Pathshala Funwali
He
sat amidst the squalor. His house, with asbestos sheets as its walls
didn’t have any window. But the windows of his heart were always
open. He wanted to learn and his mother encouraged him to do so. His
house though small was no less than a museum. Drums of various sizes
were properly arranged at the entrance. The plastic bottles were kept
in a big net. The newspapers and magazines were the only things which
were allowed inside the house not because they were special but they
were likely to be damaged by rains or the dogs that fought for no
reason in the night.
This
is how his romance with the letters in the print started. He had been
to a primary school where he learnt to read and write in Marathi. So
he would pick up Marathi newspaper and magazine and read out the
stories in it. His mother would stand akimbo. His son’s reading had
opened a new world to her. She had never heard these stories from
anyone. The only stories she heard living in that ghetto were of
women who were abused by their husbands and men who were drenched in
liquor. His reading gave them a new purpose of life to both of them.
They laughed together and tears voluntarily rolled down their eyes
when they read a poignant tale. They read about the Taj Mahal and the
Marina beach and visited both these places sitting on the words of
print and using some imagination.
‘Aai
what if I could read those English magazines?’ He asked one day.
The English magazines always stood apart from their Marathi
counterparts. Their pages were glossy and the men and women that
featured in them appeared from another planet. Plus it contained
pictures of foreign locations. ‘Wow, it would be indeed a great
experience. I am all ears to hear those stories from English
magazines. But will you please translate those stories for me in
Marathi. You know I don’t know English.’ Gangubai told Nihar.
‘Aai
where I know English?’ Nihar said and the dejected duo didn’t
feel like reading anything that day.
Then
one day Nihar’s eyes fell upon an advertisement in the newspaper.
Just give a missed call on 8055667788 and learn English it said.
Nihar borrowed his mother’s mobile phone. She worked as a domestic
help and heer employer had given her his old mobile phone so that he
could contact her. Nihar called the number and life changed for good
for both him and his mother. They never thought learning English was
so easy. Soon both of them began to read the English newspapers and
magazines which they always wanted to read.
So
if you have anyone around who wants to learn English please share
this number 8055667788 and open the gateways to their learning.
“I am blogging about Pathshala Funwala by Nihar Shanti Amla Oil in association with BlogAdda”
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