Voyaging Towards Excellence

Voyaging Towards Excellence by Achyut Godbole

Title: Voyaging Towards Excellence

The title shows the journey of the writer towards improvement. He wants to become an excellent person in his field, so he is ready to do every kind of hard work. His efforts bring his journey towards excellence.  

The Writer: Achyut Godbole

Achyut Godbole (born 15 August 1950) is a person of wide knowledge, a humanitarian and socialist personality. He is residing in Mumbai. He was born in Solapur, Maharashtra. After a successful career as a CEO of Patni Computer Systems and few more leading IT firms, in 1980 and 1990s, he moved to writing.

He is well known for his writings in Marathi and English. He is a prolific writer in various genres and has produced numerous original works as well as adaptations of works from other languages into Marathi. His writing style is informative and yet very informal.

The Topic: Voyaging Towards Excellence

This is an autobiographical sketch. It is written by Achyut Godbole. It shows his journey from a middle-class school boy to a famous writer. He was a successful General Manager of Patni Computer Systems. He headed many other reputed companies and later became a famous writer. The present write-up shows his quest for excellence, how he developed a thirst for knowledge. He discusses at length the ingredients / essentials of success and the ways to achieve it. He also shows his way of learning English speaking and its use in his life.

Ice Breakers:

1) There are different ways to travel from one place to another for different purposes. Discuss with your partner and match the words given in table A with their meanings in table B.

A	B
(a) Cruise	(i) a long journey on a ship
(b) Expedition	(ii) a short visit to an outdoor place where people celebrate,  enjoy and eat meals
(c) Camp	(iii) a brief pleasure outdoor visit
(d) Trip	(iv) a short journey to a place with a particular purpose
(e) Excursion	(v) a place usually away from urban areas where tents are erected for shelter
(f) Picnic	(vi) a journey especially by a group of people for a specific purpose
(g) Voyage	(vii) a journey on a boat or ship to a number of places

Answer:

A	B
(a) Cruise	(vii) a journey on a boat or ship to a number of places
(b) Expedition	(vi) a journey especially by a group of people for a specific purpose
(c) Camp	(v) a place usually away from urban areas where tents are erected for shelter
(d) Trip	(iii) a brief pleasure outdoor visit
(e) Excursion	(iv) a short journey to a place with a particular purpose
(f) Picnic	(ii) a short visit to an outdoor place where people celebrate, enjoy and eat meals
(g) Voyage	(i) a long journey on a ship

Activities-

1) Make a list of great Indian and foreign personalities who had a great impact on Achyut Godbole during his childhood.

Poets	—————————————————————
Writers	—————————————————————
Musicians	—————————————————————
Dramatists	—————————————————————
Painters	—————————————————————

Answer-

Poets	Vinda Karandika, Vasant Bapat, Keshavsut, Mangesh Padgaonkar, B.S. Mardhekar
Writers	Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy
Musicians	Pt. Kumar Gandharv, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Jasraj, Wolfgang Mozart
Dramatists	William Shakespeare
Painters	Michaelangelo, Vincent Van Gogh

2) Find different techniques used by the writer to learn Science and Mathematics.

Answer-

a) The writer used to appreciate the inherent beauty of these subjects.

b) The writer found Newton’s law of motion beautiful and Pythagorean Theorem elegant.

c) When the writer was in 7th standard, he solved the problems of Physics and Mathematics of 9th standard.

d) He used to enjoy finding out the most elegant method of solving the problems of Physics and Mathematics.

3) The writer faced numerous problems while communicating in English because-

(Complete the information)

Answer-

a) He had his entire education in Marathi.

b) His spoken English was quite pathetic.

c) His English vocabulary was very weak.

d) His pronunciation was terrible.

e) His sentence construction was very awkward.

4) The writer was completely stumped because his     

a) vocabulary was —–  

Answer-

weak

b) spoken English was —– 

Answer-

pathetic    

c) pronunciation was —–

Answer-

terrible      

d) construction of sentences was —–

Answer-

very awkward

5) Read the text again and complete the sentence:

Due to the writer’s pathetic English-speaking style, he ——–

(Complete the information)   

Answer-    

a) felt extremely humiliated and sad.

b) felt quite depressed and diffident.

c) was almost broken and wanted to run away to Solapur.

d) had developed an inferiority complex.

e) felt quite lonely and terrified.

6) Complete the following sentences. The writer wanted to achieve mastery in English  because-

a) he wanted to speak 

Answer-    

English fluently.          

b) he will be  able  to

Answer-    

excel in anything that he tries to do.   

c) he need not have to

Answer-    

give up for a silly and small thing like English and feel afraid of anybody. 

7) Make a list of different steps that the writer undertook to improve his English-speaking skills.

Answer-    

a) Started reading English Newspaper and English Novels.

b) Started to think in English.

c) Studied etymology and phonetics.

d) studied the roots of the words and their pronunciation.

e) Practiced speaking before mirror.

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