I Knew Nothing Of This Language

From my childhood, although I had studied in an English medium boarding school, never I and my friends would have used English as a medium of communication for more than an hour. Our school Principal was always behind us but we hardly cared. We never felt the need for a foreign language then. Our mother tongue was sufficient for us. But as we finished our school education and started our college education, it is then that we realized, that knowing Hindi is not just enough. 

My Journey

India is a diverse country and every few kilometers you will see different languages being spoken. More than 19,500 languages or dialects are spoken in India as mother tongues, according to the latest analysis of a census done by an Indian government agency. 

When students from different parts of the country studied in the same University, knowing just your mother tongue is not enough. It was like all the diversity brought into one place. This diversity along with itself brought a lot of challenges and learning. It is then that I realized that knowing English is a must in order to communicate well with your college mates who speak multiple languages like Telugu, Kannad, Tamil, Punjabi, Gujrati, Sindhi, and Assamese, etc. This was in fact a common realization for everyone. Everyone has to know English to excel in their respective field.

My serious association with English started only during my first year in University. I started focussing on my speaking and writing skills. I developed a habit of reading Novels and for almost two years I literally got addicted to it. I was so much into it that every two days, I was finishing one Novel and this was going on along with my studies. In this learning phase of mine, I would have read almost every genre and type of book possible. There was one semester during my B. Sc. course, where I read around 50 novels and I was really loving it.

Slowly and steadily, I got a good grasp of English but deep inside I knew that a lot had to be done. I started reading literature and newspapers daily. Consciously I made efforts to always converse in English. The results of all this conscious effort, I was able to see when recently I started writing on this platform. 

My association with English has changed totally. I am in love with it. From someone whose first love was his mother tongue Hindi only, I have managed to develop love and interest in English too.

I have come a long way in the last six years. From someone who could hardly speak even one sentence properly, I have cracked multiple group discussions as part of my Indian Air force SSBs(Service Selection Boards. From someone who could hardly form sentences, I have written multiple articles, scripts, etc. I was also recognized by the Vocal Media platform for my story, "You Have To Let Go Sometimes". Within a month, I have been able to generate around 50$ from my articles and have a following of around 400 in just 30 days.

All this doesn't mean that I have achieved everything but it's just the starting of the many things yet to come. I have to make myself better and better with each passing day. Through this platform, I have been able to get a lot of exposure and guidance from experienced and successful authors. I intend to build upon this and try out various forms of writing.

Challenge Accepted

Life hasn't been easy for me and at every turn, there was a problem waiting for me, but the one thing that this problematic life taught me was, never to lose hope and accept defeat. You will never understand the value of success if you haven't tasted defeat. I was lucky to have such amazing parents who in spite of extreme poverty ensured that I and my sisters got a proper education. It is their guidance that has kept me strong even after many troubles. 

Every challenge I came across, I have accepted with a smile and I have conquered it and the latest on the list is the English language.

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