Hindi Medium Schooling and its Side Effects

I was a bright student and did well during my schooling. Although a slacker in studies, I managed above average grades in most examinations. Due to the influence of many journalists in the maternal side of my family, I started reading newspapers at the young age of six which developed my general knowledge as well.

I also started my schooling in English medium and did my UKG and first grade from A.M.S., Saharanpur, UP. When I joined a Hindi medium school in the second standard, I carried a momentum with me and had much better understanding of English than my classmates.

My parents knew little English and we subscribed to Hindi newspapers and magazines only. I became a voracious reader and started finishing big Hindi novels during my schooling. My Hindi was fantastic and I remember many occasions when teachers read out my Hindi essays to my classmates as an example of good writing skills. During summer breaks, I had the opportunity to read a lot as my maternal grandfather, Late Yogeshwar Prasad Dhuliya, had a small library of his own. As he was a Hindi journalist, his entire collection was in Hindi and I developed an excellent command over Hindi.

In 1986, I appeared in high school examinations of UP Board from Government Inter College, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh and scored 80% marks with distinctions (i.e., 75 or above marks) in Science, Maths, Biology, and English. I also unexpectedly topped the class. And despite our English teacher’s reservations on anyone from the class getting a distinction in English, I scored 77 % marks in English.

Though elated over my overall score, I was very proud of my performance in English and felt confident about my command over the language as I knew every word that was there in my English books. I was on cloud nine and felt like a king after the declaration of my results.

But very soon, I crashed down to earth when I visited my uncle in Mumbai during vacations. My cousin, who was in III standard, asked his mother, the meanings of some English words and was guided gently towards me by my Aunt who was impressed by my High School performance. She said, `अपने विद्धान भाई से पूछोA

I smiled and felt confident of helping the child with his homework. But moments later, after going through all words, I became numb and then started trembling with embarrassment. I did not know even a single word as I had never come across any of those words before in my entire student life. The young kid kept pestering me, but I was too shocked to admit that I did not know even a single word.  A high school topper of a Hindi medium school with a distinction in English was clueless to help a third standard student of an English medium school! I was too young to blame the education system for my predicament and felt guilty about not knowing those words.

 Few days later, I made another gaffe when I used Sanatorium instead of Planetarium which we wanted to visit and was duly derided by my cousins.  I did know the word  ` तारामण्डल’ but knew Sanatorium only due to the presence of a TB Sanatorium in the vicinity of my house in Saharanpur and confused it with planetarium. This episode ensured that my horrified cousins hesitated to introduce me to their friends who, even in those days, conversed in English.

On another occasion on the same tour, my family visited Elephanta caves. A lady guide on the boat was narrating things in English and I understood very little. On reaching the island, she informed that the boat would return at five to four (i.e., five minutes before 4: 00 p.m. or 3:55 p.m.). I had no clue on what time was that but expected my mother to get it. But even she showed her ignorance about `five to four’ and we all got confused about reporting time. As a result, we came back very early without seeing the caves properly. Due to hesitation of speaking in English, none of us were able to muster the courage to ask the guide the meaning of ‘five to four’, and for the fear of missing the boat reached an hour before other tourists, without fully enjoying the trip.

After getting terrible heartrending shocks, I realised that our English curriculum was not comprehensive enough, as we did only one subject in English and that was English! So, I decided to start developing my command over English beyond the confines of the language curriculum.

Immediately after returning, I started subscription of an English Daily. Initially, most of the news items did not make any sense to me as my vocabulary was very limited. I also developed a habit of watching English news on Doordarshan to improve my English but was unable to understand much.

Apart from a very Basic English book, all our grammar was taught in following sentences-

1. The farmer has ploughed the field.
2. The washerman has washed the clothes.
3. The gardener has plucked the flower.
4. I read a book.
5. I write a letter.

I guess my English vocabulary was less than 500 words at that time including is, am and are. I also remember an incident from Class 10, when the entire class was not able to tell the meaning of the word `such’. But most students of the class of 1986 went on to complete B.TECH and MBBS from good colleges. Similarly, nobody in class 11 was able to tell the meaning of the word `neglect’. 

This book traces an arduous journey towards learning a foreign language with the right attitude and overcoming a lot of hurdles along the way. Before embarking on this journey with me, I would like to remind the readers that all said and done, English is just a language. It would give you social confidence but learning English would not make you any more intelligent than you already are. After all, it is just a language like thousand others but gained an elevated status in India due to the British Rule.

In G20, only four countries have English as a dominant language. China and Germany are two of the biggest exporters in the world, still their leaders address the UNO in their respective languages.

Had Robert Clive lost to French General Joseph François Dupleix, we Indians would have been mad about the French language. Then the same anglophiles of India would be extolling the virtue of French and looking down upon people not knowing French.