SHALL WE TAKE A RAIN CHECK?

 

“In learning, you will teach;

in teaching, you will learn.”

Phil Collins

 

“I heard a speaker once saying, after quoting the poem (No Time to Stand and Stare):

 Stand and stare at the toothless smile of a baby,

the graceful gliding of a bird,

the hue of a flower in bloom,

the rippling water,

the lashing waves.

These words, somehow, stayed in my mind to be reminded through your blog just now. Thanks Gerry.”

Kamala Parthasarathy ma’am was my colleague in Atomic Energy Junior college when I started my teaching career there, sometime in 1980. She was a senior and popular English teacher, and I was a fresh import from my gaon (Mangalore) – just 20-plus... very raw, nervous and inexperienced. I had carried with me my low self-esteem, which, I would, now, try to camouflage with newly-injected steroid called ‘Positive Thinking’... Courtesy -  Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale and their fraternity. I was so full of this positive psychology, that when I was hired as an ad-hoc Accountancy teacher (Mrs. Geeta Kulkarni, the established Accountancy teacher (now, a dear friend), was to proceed on a maternity leave)... yes, in my Accountancy classes, I would dish out to young kids what now I am doing here in my blog – the daily dose of motivation .

As I was shy, I would spend most my time in the college library, reading books such as ‘Discovery of India’ (Jawaharlal Nehru), ‘My Experiments with Truth’ (Mahatma Gandhi), or Leo Tolstoy’s enchanting stories. I remember, once, the library in-charge telling me curiously, “You are the only person who have been regularly reading these kinds of books here... You are still so young.”

I shrank even more, feeling shy!

Kamala Parthasarathy ma'am (second from our right) celebrating one of their milestones 

Well, the memories flashed back as Parthasarathy ma’am, a die-hard follower of my blogs, responded after I commented on the lines she had shared (which are presented at the outset of this blog):

“Once an English teacher, always an English teacher... So beautifully you have knit those lines here, ma’am.” I had added: “Ma’am, is it possible for us to have a WhatsApp call now?”

It’s early morning here, early night there in the US, where ma’am now lives. She is in her mid-eighties, but her intellect and sense of wit are sharp as ever. She replied:

“It will be an honour Gerry, but this month and half will not be the right time for me. Shall we take a rain check?”

“What’s ‘rain check’ ma’am,” I asked sincerely, but adding my tongue-in-cheek extra, “My English is as good as Trump’s Tamil.”

“Really Gerry?” Ma’am said knowing well that my tongue was in my cheek, “I said, let’s find a suitable time some time, soon.”

Well, in the meantime, I had already googled and found the meaning and the origin of that idiomatic expression – ‘Rain Check’.

You see, Parthasarathy ma’am has been living in the land where the game of baseball is a rage. I learnt, that this colourful expression was born in this land... Whenever the outdoor baseball matches used to get cancelled due to rain, the spectators would be given a ticket (check) for another game in future... Hence, the phrase meant, “Shall we keep it for another day?”

Jab Jaago tab sabera ji... I learnt one more idiomatic phrase thanks to Parthasarathy ma’am. I reminded ma’am, “That’s why I said, ‘once an English teacher, always an English teacher’!”

Then, I, also, reminded ma’am, about another senior colleague of ours in the school, Bhattacharya Sir, who taught Economics. He was widely known for his obsession for the usage of English idioms and phrases while teaching Economics. He gave great marks for those who used such expressions in their answer papers and cut marks for every spelling or Grammer mistake. Parthasarathy ma’am, recalled an incident when the parent of a boy had come over to school and yelled angrily in the Principal’s room, “It’s the answer sheet of Economics subject, not English.”

Ma’am sent one more message: “Sorry Gerry, there is a typo (wrong spelling) : ‘Byattacharya’... Hopefully, Bhattacharya Sir will not see this!”

One of Bhattacharya Sir’s often-repeated (and often imitated by his students) idiomatic expression was ‘to kick the bucket’...

To the uninitiated souls, who are slow-learners like me, it means ‘to die’, or ‘to pass away’. It’s more than a year since Bhattacharya Sir had kicked the bucket!

“No ma’am, Sir will not read your spelling mistake and no marks will be cut, rest assured.” I calmed ma’am down.

It all had started with English and ended up with Accountancy and Economics, taught by three of a kind, in one of a kind junior college... Yes, some 45 years ago!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: 1. Pixabay 2. Parthasarathy family

Video: Dramad182/Mind Your Language