“Right now!” I spent the next few days trying to teach Sanjit to read. We studied from five am to seven am, and at night we studied from seven to ten pm. Despite being a genius, Sanjit found it really hard to learn. “That’s an ‘m’...no an ‘n’!” He said, struggling over the word ‘wanted’. He said something in Hindi. He always forgot that I didn’t know Hindi. I caught the words ‘oh man!’ But after that I was lost. “What did you say?” He looks up, as if he forgot I was there. “Huh? Oh, I said, ‘Oh man! This is so hard!’ ” He said, talking in a bored tone- he was very focused on the ‘troubling’ word in front of him. “You’ll get there!” I said, as reassuring as possible. “No I won’t!” He screams, standing up. “I can read Hindi and speak it, I’m fluent at Spanish! But I can’t read simple English? I’ll never be able to read! Or get into Yale!” He kicks the bedpost, in an attempt to feel better. Judging by the contorted look on his face, I guessed that it didn’t help in the least.
