They were the first batch to have completed their 10th board from the local convent school in Balasore. So our +2 Science class in F M College used to have a mixed population, kids like us who came from Odia medium schools and kids like them who came from an English medium school.
Though they were a handful in number, they used to stand out. They were fluent in English. They came from relatively affluent families. They used to dress differently, and they had an overall different demeanor. I used to be in awe of them. I still remember some of their names. Sanjay, Gopal, Jyotiskar and Amit(Shah). I wanted to be like them. And that started my journey with English.
Being a slow learner compared to my friends like Deepak and Prashanta, it took me years to overcome my fear of English and to be able to speak it confidently.
In Engineering college, during a viva voce exam for a lab, I answered a question in Odia. It was common practice back then. Most students and teachers used to be Odia. But this professor stopped me and told me to gather the courage to answer in English, and I did. That must have been the very first English sentence I spoke in a formal setting. I am sure I sounded tentative, unsure and possibly said it all wrong grammatically. But it was a start nevertheless.
