Sahitya Akademi

Ezekiel's "Miss Pushpa T.S." and Her Friends

Author(s): C.J. George
Source: Indian Literature, Vol. 54, No. 1 (255) (January/February 2010), pp. 230-239
Published by: Sahitya Akademi
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LITERARYCRITICISM

Ezekiel's "Miss Pushpa T.S." and Her Friends

CJ.

George

Goodbye Partyfor Miss Pushpa T.S. is a laughter-provoking

poem in which
Ezekiel makes a hilarious mimicry of the type of English proudly spoken
by the ill-educated or half-educated Indians.
The process of producing English-knowing
bilinguals in India began
with the Minute of 1835, which officially endorsed T.B. Macaulay's
goal
of forming "a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions
whom

we govern...."
In India only about 3% of the population
can
standard
but
are
considered
to
or
somewhat
they
speak
good English,
be the cream of the nation who guide the country's economic, industrial,
professional, political and social life. Because
a new power base and a new elitism.

of this, English has acquired

Ability to speak in English gives certain social superiority. Fluent

English and good accent convey status faster than titles, names and bank
accounts.

So, it is used by many upperclass

Indians

to show

off their

status.

In India, everyone loves to speak in English. Even those who can't

afford to send their children to standard English-medium
private schools,
muster all resources to get admission for their children in such schools,
as they are eager to hear their children speak in English. What about
our politicians? The hypocrites among them who loudly speak against
schools, quietly send their children to the best possible
English-medium
schools in the finest hill-stations as they are fully aware
English-medium
of the indispensable
role played by English for progress. These wily
politicians who wish a political career for their children know well that
the English-speaking young M.Ps who are often shown on television, shine
better than the others and so they make sure of giving an excellent English
medium education to their children too. The uneducated coolies and cabbies
and autorickshaw

drivers too try to speak some English to impress their

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of tourist departments even

undergo crash-courses in English to outwit others. To climb up the rungs
of social ladder, the semi-educated Indians often try to speak the Englishman's
customers.

Some of them with the assistance

language. Their desire to speak in full English sentences and their inability
to do so make them to speak, mixing vernacular words and English, resulting

in Bombay Bazaar English, Hinglish (Hindi + English), Bonglish

(Bengali+English), Kanglish (Kannada+English), Telgish (Telugu+
English),Tanglish(Tamil+EngUsh)andMinglish(Marathi+English).These

terminologies based on the regional variation in contemporary usage are

often referred to in a humorous way, but they also have an element of
ridicule, with each region or stratum of society having fun at the expense
of others.
India has had a longer exposure to English than any other country
which uses it as a second language. The form of English that is taught
in the schools and colleges in India is essentially British English, thanks
primarily to the historical or cultural links with Britain. For those seeking
a superior accent, it is desirable to emulate the brand of English that
is linguistically known as Received Pronunciation
or more commonly,
Television
desi English

English. Formal British English is preferred over the layman's

in educated circles and higher Indian writing. Middle and

upperclass Indians, especially those with greater and wider exposure to

the West through books, television, movies and travel, tend to speak
grammatically standard English. What is characterized as Indian English
or desi English

is not considered

related institutions

"correct usage" by either government

as
offices
and schools) or educated Indians who
(such

prize "proper" English.

Indians speak numerous languages and each of these languages has
its own grammar. So, the Indians who lack proper knowledge of English,
like our Pushpa T.S and her friends, often speak English as a translation
of their own mother tongue, using the grammatical rules of that language.
The grammar disorders, the un-English use of words and phrases (mainly
due to the influence of their mother tongue) and other characteristics
of their English are called Indianisms. Some examples
(or, incorrect Indian English) are given below:
1.
2.

3.

of the Indianisms

Use

of progressive tense in stative verbs as in, "He is loving

you", instead of, "He loves you."
Making differences in noun number and determiners as in, "She
performs many charities", instead of, "She gives away a lot in
charity."
Use of a preposition when it is not needed, as in, "Let us discuss
about this", instead of, "Let us discuss this."
C.J. George / 231

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4.

