For the Love of English1
The Charm and Hypnotic Power of English: I never prided on my English. I’d no reason to. Unlike all our students, I never had the good fortune to study in an English Medium School till standard X. My parents were not rich by any stretch of imagination and as ours was a large family, they couldn’t afford to send me to a private school as education till date remains expensive and in most cases, beyond the means of the middle class families like ours. I studied in a mediocre school that happened to be the only boys’ school in our locality and dreaded English like nothing else. It was only after I got admitted at MAC (Maulana Azad College in Central Calcutta) that I realized the importance of the Language. I’d write letters in English to my big brother, who was settled in Australia; talk to my sister-in-law in the language just to have the ‘feel’ of the language. Another thing I started doing at that time was to give tuition to students studying in the lower classes of some English M...