I have been hosting a student from Germany. His name is Udo, he is 58 years old and wants to learn Hindi in Varanasi. Uncle Udo contacted me about a month ago. He got my email address through hospitality club profile. Uncle Udo used to be a professor of German. He has worked for different universities in England, Germany, and Japan. Now he owns a language school in Munich, but he doesn’t teach there. He works for the government to assess unemployed people for the government help.

I asked uncle Udo about why he wanted learn Hindi at the age of 58. He said that once one of his friends had given him a Hindi grammar book as a birthday gift, which he never looked at and just kept in the cupboard. Two or three years ago when he was cleaning the cupboard, he found that book and decided to learn Hindi. He says that starting to learn something is the best idea if you want to keep your mind working in old age. I liked this idea. Uncle Udo started looking for online help to learn Hindi three years ago, so he knows all the sounds and he has a very good idea of the grammar.

Udo uncle asked me about Hindi classes in Varanasi, and obviously I suggested Professor Virendra Singh. Virendra Singh was not in Varanasi that time, but he was supposed to come by the first week of October. So I told uncle Udo to keep doing his research to find a Hindi teacher so that in case if Mr. Singh is not present in Varanasi, he can still have a teacher. He told me about Mr. Binit Mishra whom he found online for Hindi teaching. He told me that Mr. Mishra lives somewhere near my home, but I had never ever heard of this man.

Udo uncle came to my house on the 6th of October. On the very first day we went to meet Virendra Singh at his place, and fortunately he was back in Varanasi and had started teaching. We met Virendra Singh, and he said that he could teach Udo uncle for one hour everyday. Udo uncle was happy to get him. He said that since he had also been a professor, he needed a real professor to teach him. And this was the only reason he did not contact other schools in Varanasi.

Udo uncle goes to Virendra Singh every morning for one hour, and he so happy with Mr. Singh’s teaching. He says that Mr. Singh is the best Hindi professor he has ever met.  Now Udo uncle has started speaking Hindi: he is still not perfect but has many progress. His Hindi is far better than what usually people learn aftert going to classes for fifteen days. He wants to go to Khajuraho and Gwalior before he leaves India. He will leave home after ten days. He is planning to come to Varanasi again maybe next year to learn Hindi and attend festivals like Shivratri and Holi.