Incorrect

tag questions as in, "They did it, no?/ He is here,

isn't it?/ She closed the door, did she?" instead of, "They did
it, didn't they?/ He is here, isn't he?/ She closed the door, didn't
she?"

5.

Violating laws of English word order as in,

1. "Give me a fresh basket of eggs", instead
a basket of fresh eggs."

of, "Give

me

2.

6.

"My all friends are waiting", instead of, "All my friends

are waiting."
Incorrect answer to question content as in, "Didn't you take
Preeti to School?" "Yes, I didn't", instead of, "No, I didn't."

7.

Inappropriate
usage as in, "I only told her to do that", instead
of, "I told her to do that."

8.

A craze to use rhyming double words as in, "Let's go out for

some ice-cream-vice-cream",
Or, "Let's have some chai-vai."

9.

Overuse

of actually/obviously
I generallyI seriously
I honestly
Ifrankly etc.,
as in, "Seriously, she is a good person", instead of, "She is a

good person."
10. Use of "good" when it is not needed as in, "What is your
good name?" instead of, "What is your name?"
11. Use of "hardly" instead of "hard" as in, "He is a hardly working
man."
12. Use

of 'this side' and 'that side' instead

of 'here'

and 'there'

as in, "Bring it this side." "We went that side."

13. Literal translation from one's mother tongue as in
1. "Every people know this", instead of, "Everyone knows this."
2. "We

all did not go", instead of, "None

of us went."
of names that are generally used in the singular

14. Pluralisation

as, poetry, advice, abuse, furniture, scenery,information,etc.

Examples: 1. What informations could he give? (Incorrect) What
form;

he give? (correct)
2. The sceneries around Bolghatty island are charming. (Incorrect)
The scenery around Bolghatty island is charming, (correct)
15. Making a verb to agree in Number and Person with a noun
information

could

near it, instead of with its own subject:

The quality of these apples are good.
Example:
The quality of these apples is good, (correct)

(Incorrect)

if he
16. Using "supposing"
and "if" together as in, "Supposing
violates the rules, what will you do?" instead of, "Supposing
he violates the rules, what will you do?" Or, "If he violates
the rules, what will you do?"
232

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17. Using "please" and "kindly" together as in,

"Please kindly do it for me", instead of, "Please
Or, "Kindly do it for me."

do it for me",

and "think" together as in, "In my opinion,

18. Using "opinion"
I think it is wrong", instead of, "In my opinion, it is wrong."
19. Using "indeed" with truly/really,etc. as in, "He was really sorry
indeed", instead of, "He was really sorry."
20. Use of double conjunctions
as in, "Through she is short, still/
but/yet she is beautiful", instead of, "Though she is short, she
is beautiful."
Note:

Many Indian languages

in English.

21. Use

of "as"

after verbs

She was named

Example:
She was named
22. Use

of "can

use double

conjunctions,

but not

like elect, appoint, think, call, name:

as Mary. (Incorrect)

Mary. (Correct)
able" as in, "I can able to sing", instead

of, "I

can sing."
23. Use of "throw

it", instead of, "throw it out".

24. Use of "to" (in active voice sentences) to form infinities after
the verbs: make, let, need, dare, bid, see, hear, observe,watch, know,
feel, smell, taste, please, etc.
1. He made me to sing a song. (Incorrect)
Examples:
He

made me sing a song. (Correct)

2. I will not let you to go. (Incorrect)
I will not let you go. (Correct)
25. Use of the word

"since" instead of "for" in conjunction

with
of
as
"I
have
been
since
four
in,
time,
periods
working
years",
instead of, "I have been working for four years."
26. Indianising English conversations by the frequent use of words
like: achcha = good; array = hey; bahut = a lot; bus = that's it;
ek = one; nahi = no problem; ho gaya = done, finished; kya
hall had = How are you?;
lekin = but; muthlab = meaning;
=
teek hat
okay, and a number of abusive words.
27. Keeping
the main clause in the past tense and using the
subordinate clause in the present or future tense, as in, "Ram
informed Radha that she cannot help him", Or "Radha informed
Ram that she will not help him", instead of, "Radha informed
Ram that she could not help him", Or, "Radha informed Ram
that she would not help him."
28. Coinage
of un-English lexical collocations
fellow" and "student-unrest-fellow".

