Gurugramwale: English vinglish… together with friends

English is must to get a better job; high time to join one of those English-speaking learning institutes that line up the market road. These thoughts are distracting network engineer Bhavesh Mudgal as he checks a mobile phone service company’s router this sweltering afternoon in a Gurugram locality.

Having grown up in the small-town world of Kotputli in Rajasthan, Mr Mudgal, 22, says matter-of-factly that “nobody there speaks English... not my mummy-papa, not my brothers, not my school teachers... not the postman, not the mithai walla.... not a single person talks in English.”

The lad clarifies that he understands the language but isn’t fluent. It was after arriving in the Millennium City last year to take up his career’s first job that he realised its professional necessity.

Hesitatingly switching to English, he says, speaking slowly and carefully, “Hindi is my mother tongue so I worship it, but I prefer English. I’m trying to get a job in a MNC in which one would have to talk to clients from outside countries. So English will help. It will make my profile look better.”

Wading deeper into his aspirations, Mr Mudgal confides, “If opportunity permits, I will like to work abroad as a network engineer.”

But of course, he concedes, he is young and his ambitions may alter in the months to come.

Meanwhile, switching back to Hindi, he mentions a friend who said that “if I want to improve my English, I must get Netflix and watch a series called Friends.”