We at Athena Multiskills watch with considerable bemusement the frantic exchanges of exercises in English Comprehension & Grammar between and within various CLAT preparation clubs and communities on the facebook. The efforts are indeed laudable and indicate a commendable focus on winning the race. But, to our mind, the frenetic search also betrays a sense of panic. This is not needed. When the going gets tough, the really tough ones relax --- because they know in their heart that they can handle pressures. There have been scores of great cricketers in contemporary times. What made Sachin Tendulkar stand taller was simply his shot selection. Which ball to leave, which one to pick -- and what to do with it. The greatness came out of making simple choices in a very effective manner -- doing the same thing, but differently. Handling English language is not any different. One has to make a good choice in deciding what to read and what to leave out. Look, you grew up thinking in Hindi or Bangla or Tamil or any language that your parents spoke. At some stage you learnt to mentally translate the thought process from your mother tongue to English so that you could articulate the same in English. This is where you faced problems. One can never master a language by treating its grammar as a mathematical problem. You learn a language by treating it like Jalebi --- syrupy, sticky but yummy and pleasing to all your senses. Shakespeare and Tolstoy and Gorky do not help. They write great literature, but we can not relate ourselves to their myriad characters. Chetan Bhagat does not help either because while we relate to what he says, he says it in our kind of English, which is rather different from the kind of English prose from which the examiners are most likely to pick up the passages for English Comprehension to further torment our already anguished souls. The solution lies not in treating the English Comprehension Segment as a perpetual quiz but in reading native English authors. Doing English grammar exercises is like taking doses of various spices while munching raw lentils or rice.It can only give you indigestion. There is plenty of time to CLAT-2015. Read murder mysteries by Agatha Christie. Read Of Human Bondage or The Razors Edge by Somerset Maugham. Read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Read The Old Man And The Sea or For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. Read Smileys People by John le Carre. Read The Man With Two Left Feet by P.G. Wodehouse. All this is pure and authentic English or American English at its sublime best. It will bring serenity to your life. And you will find that you would not have to strain yourself to do silly exercises, because reading all this would help you think like a native of England or midland USA. Try it. It has worked for generations of aspiring students who could crack the very formidable civil services examinations by improving their literary skills and not by doing coaching class exercises. Welcome to Athena Multiskills. We help you sharpen your intellect. CLAT 2015 is only a sherpa base camp. Do not make the mistake of treating it like Mount Everest.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 08:54:39 +0000
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