A STUDY IN CONTRAST
The other day, I started my day by
reading a superb piece of work. It was an essay written by a school – going kid,
Shrishti (some 12 years kid), my grand niece. I realized it was indeed a model of writing good and
correct English. It was a school
assignment. Then the very next morning, hidden in the pages of News Paper was
this leaflet , advertising about some Tuition Class in Mugbhat, Thakurdwar,
Mumbai. It addressed the parents in this
manner:
Dear Parents & Students,
Its ( It has) been a 7 successful years conducting this (these) test series and thousands of
students has (have)
truly benefited by increasing
their percentage in
Boards (Examinations)…..
They are supposed to guide and teach
children, when they seem to have forgotten the basic rule of English Grammar – ‘
AGRREMENT OF THE VERB WITH THE SUBJECT ’- A verb must agree with the subject in
Person (First, Second and Third) and in Number (Singular and Plural)
Would you ever send your children to
such classes? For that matter would you tell your kids to read News Papers to
improve their language skills? This is
what I read in Mumbai Mirror, -- he had beat up
Anees black and blue. We would have beaten up by our teachers for such grammatical blunders.
Our
teachers would always stress that we should read news papers to improve our
language skills. They would even ask us, "What the front page news, what
was the head line ?" to find out whether we actually followed their
advice. But then these days what do we have:
I] THE
TIMES OF INDIA:
28TH
MAY.2015 - PAGE 4: REPORT ABOUT MONIKA, WHO HAD SECURED 63% IN HSC: Monika (who
lost both her arms in a train accident last year) and her family got
public tremendous (?) while being treated at Parel and drew a lot
of attention to commuter safety.
II]
MUMBAI MIRROR:
20TH JANUARY, 2014: PAGE 3 – Job-seeker
made to work at Riyadh camel stable …. However, Mushtaque did not answering his calls, nor was he available at his Bombay
Central office.
[IT
SHOULD BE ‘did not answer his call’ ]
24/5/2015:
Devendra Tiwari writes: Shinde’s advocate, Sushant Kanjuram said,” In spite of
Shinde giving several written complaints to the police about the death threats
from ex-partners, they did not taken any action.---”
[ DID NOT TAKE ANY ACTION OR HAVE NOT TAKEN ANY ACTION] It has also been alleged that whenever Shinde
was absence [ABSENT] from film city---
Do they
have editing and proof reading these days? I wonder. Be that as it may, I shall
continue with my topic –A study in contrast,
Now, I am posting Shrishti’s essay in verbatim,
it could , you may say, definitely be a study in contrast:
The Run
Precise Actions:
My heart was beating fast, my breathing was intense, and I was
pushing myself to the finish. Through all my runs I have learned that running
is just like life, you keep going no matter what, you never give up because it
hurts or it is hard, but most important you push yourself to the max.
Ready…. Set….. Go… Internal
Thinking: Everyone starts at once, come on I think pace yourself. I go to
the front and continue to run. Setting: I take a look up at the track in
front of me and I realize that it is a steep slope up, so I gather as much
energy as I can and I start running up the hill. When I got to the top I slowed
down and walked down the bottom part of the slope to let myself get some energy
back. I look back to see nothing but track and woods behind me. It is just me,
all by myself running. I have no one to talk to and nothing to say. I a way I
guess this is good because I can just worry about myself finishing and running
all the way. I knew that I was nowhere near the end but I was already get
cramps in my stomach. It hurts a lot now, both sides have cramps but I tell
myself to keep going and not to give up. I tell myself to ignore the pain as I
jogged deeper into the woods. I ran up the tiny hill and followed the twisted
path that followed after that until I was back out of the woods and almost
halfway there. I keep going until I see the bags filled with sand and a yellow
sign. I hit the yellow sign and turn around to go back. As I turn around I see
the rest of my camp just exiting the woods. I high-five them as I pass them,
they haven’t even gone halfway yet. Soon enough I find myself re-entering the
woods. At the top of the hill in the woods there is a bench. I am so tired and
the bench is not helping, if anything it is making me tempted to sit, but I know
I shouldn’t because then I would be taking a break and stopping. Instead of
sitting I tell myself to keep going, so I jog down the hill and exit the woods.
Since this is a public track there are other people on the track, as I am
running I pass a lady who smiles and says “Good for you!” Even though I am so
confused I say thank you and jog away. I find myself making a sharp right on
the track. I run up and back down the tiny hill and keep going. Up in front of
me is a training park for men and women to become more physically fit.
This place is crowded with people working out while listening to music. I wish
I could listen to music right now it would be a lot more fun and exciting. It
looks like a lot of fun there are monkey bars and pull-up bars, but I know that
places like these are not meant for fun and are meant for training. Now all I
want to do is sit down and take a break, but I know I can’t do that. I look
behind me and see that there is no one in sight. Up ahead is a another large
slope. I don’t know if I will make it up this one because I am so tired, but I
manage to get to the top at the top all I feel like doing is lying down to take
a break but I know I have to keep going. Come on I tell myself you’re almost
done with your 2.2 mile run. With this motivation I walk down the hill to make
the turn that leads me to the home stretch. The home stretch is like the very
last and final part the most challenging part. It is just like the last three
holes in golf. You play with all you got on these holes because you know that
every stroke counts, but in this case every stride counts. I run up the final
hill to see my coach riding alongside me giving me motivation. “Come on” she
tells me “You got this last chunk” come on I tell myself as I am rounding the
last edge you can do this I run as fast as I can all the way to the finish I
hit the pole and stop. I want to sit but I know I shouldn’t I put my hands
behind my head and remain standing. I remember my coach telling me that blood
circulates to the the highest parts in your body and after a run you need to
get the blood back to your head. I wait at the most 10 minutes before everyone
comes. “You think this is bad” my coach says “wait till the next part.” She
takes up to an open grassy field and says now we will be doing 500 core
exercises we all groan “Come on” she says “You’ll make it” we sit in a
circle and wait for the directions.
This is how I connect running to
life and golf, you have to keep going no matter how much it hurts or how hard
it is.
Vinay Trilokekar
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