THE STORY OF MADHU SURAIYA-1

At times life continues to be flat, life continues to be low; it is at this juncture a desire arises to attempt something new. A new thing is not easy to work on. It is a struggling phase with high hopes and no solution in sight. Randomness is the order of our existence, and in line with this randomness if someone pops ups and continues ever after, one feels happy and contented about his presence. He is referred to as mentor and the one being served is referred as mentee. Advancing stages of such a relationship are more rewarding and mentor is seen as a friend philosopher and guide. I too happened to come across such a person.

Working over the control panel year over year had made life monotonous and mundane. A desire of doing something new took me to the French Classes. Day one, there appeared Madhu Suraiya our French teacher; she started with a formal introduction of the course, benefits of learning French, career ahead and job opportunities; the class ended with French alphabets and counting numbers one to ten. The next day the course took full swings and continued so for all days to follow. French is never spoken as it is written and never written as it is spoken. Every passing day escalated my worries and lessened my grip on the subject. Slowly I started believing that French was not my cup of tea. For a while I would think that stooping over the panel was a more comfortable proposition then the desire to break the monotony.

At the home front my children Vinayak and Bhumika would eagerly wait for me. The moment I opened the door they would be there with their wide opened expecting eyes and book in their hands. Before I took up French I would regularly help them with their studies and care for the examination preparation. 

The next day after the class I walked up to Madhu Madam and told her my desire to leave the class forever. I explained her reasons. She insisted that I should continue and wait for fifteen more days. As days passed by we came closer to each other, learning and understanding French became much easier to the extent that in the end I cleared the first level with 87 %. This was not the result of the ability of grasping and reproducing but the result of the fine chemistry that resulted between a teacher and a student. Apart from the fine chemistry, I was equally able to devote time for my children; I could see the glow in their eyes for they too cleared their exams with flying colors. All is well that ends well; songs to be sung and celebration to be made. It was a joyous phase which often left me thinking how time changes a sorrowful tide into a joyful tide. I rode that tide but how did I do it is still a question unanswered. If I were to ask a flower “How did you transform from a bud to a flower?” Would it be in a position to answer? I think the answer would be “No”. Perhaps some questions do not have an answer or they are not required to be answered. See you next time with the concluding part of this story.