Vocabulary

Almost every year, Indian kids in US seem to be winning the Spelling competition. Some crazy complicated words, these kids will spell them correctly. But, when I was of their age, I knew only Apple, Boy, Cat ... Yellow and Zebra. Nothing more than that. Whatever is the basic minimum required, go with it.

When I was preparing for MBA exams with a couple of friends in the final year of my Engineering graduation, there was on section on vocabulary. We hardly knew any of those English words. So, we started reading the dictionary. One letter for each day, we thought. But, by the time, we came to the letter B, the exams were almost near.

Then, we did a clever calculation. This section has only five marks. If we spend the same time in learning the other 'quanti' stuff, we may be able to get more marks. So, we ditched the dictionary and along with that vocabulary.

So, I can sympathise with this Francis.


But, I continued reading Hindu from college days. I must credit whatever English I know to the Hindu newspaper - not that it is anything great. But, I can 'pass', I guess...