Mentor.
The “word of the day” mails I got every day for a few years in Roorkee (without solicitation) threw up a few gems every once in a while. The
one which said the word of the day was the one above was particularly
interesting.
Actors act, curators curate, and orators orate. But doctors don't doct, victors don't vict, and pastors don't past. Such is the English language. And we certainly don't want ancestors to ancest, traitors to trait, or gators to gate.
This week A.Word.A.Day will feature five people, real and fictional, whose names may appear to be derived from a verb form, but aren't. Mentors, for example, don't ment, though that doesn't prevent people from forming nouns such as 'mentee' and verbs like 'to mentor'.
Mentors don’t ment. That made me chuckle.
***
I’m yet to investigate the whys and hows of it, but a lot of
people love their hand to be held as they walk, both literally and
metaphorically. Having been unknowingly led through school by my brother, and
through everything else by my mother, Roorkee was to be a profound shock.
The walk to Ganga Canteen from the Senate Steps after the
first Kshitij meeting was about all
it took, though, for me to be mented
again. I think it was the following conversation that sealed it for me.
Me (after about 30 minutes of chitchat about what books we read): So, what’s your CGPA?
AP: 7.6-something. I’d have liked it to be higher. I’m sure that makes no difference to you, does it?
Me: None. When you told me the number, I just said “OK.” in my head.
AP: Hehe, I did that one year ago, I think.
***
Winter of 2009. Lefty had just bagged an internship
with an FMCG major. There was this other firm he interviewed with, too, he was
telling me. Some acronym that reminded me of the tuberculosis vaccine.
As was wont, then, I glided to F-61, Ravindra Bhawan. AP was in one
of his more cynical moods, I think.
“Just think about it, Murty. Six or seven years at the very top of India’s educational cesspool, and you want to be selling soap at the end of it?”
***
Actors act, and orators orate. Doctors don’t doct, mentors
don’t ment. Meanwhile, on a surprisingly chilly February morning, here I was.
“… So, you see, sir, a brand is a promise. It should be the aim of the marketer to ensure this promise doesn’t go unfulfilled.”
