If I go back in the history of my academics, I find English as a language having back seat positions in my priorities. It was never a language but a creepy subject for me. I could score well in it but could never put it into practice while communicating. My school days were almost non-English however it was an English medium. I could write but could not speak Why should I ? . I never knew it would lead to serious issues until my engineering days in South of India where mode of communication in academics was English only and, Hindi was just an other language to interact with my parents and relatives back home. In Bihar, English is not in any mode of life, the way as it is in Bangalore. And, this is not only my problem , it is a major problem with most of the guys coming from my state.
It was quite evident during my engineering days that if I did not take English seriously, I am going to miss the bus of opportunities. The first major step I took was during the third year of engineering. I joined as a student of Mr. Dinakar Reddy who used to run a private tuition in a center called Future Tense. Before joining his small institute in a small urban area like Tumkur, I tried my hands in the college level debates and group discussions competitions. With my to the point holding of the subject because of regular reading of editorial pages of TOI, I could manage to win prizes but my weakness was well exposed before me.-Lack of words.. Thus, before joining Future Tense, I was well aware how I have to groom my self. The 50 days spent with Mr. Dinakar Reddy sir were absorbed by my brain cells like nutrients and the result was that I could easily come out of debates and discussions in a better way. I got selected into the first company which came for campus selections but still mission has not been accomplished.
I tried to surround myself with English. I used to watch English movies and listen to the movie two three times to catch the pronunciation of words. The idea was to make my mind sync with it. One of the movie which is my all time favorite and helped me was The Big Fish. I like each and every scene of this movie. Actually, I took this guy Edwad Bloom as my role model for an English character. It is a complete movie in every sense and a great source of knowledge for me; blended with entertainment. It is beyond any match and has a very high place and value in my life. Here is a still from the movie which I like the most.
I watched this movies almost 30 times but it still appears new to me. I think it clicked with every cells of my brain and the movie is amazing. I can watch it infinite number of times. I like it than any other movie.
However, the jounrney with English still continues. I am not up to the mark. I am still trying to enrich my vocabulary. It is a continuous process and journey still continues.
