It was the first time in my life. It was the first time that I would have to shut off the surroundings completely from my head and concentrate only on the dialogue that I was going to tell. Though the set up was scripted, I wanted to impress with my own Tamil verses. I was not afraid of the consequences, if I was not accepted. I had no other go. I didn't want to be someone's mouthpiece on such an occasion by just talking their sentences. "Cometh, whatever may be", I thought. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, leaned forward and started . "Madhipirkum mariyadhaikkum uriya..(Honorary dignitaries....) Yes ! There is a way to kick-off everything and this one being a Tamil debate organized for the annual day in my school also had to be started off with the formal introductions.
Some 10 days before this, I was sitting in my Class 11 Organic chemistry class. The benzene and phenol rings were too heavy for the last period of the day. The class was absolutely silent with many falling prey to the unconquerable Sleep God, while some others were honing their drawing skills in their notebooks. I took a glance at the watch to check how long it would be for the long bell to ring. "Phew! 15 more mins of Phenols and Ketones", I thought. "Prasoon! The principal wants to meet you. Can you quickly come with me?" asked the History teacher interrupting the class. "Principal a?!?! ", my mouth gaped in fear. " Did she see me dozing off in the physics class? Cha cha! No way! Then why is she calling me?", I thought. I gave a puzzled look at my friends who were trying to check with me on what happened . I overheard my history teacher informing my Chemistry sir that my meeting with the principal would be related to the school annual day celebrations . "What am I supposed to do for Annual day? Amavasaikkum Abdul khaderkum enna sammamdham ?Oru Vela, are they planning to request a solo dance performance of mine? Or a song in my mellifluous voice? But I know only classical songs la? Sindhu Bairavi or Hari Murali ravam? No! 'Thanni thotti ..' only". All these thoughts were going through my mind when I was walking towards the principal's room.
"Hello Prasoon! We are planning to have this year's annual day on Feb 28. " started my Principal. "Oh! Good, Madam!", I responded. "I have never seen you participating in any of the cultural activities all these years. You will get busy next year as you will be in 12th. So, why don't you get into something this year?" said my Principal. "Sure Madam. I will try", I gave a plastic reply. "Good! Anyway we are planning to have you as the judge for our Tamil debate program on Annual Day", she said. My eyeballs almost popped out of their respective sockets hearing this. "Debate a? That too in Tamil?", I thought. On top of this, "Judge Vera! Everyone knows how good my Tamil is(Read in a sarcastic tone)". "If you want me to participate in the debate and talk, I can manage , but to act as the judge would be difficult Madam. My Tamil is not that good", I told my Principal. "That is fine. I am not asking you to give en extempore . YS Sir(History Teacher) will prepare the script . You just have to memorize and deliver it. We will have rehearsals to ensure you talk according to the script. After all, who else in our school now can remember and recite a 6 page dialogue apart from you?", She completed. Was that a sarcastic comment? Cha! Can't be!
I nodded my head in all directions in sync to the long bell signalling the end of the day. I left the Principal room in a hurry. It was time to go home.Just then my History teacher asked me to meet him at the seventh standard 'C' section in some 10 mins. Be it school or office, when someone asks you to stay after hours, you tend to become Anniyan. I had no other choice. I went to the class as he told. He was taking tuition classes to some 20 class VII students. He asked me to sit in a bench and started talking about the topic of the debate. It was "Is Technology ruining the current generation?" He then introduced me that I would be the judge of the debate and all to some four students who had been staring at me as if I had stolen their tiffin box, from the time I entered the class. Being a humble person, I was floored by the way my teacher was introducing me. I smiled at them thinking, "Yeah! It's me". My teacher then said to them, "Make sure you teach this Anna(bro) on how to prepare for this debate and what points you have come up with. Prasoon! By the way, these 4 would be the debaters, you would be moderating on stage".
The next few days leading up to the Annual day went completely on rehearsing and improving the scripts. I was advised by every Tom, Dick and Harry who watched our practices to talk boldly like the other 4 students, to improve my intonation and bla bla. I was asked to improve my speaking skills as well. All of a sudden, I became a lab rat with people examining every huff and puff I did while talking and pointing out improvement areas and so on. I was seen as the weakest link in the setup. Being someone shy of talking in public(really!), talking pages of Tamil dialogues with appropriate intonations and also to interrupt and give counters(that should look spontaneous) when the participants talk is not my cup of tea. On top of this, I was told that I should talk as if I were trying to impress someone(Idhu Vera!).I badly wanted to get this done soon.
