Dileep, his wife Nilima and their son Partha are family friends of long
standing and whenever Uncle Dileep comes to Goa he stays with us. As he
explained, the purpose of the environment programme was to inculcate
the idea that one can do things on one's own and one has to think out
ways and means for this. And so, he said, he had considered the idea of
inviting a young person, whom the students could identify with, to
speak on the occasion. The Committee had wholeheartedly approved when
he suggested my name as I had done something quite unique during the
past year; and the fact that my preference was in the field of ecology
made me an ideal choice, according to Uncle Dileep.
Of course I was delighted and accepted the offer. Who wouldn't be?
Uncle Dileep said that all my expenses would be taken care of. I had an
uncle (my father's youngest brother, Benjamin) at Belgaum, at whose
house I could stay. There was only my bus ticket which the organisers
had to pay for.
I started preparing my speech straightway as there was only a week left
to go and I knew that I had do a good job as this was a big occasion
for me. As usual I turned to my mum for help. She helped me choose the
points I would speak on, then I wrote out my entire speech which she
corrected and I set about memorising it.
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