Thursday, June 24, 2010

Magical moments

An unimaginable variety of people attend my spoken English classes. Most of them are not students wanting to improve their placement prospects. A woman in her fifties who wants to chat on skype with her NRI son's colleagues, a cameraman who finds it difficult to narrate stories to his hindi /malayalam /english/etc/ speaking colleagues in cosmopolitan Chennai, lawyers who wish to take up high court work, bakers, research scholars and nurses who wish to work abroad,home makers who want to hold their own in parent-teacher meetings, party members who wish to expand the radius of their presence beyond Madurai,blushing brides waiting for their visas..... the list is long and the drama which unfolds when they interact for a couple of months is a potential mega serial or situational comedy.

They keep in touch with me online or on phone for quite some time after their classes. A couple of them follow this blog! There is one student of whom I think almost everyday. He is a sailor, who revealed in my initial grilling about his background that, he had lost his mother at the time of his birth and his dad when he was eight, I think. He was brought up by an elder brother. During class discussions whenever the question of parents came up, he never revealed that he had no parents. He always talked as if they were alive. He was also totally cool about the grueling and unearthly hours of work he had to put in as a sailor.
Whenever I feel frustrated or depressed about the twists and turns of my comfortable middle class life, I think of him and my heart lightens immediately. Everyone is lucky in one way or the other.. I was lucky to have had wonderful teachers and now am totally amazed at the types of people I meet in the form of students! Cheerio!

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