Muttifarions Mimicry

The sincerest form of learning.

- Ritu Kamra Kumar

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passion a quotation." -Oscar Wilde

The other day, when I entered the classroom I found a student imitating a colleague of mine. How perfectly he was imitating the mannerism of Prof Gupta,w who teaches them History. I just smiled. The embarrassed student rushed to his seat.

I was reminded of my college days when we imitated our teachers. One day, a friend of mine was copying the authoritative mannerism of our English teacher during recess and the teacher happened to pass the classroom.

Annoyed, she scolded us but while leaving said, "Perfectly done! You should participate in the mimicry competition."

We felt so relieved as we feared punishment. But so generous and graceful of Suruchi Ma'am that she took our mischievous act in a positive way. Later on, my friend Sonia won many prizes in mimicry competition held in the youth festivals in college and university. We chums recall Suruchi Ma'am's genial demeanour with great esteem and how it helped Sonia nurture her latent talent.

I also recall a funny incident when our teacher in nursery class tried to teach us cries of different animals.

"How does a crow cry?"

Whole class shouted - "caw, caw..." and then it was a lion's "roar" followed by "braying" of ass. Back home I was cawing, roaring and braying much to the giggles of my siblings. This is how I imbibed mimicry and I often walked, talked and spoke imitating my teachers, cousins and others.