such

as "goonda

C.J. George / 233

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29. Redundant

constructions

like "total teetotaller" and "completely

total".
30. The

use of "gentleman",
"cousin brother", "cousin sister",
uncle" etc., instead of the proper English usage of
"man", "cousin", "uncle", etc. as in, "He is a tall gentleman"
Or, "He is my cousin brother."
"maternal

Notes:

1. In English,
as in, "He

is used to refer to a man's

'gentleman'
is a real gentleman"
or "He is not a

character

gentleman."
2. The English language uses much more loosely terms expressing
relationship than the Indian languages. 'Aunt' means the sister
of either father or mother. 'Uncle'
means brother of either
father or mother. 'Cousin' means any child of any aunt or uncle.
31. Use of superlative degree without the definite article as in, "Time
is best healer" instead of, "Time is the best healer."
32. Omission
"He

of indefinite article as in, "He

is M.A.",

instead of,

is an M.A."

33. Failure

to use the past perfect tense when the time of one

tense
verb is more past than that of another as in, "He
past
said that he saw him last year", instead of, "He said that he
had seen him last year."

34. Use

of "open" and "close" instead of switch on/switch off/turn

instead of, "Turn
on/turn off,as in "Open the air conditioner",
on the air conditioner",
and "Open your shirt" for "Take off

your shirt."
35. Using "Off the TV/lights/computer
the TV/lights/computer
etc."
36. Use

of "frontside"/

"backside"

etc." to say, "Turn

instead

of the conventional

and the use of, "family members"

of the family."

"front"/ "back"
"members

off

instead of,

in the pronunciation
of several phonemes affected
the
by
regional languages:
1. Pronouncing
'same' as 'shame' or 'Arunachal'
as
Examples:

37. Variations

'Urunachal'
by many Bengalis.
2. Pronouncing
'shell' as 'sell' and
Bhojpuri speaking people.
3. Pronouncing 'school' as 'sikool'/
by many Biharis.
38. Giving distinct double

sounds

'shop'
'iskool'

to double

as 'soap'

by many

or, 'stand' as 'istand'

letters occurring

in

words like village, drilling, William, etc.

39. Pronouncing words like 'ringing', 'bringing' etc. adding the sound
/g/ after the sound /ang/.
234

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40. Clearly pronouncing

/r/ when it is not followed by a vowel
sound as in, forgive,pardon, warden, reservation,observation, carpet,
persist, world, poor boy, etc.
Note: In Received Pronunciation

(RP), /r/ occurs only before

a vowel.
of numerous
words that are read
pronunciation
from
the
are
written, such as, vehicles,venue,
differently
way they

41. Incorrect

vicious, resume, recipe, debut, debt, depot, rabbi, mag, cupboard, coup,
comfortable,compass, onion, oven, Oedipus, mirage, horizon, method,
shepherd,precis, phoenix, phonetics, colonel, connoisseur,culinary, cuisine,
potato, tomato, vegetables, mediane, method, tortoise,foetus, bourgeois,
bouquet, cognac, champagne, wreath, wright, quay, bonhomie, debonair,
rapprochement,preface, surface, leopard,jeopardy, silhouette, rendezvous,
uxorious,

signature,

The

Indianisms

vice

uvula,

mentioned

viva

versa,

above

voce.

do not make

a comprehensive

list.
They are only a few examples that are easily recognizable.
Ezekiel's long years of social intercourse with the Marathi community
in Bombay and his close observation of the semi-educated of them speaking
English, unconscious of the atrocious errors they make, must have inspired
him to write a few "Very Indian poems in Indian English" or rather
One among them is Goodbye Party for Miss
in, Babu Angreq (English).
T.S.
What
of
Pushpa
distinguishes this poem is the vivid reproduction
average

Indians'

of speaking

way

In it,

English.

