Sir Ahuja

Realisation was swift and, swifter was the need to get someone teach the likes of us good English, that'd make us more presentable in interviews. Among us, it was Ahuja, who had an exemplary flair and command over the language. Undisputed it was as we were too noob to challenge his authority in any manner whatsoever! With no intended pun, whenever he spake, we used to rush for the dictionaries, that were handy, to browse for the meanings of the words he used meticulously in sentences. It would be great fun to find a mistaken usage that he'd snub saying it was a figurative use. Not knowing sufficient English turned out to be a bane to tread in this modern world. Sufficient, I say because, we all had passed English as a subject in the board examinations. Never realised that the language would rattle us in this manner.

All of the language that we knew, was sufficient to cater to our pursuits in science and engineering. It was only after passing out of college it was amply clear that we were utter misfits while facing interviews. The words like that of Lambaste could be correlated with bombast or even a bomb blast for who never cared for English, that was necessarily turning out to be an evil barrier in the path of getting a job, realising again that it'd be the passport to success and global access to technology and information, being ambassadors of technology.

It was a consensus amongst the dimwits of the language that Ahuja would be our Sir. So was the knighthood conferred on him. Of decent origin and cultured background, Sir delved into intricacies of the language who got along too well for us to acclaim with awe. So the arduous task of grooming was gleefully laden up his strong shoulders that he took up with profound potentiality to get us somewhere. Well, we never bothered for his reaction as once decided, he had to do it, come what may. All were in cheers for the humble chap that made him feel important in the group.

Sir got occupied with the task of formulating the course material to start his bout of civilising the gentry on the language; spoken as it was with tones of adroit hues. He had to make somebody feel somebody as deftness in spoken English was holding us back. After a brief homework, he called us to serve his sermon. Sundays at 11 AM would the classes be held. No amount of cajoling would let the gang of young learners sleep till 11 in the morning on Sundays. 11 AM meant 11 AM. Nothing doing. To take on the likes of us who were nothing more than a cupful of brains to knead, he, with a generous pinch of imagination, a bucketful of courage, started his homework to deliver his first ever tutorial session on the subject.

The first class saw everyone present. Being a teacher was like flying an aeroplane while building it. It was his first appointment as a teacher. All had a sheet of foolscap paper rolled under the armpit as was the habit in college and Sir saw his students enter one by one. Ahuja was the first to arrive at the designated venue. We were more pleased to see his enthusiasm. We were on the cusp of a substantially more fundamental shift in our lives for good.

The first thing that he said was, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and, those who matter don't mind“. It was like a shot in the air that invariably missed the target! The triggered sentence was too complex for us to understand, leave alone repeat it. It ruined the very dynamics of the enthusiastic mindset. Don't make it that tough at the very outset was what we said. Translating to vernacular would mean destroying the very essence of the sentence. There is not much we can do but we can offer listening! We were facing the brunt of transformation from one culture to another and that very idea excited us as Sir would guide us confidently to see the world through different eyes, different dialect and different mannerisms. We felt that the curse of education system was an apostrophe intelligence as now we were in deep fix and looked upon Sir to bail the self proclaimed English language junkies out of this situation.

Normalisation rather than familiarisation with the concepts that, we called twists and turns, meandered into our brains with apt delivery and clever manipulations by Sir. Being an avid follower of topics for sake of discussions after dinner, during college days, helped gain insight. Delivery was to be in English that mattered with formation of sentences laced with sophistication. We started keeping English dailies and the editorials drew everyone's attention. It was his advice or the volley of them that kept the mind occupied as we had to make it fast.

We started conversing with each other despite sufficient restraint in whatever form of English that would carry the intent. The thongas too weren't discarded if the print was English to scour for any material that would help improve the language towards it's delivery with elan. Television was a luxury those days of unemployment and with limited money in pockets, movies were out of reach too. So, a fund was created to view English movies, unlike the ones that we used to see in hostels that the members of cinematic society used to take pride, to learn conversations and mannerisms. It was at one such movies, being our first to a decent Oscar winning Driving Miss Daisy, that was unlike the late night English movies that were played through the hired VCP. Interest was weaning away and couldn't take the conversations too seriously that hit bouncers to the imbecile mind. Forced ourselves 2 hours and waiting to end was all that we could do. Slowly, we took up conversing among us in whatever English that was in store. That helped our inhibitions to fade out slowly.

It was after 10 days that we had to face a mock test to prove our mastered strength in the foreign language followed by an interview. Ahuja painstakingly got the question paper typed and photocopied. It was a combination of word power, mismatched sentences and grammar. It was excruciatingly painful to appear in the test, it being first of the series. The mock interviews were too hilarious to jot down. Perhaps you all have seen such scenes of mockery from movies When Osama met Obama and English Vinglish and, the likes. The pace was slow but we all hastened it up for good.

It helped us tremendously and we couldn't thank Sir enough for his efforts. Expectations begin to feel the possible from being impossible. It was because of him today someone smiled, learned something new, became more confident, and felt loved. With all the brushing up from Sir, some among us even landed offshore. 

 Don't give up Sirjee! You're awe inspiring!!