Class 8 English Chapter 6: Verghese Kurien — I Too Had A Dream

A chapter that is a letter

This chapter is not an essay about a famous man. It is a letter written by one, and the form matters. There is a place and a year at the top, Anand and 2005. There is a greeting to one reader, My dear Siddharth. There is a close with love, and a signature. Everything in between is addressed to a grandson rather than to you, and that is why it reads as it does.

The first question of the letter

He opens by asking when he last wrote, and admitting he cannot remember. That is an ordinary way to begin a letter, and it is also his way into an argument. The world has become fast-paced, he says, and we are so addicted to instant communication that we reach for a telephone.

Fleeting against abiding

Then comes the heart of the opening. Speaking on the telephone gives an immediate joy, but a fleeting one. Writing is different. A letter carries your present concerns and your view of events, and it becomes a possession that can be treasured and read again over the years, with abiding pleasure. One is quicker; the other can be opened again.

What he hopes the letter will become

He does not expect his grandson to read it all at once. He expects him to pick up these jottings a couple of decades later, and to find in them a deeper understanding of what his grandfather did and why. He also expects the letter to work as a record of the days just before the twenty-first century began.

A letter for more than one reader

Near the end he widens it. He dedicates these musings to Siddharth and to the millions of other children of his generation, hoping they will go bravely into the world and work tirelessly in their chosen field. A private letter is turned, deliberately, into a public one.

The India he wanted to build

He started work soon after the country became independent. The noblest task then, he says, was to help build an India of their dreams. He lists what that meant. A nation where people hold their heads high in freedom, free from hunger and poverty. A nation living with equal respect and love, counted one day among the foremost in the world.

What choosing costs

Then a sentence worth stopping on. He realised, in humility, that picking one kind of life means setting aside the wish to try the others. That is not a complaint. It is an honest account of what any serious choice does, and he dates the change in himself to fifty years before the letter.

The three roads he did not take

He is specific about what he gave up. Metallurgy could have made him the chief executive of a large company. A commission in the Indian Army might have ended with a general’s rank. He could also have left for the United States and become a successful NRI. He names all three, and says he chose none.

The road he took

What he chose was a small cooperative whose dairy farmers wanted control over their own lives. He says plainly that service to the nation’s farmers was not the career he had envisioned. A series of events swept him along and put a choice in front of him. Deep down, he knew he could do more in Anand.

His grandmother’s choice

He gives a whole paragraph to his wife. Life in Anand in those days could not offer even the simple comforts people take for granted now, and she knew it. She supported his choice ardently anyway. That choice to stand by him, he says, gave him an everlasting strength and let him carry his responsibilities with poise.

Sharing the credit

Whenever he was recognised for his contribution, he always said the same thing. The recognition belonged to the achievements of the many people he had worked with. Notice that this is not modesty in the sense of pretending. It is a statement about how large work actually gets done.

The medal, and the answer

The letter remembers a ceremony in Delhi in 1999, where the President awarded him the Padma Vibhushan. Siddharth, who was there, slipped the medal round his own neck, looked at it in awe, and asked innocently whether he could keep it. His grandparents told him the medal was his as much as theirs.

And then the harder half

They added the part that makes the story worth telling. He should not be satisfied with merely keeping his grandfather’s award. The challenge in front of him was to earn a reward of his own, for work he did in his own lifetime. A medal can be handed over; what it stands for cannot.

How the letter closes

The last lines gather it up. If we are brave enough to love, he says, and strong enough to rejoice in another person’s happiness, we are most of the way there. The third part is knowing that there is enough to go around for all. Then come the dedication, his fondest love, and the signature.

Scenario:

A Class 8 class was asked to write a letter to a younger cousin about something they had learnt this year. Most wrote four lines and stopped. One student said she would send a voice message instead, because it was faster and her cousin would listen to it at once. The teacher asked her to do both, and then to ask her cousin a month later which one he could still remember. He remembered the letter, and told her he had read it twice. He could not remember the voice message at all, although he had replied to it the same evening.

Analysis:

The experiment makes Kurien’s argument instead of quoting it. The voice message was quicker and got an immediate reply, which is exactly the joy he calls fleeting. The letter was slower and still existed a month later, so it could be read twice. Notice what the teacher did not do. She did not tell the student that messages are bad, and nor does Kurien, who admits we are all addicted to instant communication. The test was simply which one survived a month, and that is the only claim the letter makes.

Activity:

Write a short letter to somebody younger than you about one thing you learnt this year. Keep a copy for yourself.

Title:

Three roads

Safety:

This is private writing. Nobody has to read it out unless they want to.

What You Notice:

The costs are usually easier to list than the reasons, which is why Kurien needed only one sentence for his.

Verghese Kurien led the dairy cooperative movement that became Amul, and the milk programme he built is often called the White Revolution.

Anand is a town in Gujarat, and the cooperative that began there grew into a model copied across India.

The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in India, and he received it in 1999.

Why he writes rather than calls — Fleeting against abiding — A call gives joy that is immediate and fleeting. A letter becomes a possession and gives abiding pleasure, because it can be read again.