Ezekiel parodies the craze for 'foreign' in modern

Westernized ladies and their typical way of using English.
It reflects

the

mental

full of affectations

of young
and
pretentions

vacuity

and

ladies

who
no

have

are

ideals

or ideas. It is a fine piece of satire in which irony is

used

not

so

to enlighten

much

to

us about

make

fun

an essential

of

or

stratum

mock

at,

but

of our society.

This is the ill-educated or half-educated Indian who

flaunts his little learning in English unabashedly and

dangerously.

Moreover,

the

need

to

communicate

in

English, however badly, is inherent in the Indian psyche.

In this poem Ezekiel describes the articulations of such
a person,

an epitome

of a certain

section

of our

society

(Kumar, 1997).
One can hardly miss the merry mimicry of Indian English in Goodbye
Partyfor Miss Pushpa T.S. This charming parody, a farewell speech for
a colleague, can make an educated Indian who values proper English
to giggle helplessly.

Miss Pushpa

and her colleagues

are unfortunately

less

C.J. George / 235

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fortunate people who could not get good English education. The ordinary
institutions where they studied have not helped them to pick up good
English with correct accent. But what is comical about Miss Pushpa and
her friends is their ignorance
They are ostentatious people
know

of the actual level of English they know.

"who know not and know not that they

not"

proudly.

of India.

and so they are proud of their English and belch it out

We very often come across such type of people in every part

The

begins with the lines:

poem

Friends,
our

dear

sister

is departing for foreign

in two

three

days,

and
we

are meeting

today

to wish her bon voyage.

Note

the title of the poem: Goodbye Partyfor Miss Pushpa T.S. There
is a tendency in India to put the initials after the first name, as "Miss
of the poem. The use of
'departing' and 'foreign' as nouns is frequently found in the language of
Indians speaking or writing English. The phrase 'in two three days' without
the conjunction
'or' is a literal translation of the vernacular expression.
The use of the present progressive ('we are meeting today') in line 6
Pushpa

T.S."

This

indianism

sets the tone

of the poem is rare. It should be, 'we meet today'. Many Indians love
of French, Latin or Greek at a get
to show off their little knowledge
together or while giving a speech. The speaker's use of the French
expression bon voyage('Have a good journey') at the beginning
at the close of his speech is borne out of that tendency.
The rest of the poem goes as follows:
You are all knowing, friends,
what sweetness is in Miss Pushpa
I don't

mean

but internal

only

external

sweetness

10

sweetness.

Miss Pushpa is smiling and smiling

even

for

no

reason

but simply because she is feeling.

236

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and also

15

Miss Pushpa is coming

from very high family.
Her

father

was

renowned

in Bulsar

or

I am

remembering

not

advocate

Surat,
now

which

place.

20

Surat? Ah, yes,

once

only

I stayed

in Surat

with family members

of my uncle's very old friend
his wife was cooking nicely
that

was

long

time

25

ago.

Coming back to Miss Pushpa

she is most popular lady
with

men

also

and

ladies

also.

Whenever I asked her to do anything,

she was saying, 'Just now only
I will do it.' This is showing
good spirit. I am always
appreciating the good spirit.
Pushpa Miss is never saying no.
Whatever I or anybody is asking
she is always saying yes,
and today she is going
to

improve

her

afterwards

35

prospects

and we are wishing her bon voyage.

Now I ask other speakers to speak
and

30

Miss

40

Pushpa

will do the summing up.

