My mother tongue is Tamil. Started reading novels in Tamil when
I was 7 years old. Their is a giant novel in Tamil called Ponniyin Selvan.
I read it, half not understanding, before I was into double digit age.
Reading tamil books is still a favourite pass time for me. 12 years of
my school education was in Tamil medium.
Started learning English from 3rd standard as second language.
Had anxious thoughts on how I am going to read English which is required
for 4th standard. English learning continued thus till 12th standard. Then,
in university the medium of instruction was English. In one of the tamil
novel I read, there is a character who will read The Hindu - a news paper
published from Chennai, from the first page to last page without omitting
a single line. Keeping him as the role model, started reading The Hindu
every day. I managed to complete 4 pages every day in the initial stages.
In the working life English became the medium of communication and became
second nature. English books opened windows to the world around me. My most
visited places duirng my college days (outside the tea shop opposite to the
college) are US Information Service Library, Connemera Public Library and
a district library in Tambaram. I read everything and anything I could lay
my hands on. The habit continued wherever I went and accumulated a collection
books, which I enjoy being near with.
Went to Hindi tution (private) when I was in 8th standard. Continued
learning for 2 years and completed 4 certificate examinations of Dakshin
Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha. Came in handy when working with the workers
in Dewas production unit. Then married Tusharika from Bihar and started
speaking Hindi with her at home in Shanghai. For some reason or other now
we are sticking to English for communication :-). Hindi works for me speaking
to friends from the northern India.
When studying in the University, took German language classes conducted
by Max Mueller Bhavan at Anna University (in 1992). Continued learning
in Anna University and at Max Mueller Bhavan for the next two and half
years. This was a major reason I got to interact with visiting German customers
in Dewas. After that German is not of much use.
While working in Dewas, the director of the company arranged Italian
language classes for us. It did not last more than 3 months.
In 1997, landed in China without much preparation. Faced with a prospect of total extinction without learning the language, got one young college student to teach me Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese). Continued to learn in classes and in real life situations for the next 4 and half years. Took one intensive course in preparation for a leather technology training course to be conducted in Chinese to Chinese technicians. Now, I teach Chinese during the weekends in a nearby language institute.
