School Information System
Newsletter Sign Up |

Subscribe to this site via RSS: | Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas

April 8, 2008

In India, Dreams Unfold in English

Rama Lakshmi:

Life has never been better for Pankaj Srivastava, a tall, soft-voiced insurance manager. He surpassed his business targets and has been promoted twice. His company sends him to conferences all over India and is rewarding him with a three-day vacation in Dubai.

But the faster he rises, the more anxious he gets.

"I am in the big league now. But everybody at this level speaks English, and I don't," Srivastava said in a mix of Hindi and broken English. "I stay in hotels where even the waiters speak English. At the conferences, I stay quiet because I don't want them to laugh at my English."

So for the past week, he has been attending a conversational English class at an establishment here called Uma's English Academy.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at April 8, 2008 3:33 PM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas