On a bright afternoon, in summer of 2003, neighboring uncle called him out to check something. Uncle had a friend, businessman visiting Bengaluru from Erode in Tamil Nadu, on regular basis and wanted some on to help in teaching him Kannada. He asked this college student if he knows anyone to refer and at the end of the discussion he turned around the table and asked why don’t this student only take it up, which will also give some pocket money.
Though it was with apprehension, this guy agreed to meet the businessman, Thiru Sir and understand what the expectations are and later decide if he can take it up or not. With curiosity and fear of getting into unknown area, the meeting happened. The deal was simple, weekly once or twice the businessman will be in Bengaluru and after his work is done for the day, between 8 PM and 9 PM he will be available in a hotel and in that period, basic Kannada has to be taught.
The most attractive part of this entire conversation was not only about teaching language but for one hour, the payment was 75 Rupees!! Yes, it was a good deal to earn some extra pocket money for a graduate student and no reasons to deny the chance.
With this, the journey started. He purchased copies of Maggi Pustaka (Book with Basic Kannada alphabets and words, popular among local kids in Karnataka) and some notebooks. Gave few to Sir for his revision purpose and classes commenced.
Sir was very serious student. He used to make notes in his native language and write meaning of basic words. As the comfort level was built in, Sir was questioned why he is so interested to learn new language in that age (might be around 55 + yrs.) and making time in his busy schedule.
Sir responded - I travel interiors of Karnataka including Hubli, Mysuru etc. and its very much essential to know the local language to build better connects with customers and also he has time while travelling between the locations and he didn’t want to waste it , instead invest in learning new things.
Also understood, he has planned similar programs for his travel in Kerala and Andhra !! This college student was impressed with this positive and learning attitude of the businessman.
In 2003-04, mobile phones had become trend in India and with this additional income of few hundred rupees, the maintenance cost was now funded by teaching, it motivated the student to have his own phone, thus the first phone was purchased with popular Spice connection...!!
Some times the Sir was busy in meetings or accounting work in hotel room, however he used to ensure pay the amount for that untaken class also, saying this guy has put efforts to reach the hotel and should not be penalized for not having class.
Well, this continued for few months and there was good progress in learning, easily identifying the letters and started connecting the words.
However, whenever there was festival season or accounting works, the classes were not conducted, and it led to a long-term program.
After a period 2 years, the graduate student had become student of master’s degree and his final semester exams had approached. By then, Thiru Sir had learnt to speak and read the language !! yes, he was reading headlines from newspapers and magazines and was comfortable in speaking as well.
Now in a position to learn on his own and his travel frequency had also reduced, and for student the priority was exams and job search, eventually stopped the classes on mutual understanding. He met Thiru Sir and explained the situations. Sir was generous enough and thanked him for the support and wished all the best.
In this journey of two plus years, he was able to build a great bonding with businessman, who use to explain his business, various interactions with people and experience earned, about his children and the most important thing - keep learning new things, irrespective of age, to be active and never be idle person.
Presume by now most of the readers would have already guessed the student , yes, it’s me who had taken up this assignment to teach my mother tongue to a stranger and of course earned money to self-sustain my mobile connection during college days !!
Eventually I lost the contact of this gentleman, few times-tired reaching him by visiting hotel also, but in vain. Understood by than he had reduced his visit to Bengaluru.
As we are celebrating the Kannada Rajyotsava on 1st Nov, this beautiful memory keeps coming back. A wonderful experience to cherish not only from language perspective but on the entire journey I had in teaching and learning, which is indeed a good and rare combination.
