5 rupees a word

5 rupees a word: Finest English education I bought!

As a scientist, I've given talks at conferences across the world- slides polished, data tight, delivery (if I may say so ) rather smooth. At a conference few years back, a colleague pulled me aside afterward and said, "Coming from Kerala, your English is exceptional — so clear, so precise. How did you get so good? (What he really meant was: Where is your MALLU accent!? )".  I smiled, because the honest answer has nothing to do with Oxford textbooks or BBC podcasts. It has everything to do with a small convent school, a stern-faced Sister with a notepad, and the most aggressive language immersion program ever devised — entirely by accident.

You see, our school had a rule (out of many others) : one non-English word, five rupees, per offence. No mercy, no appeals, no "but Sister…. I forgot." In today's money, that's closer to a five hundred rupees- per syllable of your mother tongue. We didn't learn English so much as we paid for it, one painful fine at a time. Looking back, I didn't just receive an education at Presentation — I funded one ( thanks to my parents and all the Vishu kaineettams! ). And standing at that podium decades later, fluent and confident, I realized that every rupee I handed over in that little fine box was, in hindsight, the best tuition fee I ever paid.

Babukrishna Maniyadath (Scientist and Researcher), 2008 batch