Page 144 - Half Girlfriend

21

'Six thousand for three months.’ He pushed a brochure towards
me.

I had come to Patna’s Pride English Learning Centre on Boring
Road. M, Shaqif, the thin, almost malnourished owner of Patna’s

Pride, explained the various courses to me. He wore a purple shirt.
Sunglasses hung out of his front pocket.

'We teaching for five years.Good English.Personality development,

interview preparing, everything people learning here,’
I was no expert in English,but I could still tell there was something

wrong with what he had said, One too many ‘ings’, 'I have to give a
speech. To an important audience,' I spoke in Hindi, to explain my

situation better, ‘No problem. Speech okay,' Shaqif said. ‘What
qualification you having?’

‘Graduate.’
‘Good. Local?’

‘Delhi. St, Stephen's.’
The name didn’t register. He nodded out of courtesy. He rummaged

in a drawer, took out an admission form and handed it to me. I
wondered if l should pay up or check out other classes. He sensed my

hesitation.
‘Sir, we will make you top-class. Multinational-company English.'

‘I only have two months,’ I said. 'I need fast results,'

‘We arrange private classes for you. Extra five hundred per class.'
‘Five hundred?'

‘Okay, four hundred,'
I shook my head.

‘Three hundred. Please. Good deal,’ he said.
I filled up the form and paid him an advance for the first month. In

addition, I signed up for private classes every Saturday and Sunday, I
left Patna's Pride and took an auto to a road outside the railway station,

full of guest houses. I finally struck a weekends-only deal with a small