Language and Love

            by Seelam Paramesh Reddy

 

She came in like a storm, “Chinna get up” she yelled seeing me still in bed.

“Why mom, what are you talking about”.

“School of course” she said, “But I thought school was over and that I could play until I was big”.

“Today you’re going to a new one, so get up, and get ready, by the time I come back.”  And she went off to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

The kitchen was a mile away; we lived in a small bedroom with a bathroom attached to it. We got that room from my parent’s boss. They both worked as chefs at an Indian restaurant nearby. We had only four neighbors, who lived in the house with us. Two of them were from Punjab; the only thing they did after work was go to the liquor store and get drunk. The other two were from South India; one was really religious, while the other had a steady hobby of sleeping.

As I got up from my bed, I rolled all the blankets up and got ready for school. Saying goodbye to my mom, my dad and I drove off to my new school.

To my disbelief I found out that it was the same school as last year. The only difference was that I was in the bigger kids’ school, where the kids went after kindergarten. As we entered the double doors, my old teacher found us wandering around; she came to us and asked my dad how I was doing.

“Paramesh is doing well” said my dad.

“Good then he should be ok in the first grade”.

“Where is first grade?”

“Down the hall and take the first right all the way down.

“Thank you, bye.” As we walked past some doors, I spotted the first grade room. Peeking in to see where the teacher was I fell right on my face. The teacher came immediately to see if I was all right, I looked up to see her. I hated the most in that school. That instant I told my dad in my language I don’t want to go to this school, and he began thinking of a reply. But hah I was faster, I started to cry, he took me to the principle and asked if I could change teachers. The nice principle said sure,

“No, I don’t like this school,” I said and cried more. My dad talked to the principle and came out.

“Hope to see you soon Reddy”

“No” I protested. I walked out that school so happy,

“I don’t know what you’re going to say to mom.” my dad said. I forgot I had to face her when we got home.

When we got home, my dad asked me to get down from the car, but I hesitated. “Ok, fine I will call mom then” 

“No” 

“Then get down.” In a few seconds I found myself in front of my mother, she was mad but my dad gave her a look that calmed her down. I went to the restaurant with them; they made me sit in the car outside until they finished cooking. That car it had to be a few hundred degrees, because I was melting like an ice. The seats were hot and everything I touched was an owwww.

After two hours. my mom came outside and took me home. Now I was scared, she knew nobody was there to stop her from beating me. But to my utter surprise she just let me go and play in the living room. She came out later and asked me what I wanted to do instead of school.

“I want to go to grandma’s house,” I said. The next week I found myself in the airport, my parents  told me that I was going to my grandma’s house, and also told me to follow a lady who would drop me there. I followed her; she took me into an oval room with many chairs and seat belts and made me sit in the one beside the window. Which was the size of a watermelon? She brought me a lot of toys to play with and I had to sit there the whole day entertaining myself. I felt a little bump and some screeches, then the lady came back and took me out of a different building.

“Where are we going ma’am?” I asked,

 “Were going to grandma’s house of course" She brought me outside, As soon as I stepped out.           

My grandma came, hugged me and kissed me till my cheeks were red. We went in a car to our village. There a man with a horse carriage was waiting, and we got on it and went bumping home.  Along the way, we passed many endless acres of land; it was a beautiful sight that no one could ever forget so easily.

Our house was outside the village, because our family was the first to settle there. After that, the village grew around our house. Our house was not that modern; my grandmother was not ready to leave that house though, which her husband had built for her along time ago when they got married. I got some rest and got up after two or three hours to find my bed surrounded by relatives and other town folks that came by to see the first American kid in the village. I stayed for a week in my home village to meet people and say “Hi” to people for my parents. Later, I was taken to the boarding school where, I would spend my next 7 years without my parents.

The school was not that bad it had a big school, two big complexes for boarding purposes and a large mess area, 3 soccer fields, four basketball courts, 4 volleyball courts, a big auditorium, they did business by selling milk, fruits like mangos, guavas, coconuts, and also a cattle business. They also grew their own rice.

I was one of the few foreign kids; there were kids from across the globe like from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Africa, and some other hard to pronounce places. The first few days, I stayed at the dormitory and learned the rules and regulations of the school, where things went and what to do at certain times. After I finally got an idea of what the rules in the school were, I was asked to check out the school.

