I
don’t frequent Youth Centre much. As it is generally students that throng the
center, I feel my presence would, needlessly, meddle their freedom and leave
them malcontent. So, I shun being regular especially during school off hours.
But
seldom I do and see if I can be of any help to the visitors.
It
was around last week that I ran into three little girls whose unfeigned love
for the books had me adore their bibliophile habit. One was second grader and
the other two third. Only after several exchange of words did I discern the
three were almost daily visitors to the center. Curious I felt and prudently maneuvered
to spark up a discussion while strictly keeping the friendly composure.
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| Source- google |
Soon
realizing that they were dodging the interrogations, I stopped bothering any
further. But to have them perpetuate the conversation, I sweet mouthed them and
seemingly the thought of leaving me unattended, because I am a teacher, didn’t even
orbit somewhere near their imagination. Thereafter, no sooner had I established
good acquaintance by the dint of my ingenuity than they relished my noble
intention. We became good friends.
All
the three had one thing in common.
They
have a strong penchant for Dzongkha books. All the three told they read mainly
to acquire knowledge and keep themselves informed. Yes, their read was flawless,
commendable and at par with many students two or three levels superior to them.
But when asked on their liking towards English, they shied away a little and candidly
whispered, “It is quite hard”. To check their competency, with my slapdash
approach, I bumped into books of their standard and forcibly made them read
aloud. The three of them looked nervous and fell behind hugely as compared to their
Dzongkha counterpart.
Soon
afterwards, knowing their plight in English, I made an attempt to kindle their
interest. They appeared enthusiastic and flanked me from either
sides to see what my influence have to offer them. Together we did chorus reading for
almost an hour and took to solo reading quite some time later. It was fulfilling
to see them at my disposal and unanimously agree with the idea of reading
together.
They
retreated with an assignment to commit few hours of the day to read English and
display considerable progress. While I could not help myself wait for the next round
of meet, I firmly kept my fingers crossed for their endeavor and watched them pull
away homewards with smiles crossing their lovely lips.
Little
did I know that I will walk into curious mind like theirs and feel please myself?
It
was a lesson which came unannounced because of our common interest- a lesson where no classroom was required, the subject was reading and the outcome, inspiration.