PARIPEX-Indian Journal of Research - Original Research Paper - Parody of Indian English through the Poem "Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T.S"

Oct 1, 2026

The study examines how Indian English speakers parody and struggle with English as a foreign language through Nizzim Ezekiel’s poem "Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T.S". It connects colonial language learning to persistent grammatical, pronunciation, and usage errors, emphasizing dialects like urban “Babu English” and the comic idea of “chutnified language.” The analysis shows how misused transformations do not cause misunderstanding, instead creating humor and highlighting Indian culture and communication values.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Key themes in the poem

Dialect and “Babu English”

Chutnified language and humor

Language, culture, and communication

PARIPEX-INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH Volume-7 | Issue-5 | May-2018 | PRINT ISSN No 2250-1991 | | | ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER English
PARODY OF INDIAN ENGLISH THROUGH THE POEM 􀁨GOODBYE PARTY FOR MISS PUSHPA T.S􀁩 BY NIZZIM EZEKIEL

KEY WORDS: Parody, Indian Culture, English, Foreign language. | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Dr.A.Latha | | | M.A. , M. phil. , CGT., SLET., PH. D. , Assistant Professor and Head of the department, Department of English, Government Arts College for Women, Nilakottai. | | |
ABSTRACT | The English people who colonised India for years ago, made us to learn English as a foreign language. Though the language is been a part of us for a long time still Indians have the struggle to come up with the good English. Knowingly or unknowingly we still have the clariﬁcation in the foreign language, English. The problems have been tried to analyse in the article through the poem. | | | | | Indian English poetry is the oldest form of Indian English literature. Indian poets writing in English have succeeded to nativize or indianize English in order to reveal typical Indian situations. Nizzin Ezekiel is considered to be a pioneering ﬁgure in Modern English Poetry. His ﬁrst book, A Time to Change, was published in 1952. If Indian poets in English are less well known abroad than the novelists it is probably because their concerns are personal, local and yet universal.
􀁨Unity in Diversity􀁩 is the famous quotation often used to describe the indianness to the other people. This literally means the various Indian Culture, Language, people, Religion, god and goddess, politics, and so on. With all these variations, we are united by the nationality 􀁨Indian􀁩 . Though we have so many similarities among the culture we follow or the language we speak, there comes a common point where Indian comes together as one. For instance, there are numerous language is spoken in India. Within that we have the variations called 'Dialect'. Even the common language differs by the intonation or the stress or the different vocabulary used in it.
Indian languages are dominated by the foreign language English. This is the language we got to learn by the invasion of England people into the country. Though it is a dominating one in the era, still there are Indians struggle to learn the language or to speak in the language. As every language posses some deﬁnition or rules tobe followed in it, English also has its own grammatical rules. As Indians, we talk in the language that taught to us (mother tongue) . So the language English is still foreign to us. Still we are unable to learn the language properly. We are making very intense mistakes when we use the language. This is the major issue talked in the poem 􀁨Goodbye Party for Miss PushpaT. S􀁩 humorously.
Nizzim Ezekiel's literary style is the use of dialect in his poems. In this poem also a different kind of dialect is used. That is the dialect of urban Indians, particularly those in Bombay. This dialect is called
􀁨Babu English􀁩 . A Babu is a person who tried to impress British master using stylish ornamentation, as the way that he expressed a message was more important than information relayed. The poem satirically looks upon the Indian English speakers about their use oftense and pronunciation. The author denotes the semieducated people in India who often commit this kind of error while they speak English. There are some grammatical rules in every language that keeps the language alive. As a foreigner to the language (English), we always look into the language from our own mother tongue. Mother tongue is the way through which we reach the foreign language. By these words let me put that, this poem is been written as the ordinary Indian who struggles to learn the foreign language. So the ordinary person chooses the way of native language to attain the foreign language English.
􀁨Coming back to Miss Pushpa She is most popular lady With men also and ladies als

FAQs

What core issue does the article discuss using the poem "Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T.S"?

It discusses Indian people’s struggle to learn and use English correctly, leading to frequent grammatical and pronunciation mistakes that are presented humorously in the poem.

How does the article explain “Babu English” in Ezekiel’s poem?

It describes “Babu English” as the dialect of urban Indians, especially those in Bombay, and explains that the poem satirizes semi-educated speakers’ incorrect English usage.

What is “chutnified language” according to the article?

The article defines it as the awkward combination of English word endings like “-ING” being used in the wrong place, forming a comic pattern in speech.

Oct 1, 2026

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