Pathshala Funwala: English English

#PathshalaFunwala #English

Although our mother-tongue is not English, in my case it is Hindi, but English plays a rather crucial role in our lives. People judge us based on our fluency and accent. And they rate our knowledge and level with the usage of big words. The more you mouth bigger words, the better your English is -no matter if they understand you or not. Yes, this is the current mentality of India and I have faced similar situation.

My mother tells me that she fought our elders to place me and my sister in an English-medium school. She didn't want us to face similar issues she faced when she was growing up. For the record, my mother is a successful gynecologist and she states that lack of proper English caused many hurdles for her. So, yes, she got us in the best English medium school Agra city had to offer. However, the biggest problem was, despite being an English medium, no one spoke in English in our school -not even English teacher. The system failed her and though I knew better English in comparison to other kids in my neighborhood, I failed her. Well, the system failed her. I was too little to understand the importance back then, so I didn't put any efforts in learning good English. I could read and write but my fluency was zero. Problems with us Indians is that, we think in Hindi or our mother-tongue, translate in our minds and blurt English words. And during this translation, we lose our vocabulary, grammar and everything else. I realized this problem when I started giving interviews for colleges.

Even the worst colleges gave preference to fluency in English. Sadly I am not of any any reserved category, so I had to face the harsh reality. Despite passing with flying colors, I failed to get admission in two colleges -it depressed me and gave me a sense of reality. The interview of third college was two months later and it was my preferred college -closer to home and with good placements. I knew my chances were very slim because there were only twenty seats in 'General category' and students from all over India applied to this college. I lost all hopes! How can I get in this college when others wont take me? At this time my mom came to my rescue. She explained me what I had informed her -I failed because of my fluency, so I need to work on it. 

I didn't know what to do, so I found the best available option. I started reading. In a span of two months I read more than fifty English books and two complete -page to page English newspapers daily. And without even knowing the magic happened!

In the interview, as I started answering words came automatically. I didn't even realize. After ten odd minutes I felt a sudden jolt -I still remember that I had abruptly stopped mid-sentence because I had realized that the words coming out of my mouth were in English and they was flawless. Interviewer had asked - 'is everything alright?' and I had smiled, more to myself, and continued.

Yes, I had gotten the admission that day and it was the best day of my new life. I never ignored my English post that.

I am sure, just like me there are many kids out there who want to learn good English and be proud, just like I am. And Nihar Shanti Amla has taken a wonderful initiative of helping children take first step. They even have a toll free number 8055667788 which provides all necessary details. 

I am blogging about Pathshala Funwala by Nihar Shanti Amla Oil in association with BlogAdda

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