Are we really what we want to be? A fundamental question weall ask ourselves and one that haunted Aravind Karande too. People may answerit in many ways and in his case, at 60 he decided to learn Sanskrit.
As the language of the gods, it is one of 22 scheduledlanguages and Karande feels that more Indians should learn it. He refutes claims that it is a dead language.He said “this Indo-Aryan language is not dead but in deep slumber. We have tomake it applicable. Unless one speaks it and uses it in everyday life, Sanskritwill remain dormant. A language remains alive if it is spoken.”
He feels that merely learning the pronunciations’ of wordsin a language is not enough. His love for the ancient language compelled himnot only to learn and master it over seven years after he retired as anexecutive engineer in MPT but to also teach Sanskrit free of cost to others.Luckily in Karande’s case, age did not prove to be a bar learning this newlanguage. He mastered it and thought of helping others learn it too. Thus beganhis teaching saga.
Today Karande teaches Sanskrit free-of-charge in schools atMarcel and Kumbharjua. “I teach students of standards five to eight and preparea base for them, so that they can take Sanskrit as an optional language instandard nine. The process takes the first half of the academic year,” he says,showing the willingness to visit other schools too. The books are distributedfree and Sanskrit Bharati conducts the exams for these students for a nominalfee of Rs 25.
Spoken Sanskrit isstill in use in some traditional institutions in India and there are attemptsat reviving it. People like Karande are contributing their bit to rejuvenateand revive this mother of all ancient languages. Their social activity, apartfrom being self-satisfying, is proving to be beneficial to the society atlarge.