Photo courtesy
Some 10 days before this, I was sitting in my Class 11 Organic chemistry class. The benzene and phenol rings were too heavy for the last period of the day. The class was absolutely silent with many falling prey to the unconquerable Sleep God, while some others were honing their drawing skills in their notebooks. I took a glance at the watch to check how long it would be for the long bell to ring. "Phew! 15 more mins of Phenols and Ketones", I thought. "Prasoon! The principal wants to meet you. Can you quickly come with me?" asked the History teacher interrupting the class. "Principal a?!?! ", my mouth gaped in fear. " Did she see me dozing off in the physics class? Cha cha! No way! Then why is she calling me?", I thought. I gave a puzzled look at my friends who were trying to check with me on what happened . I overheard my history teacher informing my Chemistry sir that my meeting with the principal would be related to the school annual day celebrations . "What am I supposed to do for Annual day? Amavasaikkum Abdul khaderkum enna sammamdham ?Oru Vela, are they planning to request a solo dance performance of mine? Or a song in my mellifluous voice? But I know only classical songs la? Sindhu Bairavi or Hari Murali ravam? No! 'Thanni thotti ..' only". All these thoughts were going through my mind when I was walking towards the principal's room.
"Hello Prasoon! We are planning to have this year's annual day on Feb 28. " started my Principal. "Oh! Good, Madam!", I responded. "I have never seen you participating in any of the cultural activities all these years. You will get busy next year as you will be in 12th. So, why don't you get into something this year?" said my Principal. "Sure Madam. I will try", I gave a plastic reply. "Good! Anyway we are planning to have you as the judge for our Tamil debate program on Annual Day", she said. My eyeballs almost popped out of their respective sockets hearing this. "Debate a? That too in Tamil?", I thought. On top of this, "Judge Vera! Everyone knows how good my Tamil is(Read in a sarcastic tone)". "If you want me to participate in the debate and talk, I can manage , but to act as the judge would be difficult Madam. My Tamil is not that good", I told my Principal. "That is fine. I am not asking you to give en extempore . YS Sir(History Teacher) will prepare the script . You just have to memorize and deliver it. We will have rehearsals to ensure you talk according to the script. After all, who else in our school now can remember and recite a 6 page dialogue apart from you?", She completed. Was that a sarcastic comment? Cha! Can't be!
I nodded my head in all directions in sync to the long bell signalling the end of the day. I left the Principal room in a hurry. It was time to go home.Just then my History teacher asked me to meet him at the seventh standard 'C' section in some 10 mins. Be it school or office, when someone asks you to stay after hours, you tend to become Anniyan. I had no other choice. I went to the class as he told. He was taking tuition classes to some 20 class VII students. He asked me to sit in a bench and started talking about the topic of the debate. It was "Is Technology ruining the current generation?" He then introduced me that I would be the judge of the debate and all to some four students who had been staring at me as if I had stolen their tiffin box, from the time I entered the class. Being a humble person, I was floored by the way my teacher was introducing me. I smiled at them thinking, "Yeah! It's me". My teacher then said to them, "Make sure you teach this Anna(bro) on how to prepare for this debate and what points you have come up with. Prasoon! By the way, these 4 would be the debaters, you would be moderating on stage".
The next few days leading up to the Annual day went completely on rehearsing and improving the scripts. I was advised by every Tom, Dick and Harry who watched our practices to talk boldly like the other 4 students, to improve my intonation and bla bla. I was asked to improve my speaking skills as well. All of a sudden, I became a lab rat with people examining every huff and puff I did while talking and pointing out improvement areas and so on. I was seen as the weakest link in the setup. Being someone shy of talking in public(really!), talking pages of Tamil dialogues with appropriate intonations and also to interrupt and give counters(that should look spontaneous) when the participants talk is not my cup of tea. On top of this, I was told that I should talk as if I were trying to impress someone(Idhu Vera!).I badly wanted to get this done soon.
At last there I was seated in the middle of the stage with the four participants sitting by my side on the Annual Day and delivering the judgement speech on the debate. Though it was not a flawless presentation, I was happy that I didn't fall on my face in the course. I was thoroughly enjoying the applause at the end. I didn't want to look in the direction of my History teacher as I had deviated from the script and talked to my will. I don't know whether I was able to 'impress' anyone with that performance. The people present there got a different impression that 'Ivanukku vai konjam jasthiyo? Pesikitte irukkaan.'(Looks like this guy is very talkative). Though it was a success overall, I was not satisfied, as I still believe the applause would have been more, had I sung the song from Sindhu Bairavi. "Hmmm! Can't help! The world probably wasn't ready for that marvel!!" :P
