Currently over here in India almost everyone would admit with remarkable conviction that money is everything. Other finer things like honesty, honourable dealings etc. have no place here and are more or less ineffective and defeatist. It is like the time when Robert Clive came to India. The English behavioural features of honesty, fairness, honourable ways and manners, and the propensity for using such words as thank you, sorry, I beg your pardon, excuse me, and also the use of such greetings as Good Morning etc. (which was used without any link to social positions) were seen as quite idiotic, ineffective and effeminate. It only invited disdain and scorn, and more or less led to a very shabby treatment meted to British traders in that area.
Till a few years back, caste could more or less enforce certain routes of honesty, good manners and etiquette etc. I mean, people were indoctrinated to show respect, honesty and fair dealing, and be respectful to those from the higher castes, and more or less show callousness to those from the lower castes. Now traditional castes have broken down, even though all the feudal elements that belonged to and also more or less designed the caste system still remain, in a more powerful form. The role of caste has been taken over by money and governmental positions.
All these things are encoded in the local languages.
To bring in a bit more clarity to the concept, let me relate. If one goes through the land registration documents of north Malabar in Kerala (South India), some 4/5 decades back, a very visible feature is there. The lower castes were the Thiyyas (a sort of middle level caste). The higher castes were the Brahmins and the Varmas. Lower to them, as their serving class was the Nairs. Thiyyas came under the Nairs. If one goes through a land registration document in any interior village in North Malabar of say 1960 or so, between a thiyya and a higher caste person or with a nair, the manner of address is like this. The thiyya would be addressed as a Nee, and the higher caste man would be addressed with a NIngal. This would be done without taking into consideration the relative age difference between the persons involved and also without reference to their relative financial status.
Even though, traditionally thiyyas were the labourer caste, during the British rule, a small section of them had advanced through the social quagmire by learning English from certain educational institutions that came up during English rule. During the British rule itself, the thiyyas were able to advance financially due to the atrophying of the political power of the higher castes. However, this was an experience that did not take place in the places that come under modern day South Kerala. For South Kerala did not experience British rule, and were more or less under their natives kings till the formation of India in 1947. {It may even be said here in passing, that the celebration of Indian Independence in South Kerala has no connection with history, and is just a figment of imagination that is being celebrated}.
Slowly the power of traditional castes went down and now, it is money that controls the language, its words and usages. It is money that decides whether a man should be addressed with a Nee, Ningal or even modern Sar.
{Malayalam Sar is a very funny Sar. There is another Indian creation Maadam or Medam. Both Sar and Medam are different from Sir and Madam as used in English, for both in Malayalam signifies a social position. They also mean the elevated forms of the words He, She, His, Her etc. However, usage of Madam as a social position in English is not possible, as Madam as a social position in English is usually understood to mean Brothel Matron or even a prostitute. I have usually refrained from using the word Madam as a social position for any woman, for referring to her as a Madam springs up in my mind the feeling that the woman concerned is a slut.}
Now coming back to the subject matter, words have tremendous power. Everyone in India knows that. Only the simpletons over there in England dont know it. Otherwise, would they have allowed the immensities of unknown languages to swarm their nation? Most of the lower level words can really despoil a person. That is the real reason that the colonial British officials over here in India kept away from mixing with the Indians. A young British girl or a British boy, if allowed to mingle with the Kerala crowd of those times, would easily have gone down to the levels of Aval and Aval. It can create grievous personality problem in the individual involved. {It may be noted in passing that many of the British officials, including collectors, and army officials like Major etc. during the early part of the East India rule period were British boys of around 17 year and around).
In India, people are afraid of lower class persons, if they do not show proper respect in words. If they do not concede such respect, they are treated with deliberate insult to extract the respect in words. All government officials do this, until the person who has come to the government office start using very respectful words. Each word can position a person in a particular level in society and he or she is forced to twist and crumple his or her physical and mental personality to befit that social level. If he or she is not willing to do that, he or she is labelled as an impertinent person, and everyone lends a hand to socially destroy that person. If a native English reader thinks that he or she can understand what is being said here, well, let me tell him or her that it is only a feeling which is not true. For the grip that Indian languages have over another person is not understandable in English.
When a wrong person uses a wrong word about another person, actually that person is being shifted from a particular setting to a gutter like setting. This really happens and is not an imagination. When that happen, people get angry and fights break out. When it happens in India, it will be identified as Caste conflict, goondayism, indiscipline, rowdism, and such things. What is to be noted here is that the feelings here is just what has been seen as racism over there in English nations. The fear of the lower guys!
Over there in English nations, when an English youngster or a person working in some physical labour class, gets violent, it is misinterpreted as racism. Moreover, such reactions can have domino effect and persons working in such labour as lorry driving, construction labour, cleaning etc. can start behaving with some violent inclinations for no obvious reasons. They would have encountered the un-understandable, yet powerful shifting of their inner settings, at some place, and the reactions may take time to set in.
The reasons are there, but it is like a virus that has entered the computer. The computer starts malfunctioning, but no physical reasons are see-able.
Actually, in usual situations, one gets a feeling of inferiority complex when overwhelmed by a superior person, a huge physical size, a fantastic mental calibre etc. But in this case, it is not a superior being that distresses, but a lower guy, a mediocre, a midget and such. I am simply using these words to emphasis the emotions. When a lower guy uses a lower words, a superior guy more or less gets nervous, has an attack of panic attack, feels despoiled, and much else. Can English do the same thing? No.
If any one tells me that it is possible in English also, it is nonsense and not true. I know English much, and also certain Indian vernaculars. English is the exact opposite of Indian vernaculars. English promotes human individuality, while Indian vernaculars despoil it.
Now, in India, everyone wants to make money. It is the sure and easiest route to get the superior words attached to oneself. One cant blame anyone for it. For, if one gets attached with the lower words, it is a very dirty existence. By hook or crook, make money, and get the right words. Enjoy. And crush all others who are striving to survive in this mess, with the lower words.
To be employed under an Indian is a sure means to despoil oneself or to despoil others. For, many gain satiation by being under highly placed Indians. From this position, they enjoy the respect others are forced to lend them and the right they gain to use lower words on others and also about others. It is a typical Gandhian technique. But then Gandhi did not invent this technique. He only made use of it.
What is the message here for the Indians? Well, understand the virus like thing the lies powerfully embedded in Indian languages. It creates all the problems over here. Learn good English. Do not believe anyone who tells that there is no need to learn English.
What is the message here for the English nations? Well, be wary of all outsiders who come from feudal language nations. If they are inside your nations, ban the use of feudal languages inside English nations. For what is being activated is powerful viruses, that can atrophy the soft English social systems. If outsiders from feudal nations are not inclined to switch off their virus programs, then remove them from English nations. It is a war time situation. Current English laws are not capable of dealing with this issue. For it is an issue that belong to creepy, non-tangible areas of human existence.
Most of the barbarian incidences that has taken place in India, and still takes place can be traced to the barbarianism in the Indian languages. Even the Jallianwala Incident can be explained with this. Actually everyday, an immensity of Jallianwalas are happening all over India. May be many of them do not end up in bloodshed, but still, they all come precariously near.
