Teaching English is impossible. Words like 'enough' are enough to put anyone off, but they don't even begin to scratch the surface. It so happened during one class that I had to pronounce all the words - though, thought, although, rough and plough. The hilarity and bewilderment are impossible to forget.One particular class stands out in my memory as I write this. I remember once being asked what the word 'hook' means. I painstakingly explained the hook and the eye, as well as the hook you hang clothes on in the bathroom, and the hook often associated with the missing hand of a pirate. With my drawing-skills, it requires unlimited imagination to understand what I'm trying to communicate. I felt pretty victorious because my communication was successful, and because I had thought of all three usages. I then asked what the context was because there was still utter non-comprehension in the … [Read more...]
The Ant Colony
Books that I've loved and re-read time and time again have nearly always emphasised character over plot. Take, for example, Anne, Emily, Little Lord Fauntleroy and the little princess. There's something about character that just warms me, perhaps because it's like discovering a friend, rather than having an experience. Stories with exciting plots are certainly a joy to read and do give me a thrill, but sometimes, I need more than that. I need to know all those people who are having those experiences.The Ant Colony was one of those books where I got to know the people in the book, and wanted to get to know them better. I just kept reading it until I had finished! It's one of those books that makes you smile and cry and wonder. So many books that I've read recently have concentrated on complexity of plot at the cost of fullness of character. This one had a simple plot … [Read more...]
Plea for Justice
At one of the places where I teach, many of the children are brought up in the belief that the teacher is next to God. They are silent in class, not bold enough to speak, rarely confident enough to tell me that they did not understand something. It's a huge obstacle I have to surmount with each new student.Thanks to this, and because of the fact that punctuality is the responsibility of the parents of a seven-year-old and not the child herself, I didn't say anything to two children who were repeatedly late for my class. One day, the children, accompanied by their mother, came fifteen minutes late, and I seized the opportunity to tell the mother that this was not acceptable. Duly apologetic, the mother promised that it would not happen again.I thought the matter was over, but sensed undercurrents of something I could not quite place. One girl, not one of the late-comers, glanced … [Read more...]
Chestnut-Headed Bee-Eater
Before going to Tadoba, we talked about the fact that sometimes, we see no animals at all. Two of us had been to wildlife sanctuaries before, and wanted everyone to be prepared for an experience that might prove to be disappointing if you only want to see a tiger. Just being in the forest has a charm of its own if we aren't obsessed with seeing particular animals, we said. We would definitely see some animals - at least deer - and some birds. It is a forest after all.Very diffidently, a friend admitted that she could recognise nothing. I assured her that I could identify all of five birds with any kind of surety - and that list included the crow, sparrow and mynah. She laughed at me and all but said that she did not believe me. I told her that one other bird I could identify was the chestnut-headed bee-eater. She looked at me with some measure of awe. It seemed pretty fancy to her that … [Read more...]
Automated People
I went last evening for dance class, as usual. I've been going there for nineteen years, so I walked in as I always do, briskly, sure of where I wanted to go.An irate watchman surprised me by yelling out at me for walking in like that. "How can you just go in without making an entry?""Sorry, I had no idea," I said, mildly. "When did this begin?""It's been there for months now!" he said, grumpily."I didn't have to make an entry last week," I pointed out, writing my name. "And I come for dance class every week!" I looked at the next column and paused."Flat number," said the watchman, curtly."I'm going to the hall...""Why?""For dance class," I said again."Okay, leave this one."My pen hovered over the next column. I could not figure out what I was expected to write."Who do you want to meet?" asked the watchman, as if talking to an imbecile."Erm... I teach dance here. … [Read more...]
A Problem I Never Solved
"This is my favourite! I like it more than you." This argument always bewildered me as a child, and bewilders me even now. I can never know how much anyone else likes anything. The rose may be your favourite flower, but it may not be mine. Yet, I may like it more than you do, and no one can prove that one way or the other!As a child, the more confusing problem was different. I looked at the sky and saw that it was blue. You looked at the sky and said that it was blue. How could I know for sure that the blue I saw was the same as the blue you saw?When I grew older, I learned about the science of colour. Wavelength, and all that. Maybe that ought to have convinced me, but it didn't because I learned that animals are colour-blind. What we see as so attractive in flowers, animal-mates, etc., doesn't look the same to them at all! So, that number associated with the colour was, finally, … [Read more...]
Flat-Hunting
I think flat-hunting is one of those jobs that is most tedious, yet most adventurous, when done alone.After one year in Calcutta, armed with my knowledge of Bangla (largely restricted to daily words like clothes, dishes, wash, pillow, etc.), I decided to hunt for a flat. Approaching brokers made me realise that my vocabulary got me nowhere in the world outside my home, and I took to saying that I did not speak Bangla at all.One enthusiastic broker was excited at this rare opportunity to show off his Hindi, which bordered so much on Bangla that I was able to understand it despite his thick accent. He engaged me in long conversations and was delighted that I loved his Calcutta and the people of his land. Growing steadily more excited, he said, "You want an appointment, no?""Sorry?"He smiled knowledgeably at me. "Students like appointments, correct?"Bewildered, I made a … [Read more...]
Thank you, Santa!
Yesterday, I went to my old school to meet my librarian and give her a copy of The Story-Catcher. She still had the book in her hand about half an hour later when children from class III were lining up to go into the library.One excited girl saw the book and exclaimed, "That's The Story-Catcher, isn't it?"Both the librarian and I were surprised. "Yes...""I have the same book at home!" said the girl."Wow! Where did you get it from?" I asked. I've found just one copy in a bookshop so far, and was curious about where this child I did not know had found it."Santa gave it to me."I did not want to ruin her Santa-romance by asking her who her parents were, but thank you, Santa, whoever you are. It would also be nice if you could get her to read the book, though! … [Read more...]
Toto Funds the Arts
Long-listed (but not short-listed) three years in a row. Surely, that's a record of sorts!For The Story-Catcher (now published) and Vanilla: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2011/01/toto-awards-2011.html For Ridhima and Sacrifice: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.htmlFor Laying an Old Ghost to Rest and Ethics: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2012/12/long-lists-for-toto-awards-2013.html … [Read more...]
The Generation Gap
Children who know me as didi, a senior in dance class, often have trouble figuring out whether I belong to their generation or their parents' generation. Sometimes, I have trouble with it too.I was teaching two children with exactly the same problem. Often, they believed that I was in their generation, on their side, so to speak because I came from the same school, had some of the same teachers and all that. Yet, I was their teacher, so could not possibly be one of them.Once, while I was teaching them, it was pouring. It was not a thunderstorm, but a typical monsoon shower that peters out into a drip-drip-drip but does not stop. With a weekend ahead and no tests coming up, the idea of holidays made the girls restless. I finished five minutes early, much to their relief. I looked out of the window and said, "If it stops raining, you can play all evening today!"They threw me a look … [Read more...]