It was so scary the first day. I didn’t know where I was going, until a beautiful girl (Mownika) came and asked me if I needed help. She looked at my schedule and said that I also was in her class, but I was just looking at her without a blink until she snapped me out of it. I followed her to my new class; it was so different, all the desks were like benches and had a shelf underneath to put your books. And another high bench in front of the low one, with a shelf to put your belongings. As we entered the room we were greeted by her friends, who were really shocked to find her with a boy on the first day of school. “Yavurru a abbabi,” (who is he) asked one girl,

“Paramesh nenu kotha ikada.”

“Hey Paramesh go over there and kuucho.” Mownika gestured, I went and sat in the desk she pointed to.

Sitting there with nothing to do, I started to pray that she would sit with me; mownika did sit next to me. She explained all about the classroom rules and what I had to do every time I came to class. “Are you new here also? Where do you get all this information?” I asked.

“No, I am an old student I was in this school from l.k.g (preschool), you didn’t miss any school, and all we did until now was get our books and supplies.” I sighed with relief, I thought that maybe I missed a lot by sitting in the boarding home, doing all that binding for my new books.

“It looks like your all ready”.

“Yeah my warden made me do these things in the days I didn’t come to school.”  

After several minutes of silence in the room, there was a big bang from somewhere, I jerked

“Don’t worry, it’s just the intercom”, Mownika replied. It was the announcement for our new schedule for the year to come. Unlike in the states, in India we had to stay in one room for the whole day, or year, and the teachers came to you instead of you going to another classroom every time.

 We got our schedules after the second grade got theirs. Every one was very happy because they got all the easy teachers they knew from last year. I think I was the only one who was very mad. The principle told me that I didn’t have to take the language class. I went up to him and I demanded justice,

“I don’t even know the alphabets and you expect me to be in an advanced class?” “Now calm down, and show respect or you will get it, I am putting you there because you are the only one who doesn’t know Telugu in this school and the teacher that teaches high levels is the one that will teach you the basics.” He said without a pausing for me to talk. Just as I was defeated, the bell rang for the afternoon classes. As I was walking up the stairs to my class I met Mownika. The teacher came in after the second bell and introduced herself to the class. I heard many whispers from behind, “What are they all talking about” I asked.

“Shhhhhhh, don’t talk out loud, this teacher is the hardest one”, Mownika whispered. I found out the reason soon enough. She said that the principle changed the teachers because a kid has to be taught the language from the beginning. As soon as the students found out about the problem, I made many more enemies then friends. The only one person that showed no emotion was Mownika. It made me like her even more.

After some months, I knew why everybody hated the teacher so much; she wanted me to learn the whole language in one to two months. Everyday felt like the same, my life was just in the dark getting even darker. I failed every test and exam given that year.

         Every time I got a report card, I would in the evening wear my loosest pajamas that I had. The warden gets all the grades from the teachers and brings them to the home. He would then come to the study hall and take all the people who got bad grades out to the hallway. For each bad grade, we got one strike on our backs or legs. I wore the loosest pajamas so it wouldn’t hurt me, just hit all the air. But one time I was wrong, he came close to me and pinched the loose cloth in front and pulled it towards him then smacked one after another, three times.

“But brother” my eyes almost filled with tears.

“It’s for trying to act smart in front of me.” I just tried not show any pain and went back to my desk; I took out my Telugu book and tried to read the lesson. After dinner, I got some strength to hold all that pain my legs were causing. The brother saw me from his room window, and called me over to give me some medicine.

“No thanks”, I replied and walked away I knew that I had him feel guilty. That night in bed felt like I was lying in a pit of thorns, every few minutes I would change the side I laid on. It was so uncomfortable I couldn’t sleep at all. I had always had a habit of sleeping like the preserved mummy on my back with both the palms one another. And for this reason my legs, whenever in contact with anything, they would just go crazy.

            Three years passed by with many good and bad memories, but alright.

