Obsession with English

I got some funny interaction today which made me write this blog. During the course of the conversation I pronounced the word "Career" in the same way I pronounce "Ca" in "Carrier". My friends started making fun of my pronunciation. At that moment I asked how does he pronounce "Tier" and he confidently called it like a "Tyre" as most of the Indians do instead of "Tear" which is the correct pronunciation. I also called him out with "Quesidillas" (Casidias) and "Quilin" (Chilin). I was happy that I got my share of making fun of someone else. But I just realized that how stupid I was. How could anyone make fun of some one's language skills. Language is just a form of communication. As long as the listener is able to understand me, I should not worry about the way I pronounced them. I am not saying people calling "Tier" as "Tyre" is correct as it conveys different meaning. But what difference would calling "Career" as "Carrier" make? Is it not similar to using "Know" and "no" Would the listener be blinded just by pronunciation.But in my opinion such obsession is very much prevalent with many Indians. I am surrounded by many Americans and I have very different way of pronunciation with words like "Environment etc. But I was never once been asked to correct my pronunciation as they very well know English is not my native language and I am speaking in a way I was taught. All my friends would do is listen to me and call out the correct pronunciation for themselves. I learnt so many words in that way. I have a chance to listen to Dr.Kalam when he came to Houston. For any of you who have heard him talk, you would realize he is not the smooth orator especially in English. I was there with my close friend who is an American. I started worrying about what my friend would think about Dr.Kalam, as I have praised Dr.Kalam whole hearted before the speech. After the talk I was trying my level best to avoid asking my friends opinion but ended up talking about the speech. Apparently my friend not even bothered about the way Dr. kalam spoke and he was all praise for the content.But today's episode made me realize how obsessed are we with English.You take any of the Indian movies (I am taking liberties here I watch only Tamil and Malayalam movies, sometimes Hindi and Telugu movies as well) the way to show someone as cool person is to make them speak in English. How stupid is this? What does the language has to do with being jovial or smart? Even my cousin sister talks phrases like "Whats your problem man?" "Hey Dude" which I dislike to the core,but my whole family is in awe of her language skills. I am not complaining here, but my point was we give too much importance to language skills. You do need language in work place to convey your idea, but would that be sin to not to fuss about aesthetics if the content is conveyed good enough?