We were in our teens and my cousin desperately wanted to speak English fluently. (thanks to our Malayalam medium school). He found out a spoken English tutor at Broadway, Ernakulam. On a beautiful evening we went to his home and knocked on his door. A 30 year old Malayali tutor opened the door and asked us to sit down. We sat at the edge of his sofa. He asked us our names for which we gave him the correct answer. We did not understand the 2nd and the other questions which were really tough. It is like the tutor has taken a pledge that he won’t speak in Malayalam in his life time!. Things went from bad to worse when we saw him talking to his own 5 year old kid in fluent English. He went on asking questions to us in English to which I and my cousin looked at each other. We knew we were in deep trouble. Fortunately his wife called him in English and he went to the next room. All off a sudden we escaped from his sofa and a few minutes later found ourselves sitting in the nearby park. Even after 25 years, I wonder why did he speak to us in English!
