Q:Why do you speak?
A: Because I would like to hear my voice again and again.
I heard Prof. Marudanayagam, formerly H.O.D, of English Department, Pondicherry University, currently at the Institute for Tamil as a classical language at Chennai, saying this in a meeting, long ago. I do not remember the literary figure he was referring to on that day. Everyone has a desire to hear his or her voice again and again. That’s the reason why, quite a few ,given an opportunity to stand before the mike, they don’t stop that easily once they begin to speak , unmindful of how the captive audience tolerate him or/her with tremendous patience. Teaching in the class room or speaking on the stage, including on big academic platforms where some big celebrity figures are present, is both an art and science; any teacher would like to master that art of public speaking and try to impress the audience with his eloquence and mastery over language and also the subject in question.
Franklin Roosevelt gave another dimension to this question: “How do I know what I think until I hear myself talking?” Unless we attempt to talk coherently, we’re not sure what has been going on in our molecules of the brain. Personally speaking, I have inadvertently not given academic space for the other persons while indulging in conversation, and not having the patience while listening to others. It is certainly not a good trait and my youngest daughter has many a time admonished me for this crime. It is only very recently I learnt that, even in mild conversation, if we do not talk much and allow the other side to speak, our B.P will slow down and health will improve. Being a victim of B.P, I should at least change my habit from the stand point of health. But it is easier said than done.
What’s the use of thinking, reading and talking unless they do not eventually spillover and manifest into writing for the broader audience in order that, they will be dissolved into cosmos and anchored there for eternity. One need not worry how posterity will judge.
More than reading and teaching, writing is very much essential to find solace and relief to fall back into a blissful peace, when we are bombarded by turbulent times. Realizing fully and forcefully “the inexorable pressure of diminishing time, writing was the only relief and prop to an uncertain and precarious future”, says Anthony Burgess (1917-1953), who turned out prodigious output. But everyone is not destined to write beautifully, as he or she can read or speak because, writing is more difficult and like an inspired lecture, good writing will not flow if there is no extra signal from the cosmos to help connect words and connect them to the outside world.
In my academic journey, I had the privilege to listen to very good teachers in languages and in my own discipline, Economics. They didn’t write much but they gave wonderful lectures in a more involved way. Invariably, many good teachers have not written much and their contributions to the student community are immense than many great scholars.
It was only after entering into the University, I had the prop and necessary inspiration to write. The Hindu Business Line gave me a platform and J. Srinivasan ,as an essential component of that prestigious business news paper from Chennai gave me the exposure and the necessary academic ‘make up’ by way of meticulous editing – a debt I can’t repay in this birth. I have many such debts to repay in life. Perhaps, it will take many births to return back the love , I have received from the broader humanity .
No comments:
Post a Comment