“English Hinglish” A Book by Mrs. Ritu Soni Bhagat published by Rupa Publications

“English Hinglish” A Book by Mrs. Ritu Soni Bhagat published by Rupa Publications

If there is a book that you want to read, but hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.—Toni Morrison

Words have always fascinated me and this book is a labour of love. I started writing as a hobby in my school days, and today I do it religiously, for my students as well as for myself. It’s a rare hobby and passion which gives me immense joy and I love spending time on it.

English Hinglish

The purpose of my writing is to educate students in an entertaining way. I think it helps students enhance their writing skills. I have always told my students to keep themselves abreast of the happenings around them in order to improve their writing style, vocabulary and language skills. The golden rule for scoring good marks in English is to dedicate an hour daily to newspaper reading. Developing language skills also helps us understand other subjects. This book is the best use of the concept of ‘Newspaper in Education’. My extensive experience of teaching in reputed schools and conducting English language workshops resulted in creating countless worksheets. And then came the idea of turning these worksheets into an interesting book.

“English Hinglish”, the magnum opus,is a compilation of interesting facts that are useful for all age groups and can be enjoyed by all. My book is an amazing collection of idioms, phrases, sayings and proverbs accumulated over a long period of time. In fact, it’s an all:in:one book. If there weren’t already a famous Shakespearean play by the same name, I would have named this book As You Like It as it is meant for everyone. English Hinglish is an engrossing motivational and life skills book with plenty of general knowledge thrown in for good measure.

Meticulous thinking has gone into selecting and compiling a list of idioms for this book. After a lot of brainstorming, I decided to take examples from one field: Bollywood. The reason behind the decision was to make this book appeal to today’s readers. The film industry defines the culture of our country to a very large extent, and people here try to emulate Bollywood stars. Hence, all the previous worksheets were kept aside and thus began a different journey: of creating something new. However, gossip does not find any place in my book: only relevant, meaningful content.

Films have the ability to bring about a change in our hearts and minds. That is the reason I have chosen the concept of Bollywood. All sorts of Bollywood news and titbits have been used productively here. Most of them are the actual idioms used in various situations, collected from various leading newspapers and other sources. Newspapers have been diligently scanned and then selected news has been turned into interesting stories.

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The concept of teaching English through the medium of India’s beloved Hindi film industry is original. A lot of creativity, arduous work, painstaking effort and vast research has resulted in this book. Moreover, I wish it to be read by all film and TV stars. These stars have educated and entertained us through Bollywood; now it’s my turn to entertain and educate them through their own medium. In fact, it has taken almost ten years to put this book together. The range of subjects and their presentation amounted to no less than doing a PhD on the subject. Believe me; it wasn’t easy!

My exclusive collection of words and phrases convey a profound message and values, and I have tried to make learning more meaningful by focusing on them. These words and phrases flow like a story.

We have all grown up reading idioms from Wren and Martin, which is considered to be the Bible for the learners of English language. We owe a lot of our learning of the English language to this classic. However, one drawback is that the examples used there are not relatable for millennials as they are all imaginary. When real examples from sports, politics or entertainment are used, learning becomes more absorbing and it keeps students abreast of current affairs.

Let me explain with an example. The idiom to lock horns means ‘to engage in conflict’. To quote from the Cambridge Dictionary: ‘The mayor and her deputy locked horns over plans for the new road.’ Then, a sentence from the Collins Dictionary reads: ‘During his six years in office, he often locked horns with lawmakers.’

Now let me explain this term with an example from Bollywood. 3 Idiots, one of the most relevant films of our times, revolves around the Indian education system. Aamir Khan, as the quirky Rancho/ Phunsukh, drives home the point that if one chases excellence, success is sure to follow. He locks horns with the ruthlessly competitive dean of his engineering college, Viru Sahastrabudhe, played by actor Boman Irani. I can imagine the reader’s eyes lighting up as they recall the fun and pranks in this hit film. This certainly can’t happen when the example is from Great Britain, of another age, another time, and in quite a different context. Similarly, there is nothing dull about the two chapters on grammar in this unconventional book. Heart:touching real:life stories have been combined with the reel world, which is a very novel idea.

‘The writer does not choose the genre, the genre chooses the writer,’ says author Shobha De. For my book, the genre and I have chosen each other.

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This book is a first in many ways as there are no dots to be connected and the examples used in this book are original. I hope it improves the reader’s vocabulary, creative writing skills, comprehension skills and imagination. Remember, ‘the man who has no imagination has no wings.’

Words, words and words – It’s a universal fact that students learn much better through illustrations and pictures. Initially, I wanted to make a book from my hands on worksheets about adjectives collected from Bollywood. For example, if Ebenezer Scrooge, the character from Charles Dickens’ novel The Christmas Carol, was described as ‘unscrupulous’ (not honest), they might remember the word unscrupulous for some time but may forget it later. However, if we relate the word to Ranveer Singh’s character, an unscrupulous cop in the movie Simbba, Indian students will not forget it.

Some other examples are:

The demure( modest) bhabhi Renuka Shahane in Hum Apke Hain Koun, Bhumi Pednekar as a feisty (bold) wife in Toilet Ek Prem Katha, an unpretentious (modest) Irfan Khan in Hindi Medium, Alia Bhatt as the demure (modest) Kashmiri girl in Raazi, the charismatic (charming) Shahrukh Khan in Zero, rampant (uncontrolled) prejudice in the movie Article15, gullible (easily persuaded to believe something) students of Why Cheat India, the affable(friendly) demeanour of Ayushman Khurana of Badhaai Ho etc.
However, the idea of these adjectives was discarded, and I began compiling a book of idioms.

I am happy that I have been able to give shape to my vision. It has shaped up in the way that is above and beyond what I had visualized. Today I can say with pride that it has become an awesome collection of idioms and proverbs used in the context of Bollywood.

Book Review by a Critic-

Brilliant is the right word for it. This is the right book for readers who read, write and speak English and want to improve on the language to give it a more colloquial touch. Ritu has painstakingly selected the proverbs and idioms. She begins each chapter with the idioms and explains their meaning and connotation. Then she makes sentences of the idioms and proverbs to explain their meaning further. Then as if that was not enough she merges fun and humour into these sentences and their learning by writing about Bollywood stars and Bollywood happenings incorporating these idioms. There is a liberal sprinkling of life quotes by the great philosophers and poets.

There are anecdotes and stories about her own experiences with her colleagues and friends. To further elucidate her points Ritu has used pictures of Hindi film stars to explain many idioms and proverbs. All in all this was a much this needed book which makes learning fun and hence so much easier to understand. Every student should have this book as a ready reckoner to read and to flip and search as and when the need arises. The language is simple and lucid, easy to understand written with an abundance of hilarity and reflections on life.

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I have been an English language teacher for almost two decades. And I can say with great deal of confidence that the book produced by Ritu was always missing. It has filled up a void. This book is a trail blazer. This book takes us down the memory lane when such books were like hidden treasures and how to write correct English left many students who studied English without any suitable guide. Well done Ritu. We expect many more from your repertoire.

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