I lived for some years in Ahmedabad and Dehradun in the early 2000s. There, I got used to speaking to most people in Gujarati and Hindi. When I moved back to Mumbai in the mid-2000s, I called an office and spoke to the person who answered the phone in Hindi, as I had gotten used to doing.

However, she was clearly offended, replied in English and connected me to the person I had asked for in an audible huff. The same thing happened to me in shops and restaurants in Mumbai. People were appalled that I should speak to them in Hindi: the implication seemed to be that I was looking down on them. Yet, in Ahmedabad and Dehradun both, English did not work in those days.