Michael Schumacher, Montoya, Barrichello…
Do these names sound familiar to you?
A question asked by one of my college mates to me. I answered in the negative and he gave a why-do-you-live-on-this-world look. I never knew that following Formula one (F1) racing was mandatory to live. Next sunday, I somehow managed to sit in front of TV and watch F1 racing for a few hours just to prove that I also own a piece of life. All that I could decipher was the Vroom Vroom sound and people with advanced computer screens watching drivers making wild turns in the wildest tracks (as my collegemate called it). There was a commentator who was shouting like hell and I could hear only Schumacher, Barichello again and again. An hour passed by and then I realised that this was not my cup of tea and switched gears to a local channel.
A few months passed by and then came the FIFA football world cup. My dear life gauger college mate started his campaign on football and how Brazil was his favorite team et al. I initially thought this guy was too good at sports but reliable sources in our CBI(College Bureau of Investigation) revealed that he did it all just to grab attention of girls and guys just to show off.
One day, we had our turn and we made most of the life gauger in our own way. After which, he never said anything in front of us again. 
Those bits are censored for public read.
Everyone wants a bit of publicity or rather the hunger for recognition whch makes us to go an extra mile and get it. But I strongly feel that faking it will not help on a longer run. It is applicable for any particular profession or any situation in life.
For instance, I have seen numerous people faking English accents when others can easliy figure it out. Once a group of friends went to a hotel and there was a good-looking waitress. One of my friends asked her where the Bar was and she answered in a very strange accent which made us all burst out into laughter.
My Friend : Can you let us know where is the bar?
The Waitress : Bear ! The bear is in the 7th floor.
Recently, I saw a couple of guys in local Train and here is how their introduction went. They had pins on most part of their forehead and one of the guy wore a Rapper kinda costume.
Guy A : Sup? (I think he was trying to ask What’s up).
Guy B : Naa Much.. (Not Much).
Why am I writing about this suddenly? I was watching faking it, a series in Discovery Travel and Living channel which brought back some memories.
Haven’t you ever watched Faking it or travel and living?
I don’t know why & how-you-live-in-this-world…. 
If you cant make it fake it.
Oh, I watch Fake It on T&L a lot. And I’ve realized a whole lot of those participants actually do succeed, surprisingly duping very experienced judges!!
We fake it all the time, don’t we? People fake emotions, fake behaviours, fake friends, fake enemies..fake what not
.
And as for fake accents, I find them very funny – esp. when people who fake it make such an effort to continue in the same vein. It seems to be a predominantly Indian obsession to fake American/European accents. I haven’t (so far) come across a Europeans (for eg.) faking American accents. Not all of them speak English perfectly anyways, but even if they do, they have a unique (and quite charming) touch to the way they speak, and being original, it is appealing.
What is also funny sometimes to me is the tendency to talk of money as “bucks”, and say “awesome” or “cool” to everything in the world. About 5 days ago, I met an Indian guy at the airport – someone who’s been in San Francisco for about 10 years now. He would say “Cooool” to a lot of things I said, and each time, I would suppress a smirk. Hehe.
I do not want this comment to be a blog, therefore, am leaving it as you’ve left your post – denying it a particular conclusion. What can I say – fakers, enjoy!
@ Depak,
Thanks for your Coooool comment though. 
@ Shikha,
Rightly said. I do fake at times. But when I realise that it is not necessary to fake it, I give it up and preserve my originality. As far as the conclusion for this post, there is nothing which can be said about people who fake it and people who don’t. If I take it as a serious question and argue, it would never end. So, it’s better to leave it to the reader to conclude in what ever way he wants to.
Faking an accent? Oh please. Unfortunately this is a connected world and some of us have to make a living out of speaking to someone on the other end of the world. It obviously makes life much easier when they can understand us. I think it is OK that we are trying to be good at it. Of course, it is much better when people speak in their native language. Please do appreciate that the person is making an effort to speak to you at all. These things tend to happen when the world becomes smaller. One country, one language, one accent, sounds _cool_ innit?
Personally, I have Indianish + Londonish accent. We pick up accents like we learn new words. I all day listen to online radio that feeds me London and I watch national news channels to get the dose of Indian too.
But faking is something that I always wanted to do, I have seen masters who can fake an accent at the drop of their hat; http://www.fonejacker.tv now that is skills.
@Balaji: I think I would make a differentiation between “faking” an accent, and actually having it. In your case, I would like to believe its the latter
. Maybe the word “faking” is not right? – don’t know how you would describe the tribe that are prone to using accents with effort when if it does not come naturally to them – only to make a point of sorts (which is unfortunately not evident to me atleast). Many malayalees (particularly girls) are good at that 
– they fake their own Malayalam accents!! Or rather, they fake their lack of know-how of good Malayalam (Just never understood the purpose *shrug*).
You can watch a request-songs-by-phone show possibly on any malayalam channel, and almost all the VJs are at it. I find it hilarious
. I have watched quite a bit of SS music and Sun music, and don’t find that much in the Tamil anchors though (except Shriya Reddy, who’s originally Andhra anyway!).
Coming back from my sudden meandering… for work – yes, the accents do work. Atleast I am told it works for the BPO sector. As do the fake names (”Kiran” becoming “Karen”?). And in Germany, they are very appreciative of your trying to greet/talk to them in their own language – so I do understand about making the effort part.
I don’t think all people pick up accents automatically – some people are endowed that way so the picked up accent soon becomes natural or atleast the tendency to pick it up is very natural.
@Shikha, Lets call it as “faking accents” for now. The reason why people do that, IMO is probably they consider it as being wealthy. See the europeans get a fake tan as it represents a person with lots of money who can afford a sunny holiday. David Beckham is as brown as I, after he had been on a holiday. For us, we love the opposite, a person with fairer skin can afford to stay indoor, again only wealthy can save themselves from sun and dust here. Similarly, lets say, me putting on an accent conveys “hey listen I have been to London… I can speak pretty good English, and am rich”. Of course am not a wealthy person, may be I am faking it after all.
Oh yea the sun music girls, nobody can understand them either. I hear them as baby talk.
@Balaji: Hehe. Don’t know its particularly wealth for the keralites. Its mostly the “superiority”
.
Yeah, I can relate to the tan versus the fair obsessions. I visited the cosmetics store here in Germany, and was giggling at the profusion of the tanning lotions, bronzers, copper-colorers and the whole gamut of bright yellow bottles, which in India could be easily mistaken for sun screens! Was wondering if any gullible Indian victim actually walked into the trap (considering how easy it is for that… the labels are all in German. Not a single word except sun, in English!).
The faking it is ultimately, part of a basic human instinct – gaining approval, popularity and acceptance. Industries (cosmetic and others) thrive on this instinct.
@Shikha: agreed, lets leave this blog alone.
@Balaji: Peace prevails
hehe.