Knowing proper English

Have you seen teh latest 'We are the black berry boys' ad friends? Pl do. Firstly they are trying to promote an uni-sex ad, where men first then half way through the song young gals sing "we are the Black berry boys." but now here i want to point out one major blunder.

Suddenly a fizzy haired bemruda wearing girl says, "V are the black berry boys." V because she bites her we instead of blwoing a kiss in the air. Now i just read Chetna Prakash's blog on Mayank Shekhar writing words, metaphors that are erroneous. Well i want to add to it, one is a writer & this is a very popular ad. Yet all promote english which is either written incorrectly or spoken with incorrect pronounciations.

Why, even leading news channels have well known faces or anchors making all sorts of error while speaking in English. And what is more glaring os the fact that English for these sorts has been their first language. it is a shame then. Simply because their primary work is to speak, write or make ads in their first language. That being English...i can defintiely forgive those for whom English has been a second, third or even last lang in their schools.

But when one learns & educates in a particular the basic expectation is that they stick to writing, speaking it correctly. it is simply horrifying for me to see this on a daily basis. That anchors who are now role models for young, lost, dim witted wanna-be journalists then one would at least think these anchors will speak english properly. But like most realities in India english speaking is one!

Now the fizzy haired girls bites dammit, really hard into her lip & sings, "We are the black berry....wc ACTUALLY comes across very very evidently as Ve are the...! lol! Imagine a young girl or boy watching this ad seriously they will believe that W is to be pronounced as V.

Now my dear old Ms Sethna, our English orals teacher will hit the ceiling if she has to witness any of this. imagine to her horror to see such major gaffes? I wonder what the video editor, online editors, the people present at the lcoation were doing when the ad was shot. hahaha...

worst of all....all of this goes unreported, is easily accepted & no one really seems to be seriously concerned? why is it that NO news editor, copy editor subs the copy of the reviewer/critic Shekhar? Why hasn't this ad been called back? Why aren't the anchors pulled up for their pronounciation blunders? They expect & demand great quality from others, but they don't necessarily match up to those standards.

Ride on Sea Link

I’ve always had one recurring dream, that I am flying…yes I have the immense sense of freedom & although I had to fight for it earlier or now simply get it, I feel the ultimate symbol of freedom is to fly literally…NOT fly a plane as pilot or fly in a plane as a passenger.

I envy birds & after seeing Iron man it gave me more & more the itch to fly. I thought with this sea link my one dream can be fulfilled, sadly it won’t! Recently I went on the Bandra –Worli sea link as I suggested to the editor our auto-journo should take a high-end car and take a test drive across the Mumbai’s new sea link. He first thought I wanted a free ride! I explained in my style I would be paying for the toll & going personally in a taxi don’t need free ride…rather nothing free…when I said it is for the Sunday edition his news sense surfaced!

Finally he alerted the auto journo, she gave me couple of names of cars which really didn’t sound worth the drive. Later she said the Audi showroom had agreed to send the new Q5 vehicle…now we were talking I felt. We left for Bandra in her car, she loves driving is an understatement…anyways, this was the very next day after the launch we were heading to the Sea link. I was quite excited to see how Mumbaikars have received the news of the new link.

We took a little while to get to the sea link, however not as exaggerated as many have stated. It was a village jatra –fair. Mood of festivities & we were the cynosure of all people. Imagine where people have hired cars, taxis, brought out their Hondas, here we went in the Audi Q5 with the hood open & windows all rolled down!

The way people showed us their appreciation was not out of any jealousy, but a positive envy admiring a grand vehicle on a grander sea link…it was amazing, I’d never have imagined. One young exec rolled down the glass of his window and said, “This car’s worth it all,” he clapped his hands. While yet another old uncle, actually must be a grandfather rolled down his window and waved at us.

We had quite a few attractions one being the vehicle itself. Then the fact that my lady colleague was at the wheel was a bigger attraction. I too stood up and looked out of the roof. It was thrilling, my closest to flying, really speaking. I mean if we minus the plane journeys which don’t give you the flying feeling, no way man.

The people’s encouragement and appreciation actually changed this test drive story totally. From an ordinary auto story I am sure it has become a mood piece, it should. Considering this IS the spirit of Mumbai city. The fact that someone else’s luxury is not seen in an evil way. It was admiration in a positive way. I definitely think this positive

I also admire the way the taxi drivers after their gruelling day took their family to enjoy the sea link. Even the otherwise most average middle-class Mumbaikar who is caught in their daily struggle went out of their way to enjoy the ride. Yes, the reason being the Congress politicians got their demand to remove the toll tax for first three days. It is a political decision, so is the inauguration which was rushed, so what. We have had worse political decisions being taken regarding the slums.