“Shhhh…” shouted the instructor. “May I have ‘please’ have your attention!!” “I have been asked to take this session as your regular trainer is not available” “Lord, it so difficult to have them not talk to each other”, she might have said that to herself, definitely!
School kids? Kinder gardeners? College students? No! She was not handling any bunch of noisy kids. And definitely not newly joined graduates in an office. The lot was a lot sensible and mature than any of these types; a group of individuals, who voluntarily enrolled themselves for this course in an open university, and by interaction I can tell you that this act(of taking up this course) was out of sheer interest. One thing I could conclude was that, anyone, rather everyone sitting on classroom benches are bitten by the ‘talkative’ bug, regardless of the age, profession, or gender. You may be the strictest of all the teachers or the CEO of a big company, once you are on the receiving side of a lecture/presentation/seminar, the bug bite does take a toll on your behaviour, and a toll on the presenter of course. That was one part of my lessons of the day.
The first round is of course introduction, everywhere! As the session began, we have other fellows coming in. Yes you are right! Late comers. We have them everywhere don’t we? Movies, trains, busses, flights, schools, colleges, offices, meetings, gatherings, parties, exams, everywhere!
There was something that was very attention seeking, at least to me. The composition of the crowd. For an MA course in psychology, in Panjim, I was awestruck by the kind, rather the age of people pursuing this course. There were girls as young as 21 to men older than 50. One of the ladies was an English teacher in a school, about 45 years according to my estimate. She was on leave for some time, so hopped into this course, and was very tensed about the deadline to complete the assignment and the year end exam that would follow. Though given an option to submit it with the next batch after 6 months and take the exam in December, she said only one thing, “No, I want to take the exam in June itself.” And I could see the determination in her eyes. She was all set to take a couple of more degrees before she retires.
One thing was clear; it is not the age that matters. You can learn anything and everything, and at any age you want. It is the zeal in you that accounts. Next time if you see an old couple in your salsa classes, don’t drop your jaws. There is only one word for all of them, ‘Respect’.
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