Memories of student days remain with us forever and ‘flash upon that inward eye/ Which is the bliss of solitude’ just like Wordsworth was reminded of his Daffodils whenever he had some time just with himself. Well I am no Wordsworth but the occasional walk down the memory lane is common to all men and so is the prerogative to pen down our memories even if our literary prowess is rather questionable.
Those days of friendship and fun, of fooling around, acting funny and often arrogant behaviour are replete with moments that have proved to be gems of learning in life. I remember an incident that occurred when I was a second year student of Engineering. I was a nutsy, crazy fellow always doing a lot of mischief. My roommate was a complete contrast. A simple chap, very decent and scrupulously well behaved. His name was Prodip Deshmukh. Prodip was a Marathi guy and his hometown was Amravati.
We became friends.True to my nature I never spared him, was always pulling his leg and playing pranks at him. But despite my mischievous antics, Prodip never took offence, rather his affection for me grew steadily and so did our friendship. Prodip’s love for me was indeed immense and often left me wondering, ‘why’? In fact, on mess feast days, when I took more pleasure in strolling out in the gentle breeze, what Prodip took pleasure in was to bring me extra ice creams!
Amravati (Prodip’s hometown) is near to Nagpur; so he often had visitors from home. Here again there was a contrast. I rarely had anyone coming to meet me.
Once, I recall, two gentlemen came to meet Prodip. They were all conversing in Marathi which I could not understand so I decided not to show any interest whatsoever in any of them or what they were discussing. Instead I pretended to be totally engrossed in my studies, concentrating on the EMF theory as if my very life depended on it.
Then probably realizing that a third character also existed in the room and as normal courtesy would demand from any polite and gracious person, one of Prodip’s visiting guests asked me the usual questions of civility. ”Where do you belong to?” ”Which branch have you opted for?” And so on.
Though these ordinary, standard enquiries required me to give simple, regular answers, they did not go down very well with me. Youth is often a time of conceited self importance. So the haughty attitude in my answer probably stemmed from the inexperience and rawness often associated with youth as also from my own natural temperament which is, as I perceive, a unique combination of gentility, cordiality and respect with a dash of arrogance thrown in.
Anyway, I had my own set of questions as reply.” Does it really matter, sir?” ”What difference does it make?” ”We are not likely to meet again and you will not even remember me?” ”So there is no point in asking these questions?”
The gentleman was not at all disconcerted by my stiff reply in a saccharin sweet tone. Unfazed, he quipped ”Hi, I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. I am a Veterinary Doctor. As you are aware that it is difficult to distinguish between animals since they look very similar, yet I am able to tell them apart without much difficulty, if I treat any of them!!!”
”I can make out that You are indeed a Human so I can assure you with certainty that it will be much simpler to remember you.”
His answer taught me a very important learning of life, more important than any professional course or stream of study.
Moral of the story- Never act arrogant with a veterinary doctor since you might be placed on a rung below the animals. In fact, never act arrogant with anyone. It might land you anywhere not so comfy. Pride goeth before a fall.
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This is part of the series on ” Humor ” for Creative Writing
This is part of the series on Descriptive Adjectives and words for Creative Writing
To learn the ” meaning ” of an adjective or word from the story. Stories are known as fiction because they have fictitious characters. An acerbic criticism
of some imaginary ( gulling, gamey, clamant, exigent, blabbing, gabbling, palavering, inveigling, blarneying, wheedling, chousing ) women.
Strange is this world …. Even the most harridan woman expects her husband to be uxorious.
Reading all the stories will teach you most useful, practical, adjectives for women. The verbs explain what women do in the stories.
Make sure you see
and
https://skmclasses.wordpress.com/accolades-and-appreciations-received-from-students-and-parents/
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acerbic – Sour or bitter in taste. Harsh or corrosive in tone. “an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose”.
gulling – Make a fool or dupe of. Gull – Fool or hoax. codding. twitting – Harass with persistent criticism or carping.
carping – Persistent petty and unjustified criticism. Raise trivial objections.
caviling. chicaning. chousing – Defeat someone through trickery or deceit. jockeying, shafting
gamey – Suggestive of sexual impropriety. racy.
clamant – Conspicuously and offensively loud; given to vehement outcry. Demanding attention. “clamant needs”. clamorous.
strident – Being sharply insistent on being heard. “strident demands”. Unpleasantly loud and harsh. sibilant. spirant. fricative. continuant.
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exigent – Demanding attention. “regarded literary questions as exigent and momentous”. Requiring precise accuracy.
“became more exigent over his pronunciation”.
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blabbing – blabbering – Divulge confidential information or secrets. Speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly. gabbling.
maundering. prating. clacking. gibbering. palavering. peaching. piffling, Piffle, prattling.
tattling – Prone to communicate confidential information. Speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly.
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inveigling – Influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering. blarneying.
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wheedling – The act of urging by means of teasing or flattery.
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harridan – A scolding (even vicious) old woman. nagger.
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vicious – (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering. “vicious kicks”. Having the nature of vice.
Bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure. Marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful. “vicious gossip”.
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uxorious – Foolishly fond of or submissive to your wife.
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huffy – Quick to take offence. Roused to anger. “stayed huffy a good while”.
hollering – A very loud utterance (like the sound of an animal). Utter a sudden loud cry.
beefing – Complain. grousing. squawking. Utter a harsh abrupt scream. skreighing. screaking. whining. yawping. yammering. wrawling. yowling.
scheming – Concealing crafty designs for advancing your own interest. “a scheming wife”; “a scheming gold digger”.
Scheme – Form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner.
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A truthful summary of huffy women is given at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIpmML49hMU
The best site to prepare for GRE, SAT, GMAT, TOEFL, IB, English skmclasses. Learn tough, rare words by reading short stories.
All short stories free for you.
Top 10 rare words, Top 10 adjectives for women, Top 10 rare words are tiny compared to
Top 100 rare words, Top 100 adjectives for women, Top 100 rare words;
or say Top 1000 rare words, Top 1000 adjectives for women, Top 1000 rare words. You get all of these here.
You also have top useful words, most obscure words …. etc.
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