Sanskrit

[Sunder]

For the Love of Samskritham.


<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It was 1955 when O R Rajagopalacharya, a Hindi schoolteacher, first fell in love with Sanskrit. He became so besotted with the language that he decided he had to spread the word, to make sure the language he thought so highly of did not die. And so Rajagopalacharya, then 34, decided to give free Sanskrit classes to anyone who cared to learn. There just remained the problem of finding a place to teach interested students.

Help came from N Srinivasacharya, a 51 year-old schoolmaster who offered the use of his Mambalam school. "I am happy that you want to do something for the language," he told the younger man.

Thus, with five students on the rolls, the Mambalam Samskruta Vidyalaya got going.

From day one, Rajagopalacharya established a routine. He would finish with his Hindi classes, rush home for a glass of hot filter coffee, and then walk over to Srinivasacharya's school to wait for his Sanskrit students to turn up.

Though the school is now gearing up for its golden jubilee celebrations, Rajagopalacharya's passion has not waned. He is now 84, and Srinivasacharya, 101. <b>The Samskruta Vidyalaya, which began with just five students, now has as many as 50 students of all ages on its rolls.</b> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> Only fifty out of a billion in 50 years. Shows that government or local authorities are not interested.

Today, the 84 year-old Sanskrit teacher does not have the energy to walk all the way from his house to the school in the evenings. So his son drops him off on a scooter by 6pm. The students come only by 7pm, but he wants to be there before them; he prefers to wait for them.

.....


"Only after learning Sanskrit did I come to know that there is a treasure house waiting to be explored," Akhila said. <b>"As Indians, we should feel ashamed that we have left our rich classical knowledge in the hands of Westerners. We have allowed them to interpret it the way they like. It is not to learn the Vedas or the Upanishads that I am learning Sanskrit, but to know my culture and my roots."</b>
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