prepone – this is a contribution by India to the White man’s language; This is exclusively Indian English. Meant to convey to advance or reschedule to an earlier time or date.
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We have heard many a time, being referred to “my brother in laws are expected” …. and so on.
Brother-in-laws – that there is no word as such, will not find many takers. Simply put, brothers-in-law, is the plural.
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Co-brother – Indians, particularly from the South, use the terms “co-brother” to refer one’s wife’s sister’s husband. Native speakers of English however, do not use these terms. Co-brother is a term used in Indian English alone.
Come on Co-brother… you are always a ‘brother in law’..in good English.
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“I Regret the delay to reply to your mail”…
“Regret the inconvenience caused”…
These are everyday instances found umpteen times in normal business correspondence. I always wonder, why would one want to feel so regretful, for a small delay to reply?? Or why such deep regret for some innocuous inconvenience caused, or perhaps no big trouble really…!!
Regret – is another word so loosely used for every act of omission or commission, whereas a simple “sorry” would be more than enough.
Regret is a heavy powerful word to mean - feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over (something that one has done or failed to do):
I immediately regretted my words…
I always regret that I did not continue my studies.
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There was this person with the name Sheikh … nothing to denote a royal lineage, but just a name that is quite common among the Muslims in the sub-continent. He constantly uses the term “please revert sir”… I had no clue what he meant by this request. Intrigued by this, I asked him to explain further. According to him, all humans – men & women – are born a Muslim. The parental fault of guiding the new born to a particular stream of faith is not the fault of the individual. Hence it is important for the individual at some stage to realize this misconception and “revert” to the original faith.
As in the word “Regret”, it is an everyday occurrence to see the word “revert” used so nonchalantly, whereas a simple “reply” would suffice.
“I will revert to you soon”…
“find our quotation… kindly revert ….”
Revert: as a verb - to return to a former habit, practice, belief, condition …
“they reverted to the ways of their forefathers…”
“Äfter all the AA treatment, he reverted to his old habits…”
Revert – as a noun – is referred to one who has converted to Islamic faith.
In legal parlance, Revert is to go back or return to the former owner or to the heirs.
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English is a funny language…. the complexities, paradoxes and nuance that are latent and waiting to be mastered make the study of this lingua-franca simply wonderful and beautiful.
More on English later, for now, have an enjoyable weekend.
(acknowledgements – Wikipedia, Dr.V.Sasi Kumar, Oxford Dictionary ).
MOHANDAS. KP.
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