Stammer Stories: Jaipur Communication Workshop ~ Sunoy Garai

I am a male PWS. I was born in 1996, now 20 years old. My parents originated from Shanti Niketan, West Bengal and are currently living in Gurgaon. Currently I am pursuing hotel management from Instiute of Hotel Management, Pusa, New Delhi.
For the first time in my life I realised that I was a stutterer when in 5th standard my teacher asked to recite a poem from a book. I realised that some words didn’t come out smoothly as they were used to before. The teacher asked me if I was nervous. But frankly, I wasn’t. I just went home and realised how much of an issue this can be.
Years passed and life went on and I just grew up with mild stuttering but was able to participate in an extempore or speech competitions and even won a few of them. After my secondary exams I changed my school. The people were new there and I felt lonely. I was slowly becoming an introvert person as I hesitated to speak to the new faces as I feared that they might judge too quickly. I made a couple of friends but was never the first one to start a conversation.
Two years went quite lonely for me as there was almost no interaction with any of my classmates and I always chose the corner seat where I would not be disturbed. My practical board exams got start and I was preparing for them. Things were going well until the viva. The viva I something like they are throwing stones at you and you have to dodge them. It was tougher for me than any theory exam. The teacher divided the students in groups with each of them having 5 students. When my group’s turn came I was the first one and I knew what I would be going through. The teacher asked all of us to tell the names. I stuttered in my name but somehow got it out. It was my turn and the teacher asked me question. I stuttered horribly and wasn’t even able to complete a whole sentence. The teacher asked me to have a glass of water and come back later. I went outside to drink water and I was thinking that when did I become like this. I was shocked to my core. I came back later and the teacher suggested to the take the viva with only me and not in any group. I agreed. He asked if I was nervous and uncomfortable. I was but I told him I wasn’t. He just told me to relax and answer the questions. Somehow I managed to complete the viva and the teacher wished me to do well in my life and not care about what people say.
After a few months, I moved to college. It was a new chapter of my life and I was afraid that the same would happen in college knowing what happened in school. On the first day itself, I made new friends and I always initiated the conversations. They asked if I had some problem in speaking and I frankly told them that I am a stutterer.
During my second year I noticed a boy was stuttering while ordering something from the canteen. I went upto him and asked if he was also a stutterer. He smiled and said yes. We became buddies after that. One day he said that he found a website which helps people overcome there stutter. We found a contact number from the website and we did not call but messaged, because of obvious reasons and found out that he was the admin of TISA Delhi SHG group. Soon we got the details and attended the first meeting and we were surprised that there were so many people like us. After that we attended some meetings and we felt much better and our morale was quite good.
The college was the best part of my life until the campus placements started. I always kept quiet in Group Discussions and was mostly out of the first round itself. One of my subject teacher told me that I should speak in Group Discussions as the panel won’t know that I stutter until I speak.
He even made me practice to speak in GD’s. Many companies came and I tried hard but couldn’t clear the GD’s. My first break came when Burger King came for placements and I was selected for the Panel Interview. I was nervous but happy. My interview went good and I wasn’t nervous as they already knew that I stuttered. The result came out the next day and I was selected. I couldn’t believe
that I was selected. I informed my parents and they were very happy and proud of me.
My college is about to get over and I have my final exams in May. After that I would be joining Burger King and finally I feel that I have achieved something inspite of the fact that I am a stutterer and it makes me feel very proud.