“Be Student Throughout Whole Life” (Reminiscence)

Human beings are always connected with dreams and visions. The life is incomplete without them. Some have a vision to be rich and expect to have every luxury around them. A few people want to be scholars, sportsmen, administrators, businessmen, engineers, doctors, singers, actors, etc. Certainly, these ambitions bring name and fame to society. I was also addicted to watching the dream since childhood. And to be honest, I was an average student in my class. I spent my primary and secondary education with a wonderful dream. The dream of my life was to learn English, write English and speak English. But I studied in Hindi Medium schools and college. I started to learn ABCD from class sixth in secondary school after the fifth class. Still, there was no such environment of English in the educational institutions. The English is neglected indirectly in all stages. I got admitted to the sixth class in 1963. My secondary education started at National High School, Dumka. Mr. Ramnath Sah was our English teacher. He used to teach us English Alphabet, word-forming, English grammar, and Hindi to English Translation. These practices lasted up to Matriculation. Though I passed Matriculation in 1968 with a skinny margin, I remained with only English Alphabet. An old Anglo-Indian lady was living near my house after her retirement. Her father was from New York USA. She spoke English nicely. It was the best opportunity for me to talk with her. But I did not dare to talk with her. She used to speak in English with everyone. As soon as I was admitted to Pre-University at S.P. College, Dumka I purchased all English books. Mainly, there are two books i.e. Prose and Poems. I thought to learn from her to some extent but she went back to the USA. Professor M.N. Jha, S.D. Jha, V.N. Jha, V.V. Pandey, and Rajiv Ranjan Sinha were our English teachers in the college. They taught very nicely in the class but I could not understand. But I was attracted to listening to English. It was the conception that without a proper teacher, nobody could be perfect in the English language. I was confined to English translation and grammar. But I could not speak a single word. So, I used to listen in the classroom only. No student talked at all. We were only Book Worm. I have a few days to go to Professor Rajiv Ranjan Sinha. He was living near to me. I remember that I got some questions answered. We talked in Hindi. And I did not see anyone who talked in English with teachers. The English was spoken only in English class. Professor S.D. Jha was a typical English. We called him a comedian English Professor. He spoke mixed English with the flavour of Hindi. I was so delighted that I joined the Army Medical Corps in 1972. It might be a good opportunity to cultivate English nicely. But I was completely disappointed. Hindi was the common in Army. Only the classes were conducted in English. These did not serve my purpose. So, I decided to be Eklavya in this field. I started to write letters everywhere only in English. Writing of Diary every day become my hobby. I had a Viking transistor. I used to listen to All India Radio English news at 9 PM. The AIR broadcasted English Slow Bulletin News at 2.30 PM every day. I listened and repeated loudly the news. I was a fan of Indian Express the English Newspaper. I read loudly. The extempore lecture helped me a lot. I gave my lecture in front of the mirror. Whenever I used to go for a morning walk, I delivered my lecture in front of a tree or any object. Sometimes, I practised with my Tape recorder. My daughter and sons played the role of judges. In the meantime, I made some friends who were also interested in it. The learning process is never ended. Now the pattern has changed. New modern devices took place in place of primitive means. No doubt, this modern device is helping me very much. “I want to be a student throughout my whole life.”