English, as Indian as languages come

The fact that you're reading this column without realising you're proficient in a 'foreign' language should be evidence enough for the Supreme Court to conclude that English has become an 'indigenous' Indian language. That the same word - 'English' - pertains to the language, people of England, as well as anything connected to that British country may have confused sceptics. It shouldn't. Like any other import, this colonial one, too, has grown roots as one of the many languages at the disposal of India's voluble citizenry. English, as used in India in its many accents and forms, is a classic case of healthy appropriation. The fact that it is shared globally adds to, not subtracts from, its identity as a glocal Indian language.

Indian English - a regular option, like American English or British English, on any online drop-down language menu for a user to choose from - is a language of foreign origin that has been forged and shaped for our own communicative purposes. Apart from words singularly Indian like 'prepone', 'chargesheet' and 'godown', English has curried favour with all things 'India' and has gained it. 'Language Nazis' who believe angrezi to be exclusively a BBC bhasha or the language fit only for English people, are as anachronistic as those who still see it as 'colonial'.

Genius of English lies precisely in its 'impurity', and ability to thrive by linguistic theft. It has no canon (like French) and, therefore, isn't ossified. This promiscuity is its superpower, giving it its super reach. English in India is Indian by naturalisation. It has flourished here not because it was imposed from outside but because it was appropriated. Languages, like food, are not defined by where they come from, but by where they end up being consumed.