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.

Oh yea the sun music girls, nobody can understand them either. I hear them as baby talk.

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.

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.

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!