I got to be the only best male friend Mownika has ever had, we would chat with each other every single free second we got in class. I got introduced to her friends or sisters as I call them. I also made many other friends in the school. But one thing still hasn’t changed over the course of years, I still hadn’t learned Telugu. Unlike in the states if you fail one subject you have to redo the whole year again. That really surprised me; I knew I was failing a subject every time. But I still went to the next level of Telugu. Which was a little suspicious, I had to ask the teacher what was happening.

“Paramesh you are a good student but the thing is that every test I give you in class you fail, but the final exam that you take you get a good grade.” When she said that, I totally knew what was happening. It made me feel like the stupidest person on earth or the universe. I told her that I couldn’t learn that language and walked out.

            A sudden chill in my body that evening changed me for ever. I sat in the garden after dinner and went over all the things that I had to conquer before the year ended. It was funny I couldn’t remember anything expect the very thought that I had to succeed in that darn language. I made a checklist in my mind and started to check off everything that I was good at. Check, check, check…….. . I finally reached my goal I went in to the study and made a small note.

Do home work in the first study. Then read and practice Telugu the rest. Every time

             From that day on, I just threw myself on the book, every study time I had I would go get the newspaper and read it twice, not the whole thing but the articles that had the longest and hardest words. In a couple of months I was able to speak better then before. Then came the hardest part of all, the writing. Every word can be spelled a different way and there were some nice 58 letters and around some 15 to 20 different kinds of one letter. The writing was not so bad, it was the place where you had to put all the dots and curve lines that changed the meaning of the words. I never got them but my teacher was proud of me for doing my best. That’s all I wanted from the moment I learned that she was a strict teacher. It finally felt like my life was stepping out of the darkness and into the light.

            When finally the exams time came Mownika, all my sisters and I were going over the syllabus together in a nice big circle. The Telugu teacher came over to our group and said “If paramesh gets a good grade in my subject, I will give this class a good grade for the final exam.” Our mouths just dropped to the floor. Is she our teacher we thought? After the teacher left I felt a sudden silence in my group. I turned around slowly looking into each of their faces

“What are you guys looking at”, bam within a blink of an eye I was attacked. I couldn’t tell what or who until it was over, “Orrne ye yabba” I yelled in pain looking around.

“If you don’t pass this test, then you will get it 10 times this.” Oh man that hurt, but hey it was just for fun so I let it go.

            I went home with only one day before the exams. I studied my best and got prepared for the next day.

            In the morning we had to go to the home room and look at our schedules for the day (we were sent to different rooms so that the cheating would be impossible. The lower classes had no school. So that the whole school could be shuffled and so prevent any cheating.) I was in a class with my seniors, I went and found my seat and got all the necessary items out. The exam was all together four hours long, I thought it went all right. I was just happy about one thing in this week of exams, after the exams I would be going to my village. The very thought of it made me feel so happy and high spirited.

            After the exams I waited near the front gate, so I could say bye to Mownika before I left to my village for the holidays (I didn’t want her mother to see me with her because in our culture it not proper to speak to a girl outside of class).There she was coming down the steps of the main building, I thought of running up to her and hug her before she left but to my bad luck, her mother had also come to pick her up earlier then ever. I had to just walk away with a guilt feeling in my heart, for not wishing her nice holidays. As I started back to the boarding school to pack up my bags for the holidays I heard my name being called. It was my uncle; he was earlier than I thought.

            We had a great time in my house; the festival of Dessara is one of the festivals I loved so much. It was the festival where all the families go to the farms and cook and eat in the open air. People swimming in the lakes near the farms, all the wonderful food that is cooked and eaten fresh off the open flames. It’s just wonderful when all are united on one day.

            The holidays were over so quick that I thought I just arrived here and leaving so soon. When I reached the boarding school, I found that we still had three days of holidays and that I read the dates wrong. So for the remaining days I just went over the last lessons for school and watched three movies every day. When the school started I was so worried about my grades and the fate of my group. But to my surprise I found my name in the tenth place in my class for Telugu. I ran to my class to find Mownika outside the door waiting for me.

“Did you see the grades?” I asked.

“Yeah I did she replied.” My group came over and gave me good compliments. I was waiting for her to say something else, but instead she quickly hugged me tightly. I knew the meaning of this, she liked me, and it was unbelievable.

       “Hey guys look at those two.” A guy shouted. The next moment I found 100 eyes looking at us, it was the best days of my life till now.