Vernacularly Yours.

I was born to Maharashtrian (Marathi-speaking) parents and raised in Karnataka. My parents believed in the vital importance of vernacular education in shaping the personality of their child. Thus began my unconventional journey of life! While all my convent-going friends and cousins were studying Shakespeare, I was memorising Keshavsut (a famous Marathi poet of yesteryear). By the time I reached the 8th grade, I realised that all my convent-going friends had developed a dash of confidence, which was missing in me and my Marathi schoolmates, apparently because we couldn't converse in English. So we took this as a challenge and started paying more attention to English grammar and syntax. By 10th, we became sufficiently proficient and were able to read and write this foreign language with minimal errors. But then, as I began my college life, it occurred to me that the mere ability to read and write perfectly was not enough and I also needed to speak the language fluently. Then I joined a local elocution club and started participating in their competitions. During the second year of my degree college, I won the best orator's gold medal. But still, I don't know why, that feeling of inferiority never really stopped haunting me.

Some time later, something happened that revolutionised my entire thought process. I had two options after graduation : getting a job or studying further for the MBA degree. In the meantime, I was also selected for an MNC job from among 1000 aspirants. My college had facilitated in this process. But finally I decided not to join but rather do post-graduation (and which was not MBA, after all). THAT was the moment that made me realise that it was neither the lack of knowledge of any particular language nor the medium of instruction for my studies that had affected my self-confidence for so long; it was in fact my own inability to take my own decisions and stand firm on them. When this self-awareness awoke in me, I shed my inhibitions and mental blocks and regained in an instant my confidence as well as self-respect and thus I was able to continue with my M. Com. studies, full of beans and energy.

From that day onward, I have always been able to put to good use my core competencies. My newly-found inner strength also gave me the courage to travel on roads less often taken, in search of excellence and new goals. Without bragging, I can proudly state that currently I can read/write/speak four different languages absolutely fluently. I have taught students senior to me in age, without any trepidation. Reading has become my passion. I love to interact with people and understand their psychology and needs. I have become a strong believer in becoming a trail-blazer, that is, creating a new path for oneself; rather than blindly following the traditional old routes and ruts.