I was asked by my guide to take English classes for the first year nursing students at D.Y. Patil college. Well I was hesitant I mean……. me and English…….. apun ko fakasta hinglish ata hai!!! But you know the whole life apart from blogging was getting very hectic and tedious. All I come across these days is recession, no money, global meltdown, no jobs, resumes lying in my inbox….. lots of them, sensex going down, people losing jobs, etc etc…… I really wanted to do something different. But English ???? I mean how can you teach anybody English??? I don’t remember being explicitly taught English so I was hesitant. I was taught English at school very gradually and was able to speak English from day one. So I was Very very hesitant!!! For me English meant grammar. May be to a certain extent phonetics but that is it.

Well I finally relented. Teaching HR is OK but English !!!!! I ended up at the first year nursing college to teach English. The first thing I did….. that is usually done in all classes…… the ice breaker…… I asked them to introduce themselves and asked them why they wanted to take up nursing. I wanted to basically evaluate the kind of English they knew. The kids are small but I was expecting passion for community service and all of them wanting to be the next Florence nightingale. God !!! Man was I disappointed !!! It reminded me of my time when I was at management class and they asked me why I wanted to do Management of all the subjects and I had minced no words and told them that I wanted a better remunerative job. Well I wasn’t applauded for that rather I was scorned while others in my class told that they wanted to work with people, they wanted to work for the betterment of the country, the country needed manager and they wanted this and that etc etc….. Well me !!! I just wanted a better paying job!

So much for being honest. When I put the same question to these young would be nurses they bluntly told me that they wanted to go abroad and yeah they did care for people……. rather off-handed…… Most of the students already had family in the nursing field so it was not really a new thing for them. It was what the family wanted for them and they were complying. Well they were honest. I applauded them and thought that maybe I should be talking ethics and that was what teachers did, so I asked them about Florence Nightingale. They all knew the story…… thank God for that!!! so I did not embark on my favorite ethical venture but asked them about euthanasia….. well maybe I was a little over enthusiastic but I wanted the kids to talk, they are after all not like management students who are all out like peacocks displaying their plumes all the time whether or not anybody is watching.

The euthanasia topic was not a very what should I say very successful. Well it is one hell of a hot topic for GD’s in the MBA class but not here. Well I had to prod them and tell them to talk what their heart said and not worry about who was watching and all that. Well they spoke at last and yeah they did not think that it was a good thing for euthanasia to be implemented and yeah it was a good thing that it would give a great relief to people suffering but it had to be monitored. Well their reactions made me think of the next thing….. debates. So I am holding debates in the class from tomorrow. Maybe I am trying to make them into MBA clones….. maybe they don’t need to be there…….. well as it is said I am onto “my search from the known to the unknown”. Let me find out where I end up. Right now I am enjoying teaching English……

It is so much satisfying than teaching MBA’s who just ask questions for no reason at all, flaunt the internet and wikipedia on you for no reason at all etc etc……. and who have opinions for everything and who are produced in factories (read “MBA institutes”) So I have given the whole management education system a break and am experimenting with English………… actually it is the only language I know properly. I think in English, fight in English, (well that is another story will deal with it in another post) even pray in English. So guess I will be OK!!! I better be OK!!!!