My tryst with English

In an effort not to sound too unpatriotic, I confess my love for the English language. I pride myself in our country (India), it's rich heritage, the culture and its diversity! But I also love the languages it taught me which includes English - foreign by all means.

The English influence is predominant across the asian sub-continent owing to the British rule for nearly a century. One can navigate from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, with the help of friendly native Indians who willingly guide anyone with their broken English. Road signs, billboards, posters , menu cards, vehicle registration , application forms, etc are all in English.  Its ironical to even call it a foreign language anymore, its like a native tongue to most of the educated Indians.  

As for me, I grew up learning English in a little convent back home. Our proficient teachers effortlessly taught us to enjoy and appreciate the language.  Reading and learning new words was always a pleasure. Be it the lovely poems or our non detail class / grammar classes,  the language always intrigued me to learn more.I  loved all our grammar classes and thoroughly relished learning original Shakespeare plays (Very grateful to Mrs Juliana for making it so interesting)

The only flip side of mastering, living and dreaming in English was, I lost out on our very own rich literature. Not that I am proud of it, but I can barely read in my mother tongue nor speak without faltering in our national language. But when it comes to English, there are no hassles - its almost like second nature. My mom often contemplates the amazing rich Tamil literature I missed out reading because I can't read in my own mother tongue as much I can in a foreign language! 

On the other hand, staying afloat in this maddening competitive world, knowing English is only a value added asset! One should give due credit to the language, because of which I sit here in Silicon Valley writing this blog and living my dreams. But my love for the language is way beyond and I enjoy using it in everyday life to express myself , to quench my literary thirsts, to pen my thoughts and so much more. I know I could have survived without it,  but can only imagine how different life would have been!

P.S: Pardon me if this sounded anything like an analytical reasoning essay. Im still trying to overcome writer's block people.