In this remarkable

poem of wit and humour arising from the

of
Indian
syntactical
English, Ezekiel has also introduced some
He has abandoned
technical innovations.
the use of capitals at the start
oddities

of each line. The poem is written in verslibreor free verse and its colloquial
language suits to its humour.
"There

are a number

of verbs

(in English) that are usually not

They include verbs of perception such
of appearance
verbs
such as, appear, look,
as, see, hear, smell, notice,recognise-,,
seem; verbs of emotion such as, want, wish, desire,feel, like, love, hate, hope,

used in the present continuous.

refuse,prefer, verbs of thinking

such as think, suppose, believe,agree, consider,

trust, remember,forget, know, understand, imagine, means, mind; and verbs of

own, belongsto, consistsof" (George, 2004).
possession such as have (=possess),
Since this restriction does not occur in Indian languages, the Indians whose
/

C.J. George / 237

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English is influenced by their mother tongue, miss the rule. This Indianism
is elegantly exposed through the expressions, "are all knowing", "is feeling",
"is coming", "am not remembering", "is showing", "am... appreciating"
and "are wishing" occurring in lines 8, 14, 15, 19, 31, 33, and 39 of
the poem.
It is a habit of many Indians to repeat words in order to give
emphasis or to indicate the intensity of feeling. This peculiar feature
of Indian English is illustrated by saying, "Miss Pushpa is smiling and

smiling..."
The words, "from very high family" and "Her father was renowned
advocate"
occurring in lines 16 and 17 of the poem ignore the need
of the indefinite

article, 'a'. Similarly, in line 27 of the poem, "most"

(which here means 'very') modifies the adjective "popular" and so, it should
be preceeded by the indefinite article 'a'. The poet through these lines
make a mimicry of the way many Indians speak English without the proper
use of the articles.
Desultory discussions and illogical arguments are common in India
as elsewhere. Very often speeches are made without any previous prepa
ration. As points for their speech are not prepared in advance, they often
egocentric digressions from the main stream of thought. This
rambling style associated with the ordinary Indians' way of speaking is
finely illustrated from lines 20 to 25 of the poem: "Surat? ...that was
make

long time ago."

An Indianism that is often heard in social gatherings is the expression,
"family members", which is used in line 22 of the poem. Another common
is the inappropriate
use of the past progressive in place of
the simple past to denote a habitual action in the past as given in the
line, "his wife was cooking nicely".
Indianism

of grammar and syntax have also been

parodied. In "that was long time ago", "time" is entirely superfluous and
in, "with men also and ladies also", one "also" is superfluous. They are
literal translations of vernacular expressions unacceptable in conventional
Other

Indian

features

English. Please note that "men" should go with "women" and not "ladies".
that "lady" is a more dignified word than "woman"
The consideration
makes many Indians use it even where "woman" is the right word. What
we read in lines 30 to 31 of the poem, "Just now only I will do it"
is also a literal translation of a vernacular expression. It is also an example
of the imposition
of the vernacular word-order on English.
in India, we hear school children calling their teacher,
"Preethy Miss", "Prema Miss", "Lily Miss" etc. Inversion

Everywhere

"Mary Miss",
of title and name is a common
238

Indianism

and this is humorously

/ Indian Literature: 255

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brought

to the notice of the reader in line 34 of the poem

Miss is never saying no."

which

says, "Pushpa

the end of the poem, the speaker asks "other speakers

to speak" and he adds that "afterwards Miss Pushpa will do the summing
up". Of course, what is expected from Miss Pushpa T.S. is to express
Towards

her gratitude to the speaker and her other friends. She has nothing to
"sum up" and so, "the summing up" in the last line of the poem looks
inappropriate.
Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T.S is a clever little poem in which
renders with pitch-perfect accuracy the way English is spoken by
many people in India. The poem is written with malice towards none
and so, it does not display any dislike of, or ill-will towards the Indians
Ezekiel

who speak wrong English; it merely points out the kind of errors they
commit and in this way, the well-versed English poet presents the funny
aspeas of the desi English and helps us to have a hearty laugh. The overall
comic

effect produced by the poem is remarkable and at the end of the

speech, we are told that Miss Pushpa is going "to foreign" to improve
her prospects and of course, to improve her bazaar English too. The
poet's sagacious presentation of the poem with the right balance of satire,
wit and humour makes it funny, while robbing it of its sting. It could
have been something very offensive, but in Ezekiel's
subtle hands it is
genial and charming. Certainly, it is a nice little lesson in Indian English
delivered with a smile and a wink of the eye.

C.J. George / 239

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