My first lessons in critical thinking came from my mother, and the lessons were often delivered with a twinkle in the eye. One day, while we were talking to each other, I 'corrected' Ma's pronunciation of a word. I had just recently started my college studies, and had my own first exposure to having my English pronunciations 'corrected' by some friends. I didn't realize it at that time, but my Punjabi-dyed English was slowly getting replaced by other pronunciation patterns. A