In my defence..........

.......It happens the world over- southerners speak differently! In the one year that I have been in the Great Indian Melting Pot, Mumbai, I have endured excruciating analyses of my accent when I speak Hindi by well-meaning friends, casually curious strangers and certain chauvnistic compatriots. There have been several theories about the accent that mine resembles the most- the venerated Sonia accent, the distinct Rajni accent( this would be my personal favourite if I had to vote) or the angrezi accent of Lagaan fame.....and the list , to my exasperation, is growing! I have tried real hard to speak Hindi 'normally'- but the accent just keeps coming back ! That set me thinking- maybe this is all due to some really powerful linguistic influence that south Indian languages have on their speakers. But then I remembered the classes I had while learning French where we were taught how the Southern accent is different from the popular Parisian accent. It was then that I realised- this is a global phenomenon- it happens everywhere- the US where SAE( Southern American English) is studied as a seperate dialect by linguists, it happens in Britain, Spain, Japan....! I say we ought to accept the South Indian accent just as a distinct southern accent has been accepted in all these other countries and let it stay that way- it has its own charm! (it really does!... and to those who do not buy that-you need perspective, meri aankhon se dekho zara!)