The three roads not taken — Metal, Army, Abroad — Metallurgy and a company, a commission in the army, or a successful life abroad. He chose a cooperative in Anand instead.

Where the letter turns to advice

The first half of the letter explains a life. The second half is what he has learnt from it, and the change of gear is clear. He stops describing choices and starts naming values, beginning with where they came from: his parents, other family elders, and his mentor at Anand, Tribhuvandas Patel.

Sharing the recognition

Before the values, one more piece of honesty. Whenever he was recognised, he stressed that the recognition belonged to many people. He then says something stronger. His own contributions were possible only because he had stuck to certain values.

Integrity, defined usefully

He calls integrity the most important of his values, and then does something unusual with it. Instead of leaving it as a grand word, he narrows it. Personal integrity is being honest to yourself. That is a test you can actually apply, because you always know whether you are telling yourself the truth.

Why that order matters

His next sentence is the useful half. If you are always honest with yourself, it does not take much effort to be honest with others. The order is the point. Most people try to manage the outside first, and find it exhausting. Keeping a story straight for other people is hard work if you are not straight with yourself.

Life as a privilege

Then a plain statement: life is a privilege, and to waste it would be wrong. A privilege is something not everybody gets, so the word carries an obligation. Life is not called a right or a possession here. He says it is something handed to you, which is why wasting it is a fault and not merely a pity.

What living it requires

Three things, and they are listed as instructions. Accept responsibility for yourself. Use every talent you have, as fully as you can. And give something to the common good. Each is within reach of a school student, which is almost certainly why he phrased them that way.

The common good is not far away

He is careful to keep this practical. The common good presents itself in many forms every day. Look around and there is a lot waiting to be done. A friend may need help. A teacher could be looking for a volunteer. A community will need a contribution.

His definition of failure

This is the sentence most readers remember. Failure is not about not succeeding. It is about withholding your best effort, and giving nothing at all to the common good. By that definition a person can fail an examination without failing, and can pass everything and still fail.

Why that definition is fair

It moves the measure to something you control. Results depend on luck, on other people and on chance. Effort and contribution do not. Kurien has already admitted that anything can go wrong at any time, and mostly does. A definition of failure built on outcomes would be built on weather.

Comparing yourself with others

He then takes up happiness. There is little correlation, he says, between people’s circumstances and how happy they are. Most of us compare ourselves with somebody we think is happier: a relative, an acquaintance, often somebody we barely know. The comparison feels like information, and it is not.

Images of perfection

His reason is sharp. Looked at closely, he says, those lives turn out to be images of perfection. Nobody lives inside the picture you have of them. Seeing that, he says, helps us understand and cherish what we have rather than what we do not have.

How the letter ends its argument

The closing idea comes in three parts. If we are brave enough to love, he says, and strong enough to rejoice in another person’s happiness, we are most of the way there. The third part is knowing that there is enough to go around for all. Each part answers a common fear.

Fact and opinion

The chapter adds a reading skill here, and the letter is a good place to practise it. A fact can be proved true or false and does not depend on anybody’s belief. An opinion is a belief, a feeling or a judgement, which can differ from person to person and cannot be proved.

Sorting the letter’s own sentences

Try it on his lines. He started his working life soon after independence: that is a fact, and so is the award of the Padma Vibhushan in 1999. A telephone call gives only fleeting joy: that is an opinion, however reasonable. Life is a privilege, and to waste it would be wrong: that is a judgement, and he offers it as one.

Scenario:

Two cousins compared their report cards in December. Rhea had come fourth in a class of forty, with a note from her teacher saying she had coasted and handed in three assignments late. Imran had come twenty-sixth, with a note saying he had worked steadily all term, had taught two classmates the whole chapter on fractions, and had improved in every subject since June. At the family dinner Rhea was praised and Imran was told to try harder next time. Their grandmother, who had read the chapter with them, said the praise had gone to the wrong cousin.

Analysis:

The grandmother is applying Kurien’s definition rather than the usual one. Failure, he says, is not about not succeeding; it is about not putting in your best effort, and giving nothing at all to the common good. By that measure Imran did neither. He worked steadily, and he taught two classmates, which is the common good in exactly the form the letter describes. Rhea’s rank is better and her effort was not. Notice what the definition does not say. It does not say ranks are meaningless. Nor does it excuse anybody who simply does not learn. It moves the question from what happened to what was given.

Activity:

Write your own report card for this term, with one line on effort and one line on something you contributed.

Title:

One week of the common good

Safety:

Keep the page private, and write about tasks rather than about people.

What You Notice:

Most of the blanks turn out to be small, which is the point Kurien makes about the common good presenting itself daily.

Tribhuvandas Patel was the farmer-leader who built the Kaira cooperative at Anand and brought Kurien into it, which is why the letter calls him a mentor and a supporter.

The word integrity comes from a Latin word meaning whole or untouched, which is why it suggests a person who is the same all the way through.

Psychologists have found what Kurien says about happiness: beyond a point, people’s circumstances predict their happiness much less than most of us expect.

His definition of integrity — Honest to yourself first — Personal integrity is being honest with yourself, and then honesty with other people takes very little effort.

