I just BRANG

Hari (Name changed for obvious reasons), born and brought up in a small village in Kerala completed his schooling from a Malayalam medium school in his locality. A malayalee who never went to a Malayalam medium school misses out more on English grammar rather than Malayalam itself. I will tell you how. The teaching techniques followed in state schools to learn English grammar is strictly based on text books. You are taught "English", not to speak in English. You get to learn about "subject", "voice", "tense" and so on, but framing a sentence becomes more of a jigsaw puzzle and speaking in English becomes a nightmare.

After completing his schooling Hari joined a state run college in the nearby town. Hari seldom got a chance to use English in his college as speaking English in colleges run by the state was not against the rules but it was frowned upon. Hence, the staff or students in Hari's college never bothered using English as a medium for communication.

Following his degree, Hari started trying his luck in the IT domain which had started booming in the country. Being the intellect he was, Hari managed to get short listed for an interview in the very first exam he had attended.

The interview was to be held in Bangalore and Hari left for Bangalore accompanied by Vivek, his best mate. Blending in with the Bangalore crowd was not easy for Hari and the cosmopolitan english speaking crowd was taking its toll on the boy.

Waiting in the office reception along with the other candidates, Hari tells Vivek how he feels. Vivek asks Hari to relax and tells him to have a conversation with the person sitting next to him. Vivek convinces him that this should help him blend in with the group and also give him a head start for the English he has to speak in the interview to follow.

The conversation Hari had with the candidate sitting next to him goes like this.

Hari - Hi. I am Hari.

Candidate - Hi. Vishal. (Shakes hands) So, are you from Bangalore?

Hari - No. I am from Kerala.

Vivek is quite impressed with the start and is happy about the fact that things are going on better than expected.

Candidate - (Noticing the degree certificate with Hari) Are we supposed to bring the certificates?

Hari wants to respond but he realizes that he faces a problem. He can’t figure out the past tense for "Bring". Vishal repeats the question and Vivek starts getting nervous realizing the situation up front. Hari thinks hard. The past tense for “ring” is “rang”. So for “bring” it has to be .... BRANG.

Hari - I just BRANG.


Vishal raises an eyebrow. Vivek runs out of the room covering his mouth trying to control his laughter. Hari doesn't have a clue on what has gone wrong.


Hari has moved on after the BRANG incident. He has been in a major IT company in Bangalore for around 5 years and is one of the best members in his team. He speaks English fluently and all his friends still get back to him to clarify their doubts on English grammar. Meanwhile a lot of his friends who never got a chance to study in a state school still struggle with the tense and grammar. It is very noticeable and it won’t take long for you to pick grammatical mistakes from my posts in this blog.