AK Sarkar leafs through a volume of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Picture by Prashant Mitra

On four different occasions he chose to leave the flight to New Delhi, where he had official work, and opted to travel by train, only because the flight timing clashed with his classes. Every Sunday he teaches French for an hour-and-a-half at the International Library ( formerly British Council Library) on Club Road, Ranchi. Nothing unusual about it—after all, Mrs Jaiswal, a housewife, engages a similar class at the same place on Saturdays while Manoj Kumar from MECON also engages a class on Sunday. But what is special about A.K. Sarkar is that he happens to be a senior IAS officer and posted presently as secretary, animal husbandry in the state secretariat. He does not appear to follow the stereotype of an arrogant and aloof babu who is only interested in his own career. But Sarkar confesses to harbour a passion for French and he has worked hard to keep in touch with the language. Sunday, he explains, is the only day he can indulge in his passion and thus does not mind spending three hours, half of it in engaging classes and the rest for commuting and intereacting with students, every Sunday for a favoured pastime. “ Barring one or two occasions, I have never missed my classes,” says Sarkar, who is known as a good teacher with a fetish for punctuality. If he has a regret, it is his inability to converse in French.

There is nobody in the state capital , he laments, with whom he can talk in French. He is forced to fall back on the other two French teachers at the library and the students. But that is not always either fulfilling or satisfactory. The course, he points out, started with just 3-4 students in 2001 but now boasts of 20. Another indication that the course is gaining acceptance came when Alliance Francaise not only decided to launch a course in Ranchi but actually upgraded the course. Initially, explained Sarkar, Alliance Francaise was keen to start a course for beginners only. But after seeing the standard of the course run at International Library, the organisation decided to start intermediate classes in French. This has given him both confidence and satisfaction, he adds.

The classes provide him with an opportunity to keep in touch with the language, which is like a second love. He also enjoys interacting with younger students, he says, because often questions asked by them provide him with insights into areas he may not be conversant with. An IAS officer of the 1979 batch, Sarkar got interested in foreign languages after completing his plus two from Calcutta.

He learnt German for a year while pursuing his B.Pharma from Jadavpur University. Completing the B.Pharma in 1987, Sarkar got enrolled for M.Pharma, but left it after completing the first year as he got selected for the elite service. But then learning, points out Sarkar, is a life-long exercise. He has just appeared for an examination in Bangalore University to obtain a MA degree in French. Bangalore University, he informs, allowed external examinees while others didn’t.

He obtained a MBA degree by attending a three-year part-time course while posted at Calcutta as the Regional Development Commisioner, Iron & Steel. He also obtained a MA degree in Economics from Punjab University through its distance education programme. On a central deputation to New Delhi in 1996, he promptly joined the school of foreign languages run by the ministry of defence. It offered a two-year advance diploma course in French and classes were held every morning between 7.30 and 9 a.m. What turned out to be an icing on the cake was a one-year stint in France in 1998, where he honed his skill, learnt to speak better and read more books in French than he ever did before.

Speaking French can be tough, as Sarkar once discovered to his chagrin. Eating out was expensive and so he decided one day to buy some bread and butter in a French town clled Vichy. The French word for butter is “bouere” and one has to roll the lips in a circle to pronounce it. But much as Sarkar tried, he failed to convey what he wanted. It took him half an hour to finally get what he wanted, recalls Sarkar with a chuckle. His spare time is devoted to picking up German, brushing up his French and teaching his two children, a son and a daughter.

He confesses that he has better command over Bengali, his mother tongue than English and he is working on translating modern French writing into Bengali.

Anupam Sheshank