The three things living a life well needs — Responsibility, talent, contribution — Accept responsibility for yourself, use every talent you have fully, and give something to the common good.

Swapping in a synonym

A synonym is a word with nearly the same meaning as another. The exercise gives six words from the letter and asks you to replace each one. Magnificent becomes splendid. Fleeting becomes momentary. Instant becomes swift. Core becomes essential. Valuable becomes useful. And abiding becomes lifelong.

Why nearly matters

Two synonyms are rarely equal. Momentary and fleeting both mean short-lived, but fleeting suggests something slipping away while momentary simply says how long it lasted. Swapping a word for its synonym keeps a sentence true and changes its shade, which is why writers choose between them.

Six expressions from the letter

In all humility means being humble, with no feeling of self-importance. To hold your head high is to be confident and positive. To be quite honest means to speak in a truthful way, usually before something awkward.

Three more worth keeping

To do something to the best of your ability is to use all your skills, talents and knowledge on it. To look at something in awe is to look with great respect and wonder. And somewhere deep down means in the innermost part of yourself.

Where the letter uses them

Each expression is doing work in the letter. In humility, he saw what choosing a life costs. Indians, he hoped, would hold their heads high in freedom. To be quite honest, he says, this was not his planned career. His grandson looked at the medal in awe. And somewhere deep down, he knew he could do more at Anand.

Words inside words

The next exercise is a game with a serious use. Out of community you can build city, toy, tune, unity, mutiny and cot. Pulling smaller words out of a long one trains your eye for the parts of words, which is how most unfamiliar words get guessed.

Trying it on other words

Important gives import, port, train and rant. Magnificent gives magnet, fig, cent and ice. Satisfied gives fist, said and fade. Generation gives nation, ration, great and iron. Achievement gives chief, each and vent. Only the letters in front of you may be used.

Two dashes, two jobs

A dash links words or numbers, or creates a pause. There are two, and they are different lengths. The shorter one is the en dash. The longer one is the em dash. Neither takes spaces around it, and neither should be used too often.

The en dash: spans and ranges

Use the short dash when you mean from one thing to another. The train operates June-September. Refer to pages 50-75. India won the series 2-1. The conference runs from March 15 to March 20, which in writing becomes March 15-20.

The em dash: extra or a turn

Use the long dash to add information or to show a change of thought. The sculpture, carved from a single log, stands in the courtyard, with the middle part set off by two em dashes. Or at the end of a sentence: I ran into someone I had not seen for years, my first class teacher.

How the letter uses the em dash

Kurien drops whole thoughts inside his sentences with it. Writing, even if it is a letter, conveys our present concerns, with the middle clause held between two dashes. And he tells Siddharth not to be satisfied with keeping the award, then turns with a dash to the challenge of earning his own.

Possession without an apostrophe

The letter also gives a spelling rule worth having. Yours and theirs show possession and take no apostrophe. Its belongs to the same family: the cooperative and its farmers, a book and its cover. No apostrophe appears anywhere in that family.

When the apostrophe does belong

It’s is not a possessive at all. It is a contraction, short for it is, and the apostrophe stands where the letter i has been removed. The letter has an example: he says it’s a recognition of the achievements of many people.

The test that always works

Read the sentence with it is in place of the word. It’s raining becomes it is raining, which works, so the apostrophe is right. The dog wagged it is tail does not work, so that sentence needs its. One substitution settles every case.

What to carry out of this topic

Six synonyms. Six expressions, learnt whole. The habit of pulling small words out of long ones. Two dashes, one for spans and one for extra information. And one test: if it is fits, write it’s.

Scenario:

A school club typed a notice about a visit. It read: The trip to the dairy — which we have been planning — will run on March 12 — March 14 — and it’s cost — including the bus — is four hundred rupees. Students should bring a cap — a water bottle — and a notebook. Four teachers read it and three of them asked what the dates were. The English teacher put it on the board the next morning with a red pen and three notes in the margin.

Analysis:

Three faults, and every one is in this topic. The dates are a span, so March 12-14 needs the short en dash, and using the long one there is why three teachers could not see where the range began. The word it’s is a contraction of it is, and the notice means the cost belonging to the trip, so it needs its with no apostrophe. And the list of things to bring does not need dashes at all, because commas do that job. The chapter warns against overusing dashes for exactly this reason: a mark used everywhere stops marking anything.

Activity:

Find a printed page with dashes on it and mark each one en or em. Note any you would remove.

Title:

One word, many words

Safety:

No safety concerns. A dictionary is allowed once the timer has stopped.

What You Notice:

The longest words you find are usually hiding at the start or the end of the original.

The two dashes are named after the width of old printing type: an en dash was as wide as the letter n, and an em dash as wide as an m.

English possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe. Hers, ours, yours and theirs all follow the same rule as its.

The letter uses an em dash to slip a whole thought inside a sentence, which is a useful trick for writing that sounds like speech.

The six synonyms — Splendid, momentary, swift, essential, useful, lifelong — Magnificent, fleeting, instant, core, valuable and abiding, in the order the exercise gives them.

Which dash to use — En for numbers, em for extra — The short one joins a span of numbers or dates. The long one adds information or turns a thought inside a sentence.