The recent agitation against the predominance of English in the CSAT exam and how the format favours the English speaking background candidates has actually opened a tangential debate in my mind. Having lived the majority of my life in the major metros, having been educated in English medium Jesuit schools and having worked in an environment where English was par for course it is ironical how a person like me was responsible for communication which was aimed at masses who were most uncomfortable with English.

From my experience most of the agencies have an English work culture. Everything is in English. Even though the end product will be in Hindi or any other regional language the strategising, briefing, discussing of creative, presentation is in English. Truth be told in the late eighties and nineties many of the big names creative heads knew no other language other than English. So after a thought was developed in English, translators would be sought for. Few agencies had people who had the ability to think in Hindi too. Particularly in Mumbai almost every campaign was conceptualised in English.

And it was no different at the client's end too. After approving ideas, lines and ads in English, after the agency would have shown the options done by the translators the brand or marketing team would send over the translations to the regional offices for approval. In Mumbai, many a times even the Hindi translations were sent to Delhi or Lucknow offices!

Things improved in the nineties for two reasons. One was the advent of small town and hinterland talent into advertising and second was the migration of many clients from Mumbai or Kolkata to Delhi. Delhi being primarily Hindi speaking, the thinking process started happening in Hindi. Similarly some clients started insisting that separate regional campaigns happen out of agency offices in Chennai or Kolkata. And with the advent of talent into Delhi from proximate towns, non English communication ideas took route.

But the fact is that even today agency process, systems, discussions etc all happen in English. The most important part of the creative process which is the brief is an English document. We are trained to think in English.

I am not denouncing English. It is a universal language and it's importance cannot be underestimated. But India is a very diverse country. It has a rich culture of languages which cannot be sacrificed at the alter of English. We have to evolve a system which recognises and uses the richness of the other languages. After all if work for Horlicks, which is predominantly south and East India brand, is being produced in Delhi then our thinking is still first English and then languages.

For the first time in my adult life I am living in a non metro in India. I find the masses in this city equally well informed as in a metro. They have strong viewpoints, their own aspirations and value systems. And yes, they are well versed in English. The only issue being that they are not confident in English. It is not their way of life and not a part of their life. So when an advertiser talks to them in English or gives them a thought which is English inspired they are not too comfortable. Happy to help, though very straightforward and simple does not cut as much ice as ullu banaoing or har ek friend zaroori hota hai.

The other thing is talent. I think there is abundance of talent in small town which the communication industry will do well to tap. But the problem is that the small town talent sees the use of English as a major obstacle. I have taken some guest lectures in some management institutes here and I invariably ask the question to these people as to why they don't think of joining communication industry. The main grouse of course is the fact that the agencies never scout for talent in small places. But scratch the surface and you will find that there is an impression created that communication is a slick, English speaking, formal industry. The same perception is not held for the marketing companies.

I know the issue is not as simple as I am making it out to be. In marketing there are enough Indian companies like Reliance or Tatas or Birla or Airtel or Idea to give an impression of Indianness, Hindi etc. But when they hear about a Lowe or JWT or Publicis or O&M they feel that these are western culture, English dominated places to work. After all there is only one Mudra!

There is so much more scope and opportunity  If brands have realised that they cannot ignore Bharat same should be the case with communication companies. Rather than wait for talent to come to them, they should be reaching out to talent in the smaller towns and hinterland. Seek them out, nurture them so that Indian communication has its own distinct stamp. Not all English influenced.