My English, Sir

My English is not British English Nor American English nor Australian English, Nor Rhodesian English nor Caribbean English, Nor Scottish English nor Welsh English, My English is Indian English Though there’s nothing like, It’s colonial, It’s official, A language of the school, the college, The police station and the court, Law and administration, Medical science and technology, Engineering and communication. My English is Indian English Though it’s a misnomer, There’s nothing like that, My English is alien English, Non-native, outlandish, Forced upon, Spontaneous not, Learnt laboriously, Taxing the brain, Straining the nerves Ad pressuring, Struggling to learn And learning to write. My English is pidgin-English, Indian pidgin-English Though settled her not And even if they, Mixed with, The colour and complexion turned black In the heat and dust of India Ruffling it all When the loo blows it in summer But the mangoes hanging by So sweet and delicious, The black berries, Jack fruits hanging onto. My English is Bengali English, Bihari English, My English is Odia English, Assamese English, My English is Tamil English, Telugu English, A South Indian speaking, Dravidic, Peculiarly Malyali, Malyali English, Kanadiga English, My English southerner. My English Punjabi English, Haryanvi English, My English from Marathwada, Marathi English, Gujarat English When speaks a Gujarati man, My English of a convent school In the strictest stress and sound-system Of the English, My English native and rural Taught under a tree Where the primary teacher too knows it not How to pronounce it? My English tribal English When the people from the northeast speak it, When the Santhali speaking use it, Tribal and aboriginal Appears it to be then, My English Ethnic and racial, Exotic and wild, Strange in pronunciation, Tribal English With the bows and arrows to shoot And the missionaries to convert them After learning Santhali and others. My English Rajasthani English, The Marwaris as business managers speaking, The people with the bulging bellies Having taken good food, Clarified butter, milk and fat, Depositing black money, Stocking goods at an unknown place Of hiding, Banking money, Misleading the income the income taxman And the assessor, My English Sindhi English Taking me to Sindh and Balochistan. My English Punjabi English Turbaned and matted With the pagadi, I mean Sardarji Speaking in English, Taking tandoori and tadaka At a dhaba, Robust and well-built Doing bhangra, Reminding of the teachings and the sacrifice Of the gurus, Settled in Australia and America For business purposes. My English Bihari English When I can overhear a loafer Speaking in English, A rustic from Bihar Speaking in rough and tough Bhojpuri, Seeing the Bai whore dance, Folksy and rural With the paan, Indian mouth freshener And spitting, Blunt and bluffing Taught Bihari English, Rural and rustic. My English is communicative English, A link-language, Connecting the South with the North Of India, A library-consulting one, Learnt in the library And the lingua lab, An international language, A lingua franca of the world, My English learnt and practiced And I wavering to speak in, Hesitating and failing, Peaking with a hitch, Finding not the exact terminology, Falling short of word-stock And the proper use of vocabulary.