Indian English, or rather, the forms of English used in India, have long been a topic of interest for laymen and scholars. For generations, the 'exotic' nature of the transplanted language was commented on and often ridiculed as a matter of unintentional humor. Only since the 1960's have the local forms of English been recognized for what they are -adaptations of the world language to local needs. These adaptations vary to an enormous degree depending on the speaker' (and writers') education and the uses they make of the language. The author was one of the first to see the need for a proper sociolinguistic description of the Indian situation and the forms and functions of English in this complex set up.