Taking pride in teaching

CHENNAI: They know they are a minority but make up for their small numbers with enthusiasm to get residents of the city to learn Sanskrit. Despite seeing no chance of commercial success in their vocation, a small band of teachers still toil on for their love of the language.
In school and college, teachers know that most students learn Sanskrit as they can score high marks in exams, but they make efforts to get students to pursue it for its merit. Sushama Das, who teaches Sanskrit for students of classes V to VIII in Sishya, says, "Many children take up the subject because they prefer to learn Sanskrit over Tamil as the portions are light and they can pass easily. I try to get them interested in the subject and teach them things outside the syllabus like small slokas. Sanskrit helps them be in touch with their heritage."
There are also places that provide informal schooling like The Egmore Samskrt School, started in 1948 by P A Subrahmanya Ayyar, a retired English professor from Annamalai University. It is now run by his son, 72-year-old P S Ramamurti. Ramamurti revived the weekly meetings of the Sanskrit public speaking wing, which had been dormant between 1961 and 1969. He renamed it the Surabharati Samiti in 1969 and has been inviting people to speak on a pre-determined subject in Sanskrit. "First-time speakers usually write their speech down on paper and read it at the meetings. Then they progress to speaking without the paper. They make many mistakes, but we encourage them," Ramamurti says.
He and his wife Lalitha have been conducting the monthly meetings for the last 40 years. "We are disciplined and start on time even if there are only two people," says Ramamurti, knowing but not making fanfare of the fact that it is people like him who keep the language alive in an age when French, German and even Japanese are sought after. During their platinum jubilee celebrations, the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Chennapuri Baktha Jana Samajam and the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Baktha Peravai will be honouring Sanskrit teachers on Saturday, which is celebrated as Teacher's Day.
ramya.m@timesgroup.com