Revisiting the Contours of English in the Indian Context in Poile Sengupta’s Keats was a Tuber

Abstract

Macaulay’s name needs no introduction whenever English in India is considered in its historical perspective. Much discourse has been generated on Macaulay’s famous Minute of 1835 representing the position of power of the English language. His intention in making English the medium of instruction in Indian institutions stand almost in contrast with what it actually turned out to be. Macaulay, with the available resources, intended to “form a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect”. He wanted this class to act and work as interpreters between the British and the millions of Indian masses they governed. Time witnessed occasional debates revolving around the merits and demerits of Macaulay’s intentions and assertions. Here, it is pertinent to quote Edward Said, who in his work, The World, the Text and The Critic says,