From Curiosity to Multilingualism: My Journey at EFLU

 

Being multilingual has always been on my bucket list and I can proudly say that I am getting the opportunity to mark that off in the English and Foreign Languages University- a one of its kind University which is dedicated to languages in South Asia. I am a student of MA Linguistics at the EFLU, Hyderabad, India which is a central university established in 1958.

You would now ask why linguistics, when you're talking about language? Well, probably because I had always been curious to know about how languages work. This may now confuse you but if I tell you that linguistics is the scientific study of languages then you may figure out what I meant. We all are familiar with one or two languages; some are even taught at school. But how does a particular language convey its message and how were the rules decided for a language to work was always my question of interest. The answer to all my curiosity is in this specific area of study. Besides, I get to study as many foreign languages as I want (and are available here) as a complement in my course duration of two years (2022- 24). Currently I’ve opted for Spanish as a multidisciplinary course. 

I won’t say EFLU Hyderabad has always been my dream college. In- fact I was backing off because being middle- class, the thought of living in a costly place like Hyderabad could not be less than a nightmare. Also, I had been working with Shiksha since my graduation (2017), which is from St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi, so I never asked for pocket money from my parents. However, during my search for the perfect college on shiksha.com, I came across EFLU and got proper information from the website. I found out that this could be my perfect college because everything I wanted was available here and that too at minimal cost of living- central university supremacy!

EFLU, Hyderabad is the main campus out of its three. The other two being in Lucknow and Shillong which are the regional campuses. The campus is quite calm and surrounded by all possible kinds of trees and plants I could think of- JK! It is very green and serene though. And you’ll always feel secure inside the campus being surrounded by security all around. 

But how did I get here? As I told you, I have always felt the lean towards languages and therefore even after completing my senior secondary education with commerce, I boldly came out with the choice of humanities (BA English) staggering everyone and their expectations of me becoming a banker or an accountant. And looking back, I can confidently say that I am now at a better position in life because of my choices. I enjoyed writing content and thought of pursuing it further alongside my Ph. D. But now that I am here, I can see other great opportunities lying in the way as Linguist, speech therapist, translator, foreign language expert and many others. 

It is not a conventional course and it has just been a few months since I joined here, but I feel like I would not have made a better choice than this. Admissions were late due to CUET and mine was much late because my name appeared in the third list. I was even skeptical at first for taking admission so late. How would I manage the syllabus? How would I understand what has already been taught? But all my worries flew once I met the professors. They’re all like friends, so cheerful, so knowledgeable and always ready to help. They even devoted extra hours for our make- up classes. The people here are also very kind and helpful and I had access to a great library with some rare books which was fascinating as I had always seen small libraries with very limited books in my town. Every small change in my life since I came here has been so positive and I realized that I’m at a good place.  

Not being a fantasist here, but I would like to mention a small incident that happened a few months ago on my birthday (after admission). I had a friend in my B. Ed years with whom I used to discuss my future plans and in conversations I always mentioned how I wanted to move to a different place for further studies. However, we were the ‘COVID batch’; things changed quickly and the lockdown took a toll on this friendship too. After our internships, we lost contacts and completed our degree in partial lockdown. In between all this, I sat for the CUET but my marks were not too good to be accepted in any of the institutes I had in mind (at-least I thought this). 

However, my name appeared and I took admission but only the closest of my friends knew this. This friend of mine, out of nowhere, rings me up on my birthday and I am informed that I am currently admitted here. And her reply was- “You manifested your dreams. You got what you wanted. And you’re living your life exactly as you thought.” This hit me hard and I realized that even after not scoring much in the entrance test, I got admission in one of the greatest institutions. I had always dreamed of this. And today- I made it. It’s not that I wasn’t sure about this, but it is the small realizations that make you feel more courageous to work harder for your dreams. And for Shiksha, I’ll continue my services because this platform has made me independent and confident about my writing skills.  I’ve learnt a lot from here and I’ll continue to. 

About the Author:

I am Tanieya, a juggler of words and works. I am a graduate in ELL from St. Xavier's College, Ranchi, and currently training as a teacher. Being a student, intern and a freelance writer all at once I have found enough time to follow my passion for writing poetry.