For Learning English

For learning English, I do not want that my personal life should be as such That I like to keep it With my wife speaking Angika dialect Or Bhojpuri or Magadhi or Maithili With their own tonal effects And if live I in India, shall I fail in becoming an Englishman And if not a native speaker, Why can I not be a man With impeccable English, Pronouncing as a native speaker, King’s English. So, have I decided to leave India, the rural India Of villages and the countryside, The blunt bullock-cartmen and cowboys, Wrestlers, thugs, dacoits, Fatalists, astrologers and palmists, Tikkiwallas and tikkawallas, Those with the clamp of hair hanging from And those with the red paste on the forehead. Taking off the clothes as for crossing the waist deep waters Of the villagerly river As for to crossing it for the town, I want to ask my attendant to take them away, My dhoti, kurta, thin towel As for to get my clothes stitched, Englishman dresses. I shall get new clothes made With pants, shirt, goggles, wrist watch, handkerchief and belt As for going to England And becoming an Englishman, Trying to get at what they speak in, how do they pronounce, Their stress and accent, Rhythm and intonation. Even if I get a little bit of, I shall surely call myself A great professor of linguistics and phonetics Here in India On my return from foreign, At that time you will see me With the French-cut beards, a little bit on the chin.