I learned Sanskrit for 3 years in school. We had a wonderful teacher who grilled us on the basics of Sanskrit grammar and taught us excerpts from Kalidasa’s works. Thanks to my tuition teacher who gave me good practice and Ramakrishna Mission whose free Sanskrit course helped me to broaden my vocabulary, I scored 98 on 100 in my SSC Board exams in Sanskrit. This was circa 1994. Kathakali, I had been learning under one teacher and then another after a gap of 3 years. By the time I reached college, other factors namely classes, assignments, friends etc. intervened and I gave up dancing. This must have happened some 6-7 years back. I joined a software company after graduating and worked for three years. I coded, tested, implemented… the works. I gave up working 3 months before my marriage i.e. Sep 2003.
Isn’t it weird that I remember most of the nuances of Sanskrit grammar, the verb/noun declensions, the complex sentence formations, the shlokas as well as the Kathakali mudras, the songs, the kalaashams, the taalams and the terminologies…. and I hardly remember any line of code I wrote or any piece of logic that I developed.
It is funny.
shivshanker says:
it’s probably like nostalgia, one remembers only the pleasant… 😉
March 27, 2005 — 10:01 pm
Lakshmi says:
Hmmm, I guess you’re right…Not that it’s simple to forget the unpleasant ones either…:-)
March 28, 2005 — 5:41 am
fugney says:
Probably points to what you’re more interested in.
March 27, 2005 — 10:44 pm
Lakshmi says:
Bingo…!
March 28, 2005 — 5:42 am
ssheidi says:
i scored 124/125 in sanskrit in my sslc eggjam.:d even i love sanskrit shlokas. in fact i chant a couple of them daily .
March 27, 2005 — 11:56 pm
Lakshmi says:
That’s great! What shlokas do you recite?
March 28, 2005 — 5:42 am
ssheidi says:
aadityhrudayam,durgasukthi(this i say daily),navagraha sthothra……and i know many more.:)
March 28, 2005 — 5:14 pm
Lakshmi says:
That’s great! I know very few… 🙁
Do you know any online resource that I could refer to?
March 28, 2005 — 5:22 pm
arunshanbhag says:
Happy Ugadi!
Very comprehensive! but may take some work to find what you want.
http://sanskrit.gde.to/
The information here is better organized, but not as comprehensive.
http://sanskrit.safire.com/
March 28, 2005 — 6:44 pm
Lakshmi says:
Many thanks!
Wish you a Happy Ugadi too.. Oops, which means Vishu is around the corner!!! Must find out when it is… Thanks for the reminder!
March 28, 2005 — 8:06 pm
arunshanbhag says:
ugadi is still a bit away.
it was my funny way of saying, here is an advance Ugadi gift. Phew!
… whatever.
March 29, 2005 — 6:47 am
ssheidi says:
wow! thanks. i was abt to google for this. u saved my time.:)
March 29, 2005 — 1:21 am
ssheidi says:
nope. if i ever find it i’ll let u know.:)
March 29, 2005 — 1:18 am
sthira says:
Some impressions remain, some disappear, depends on how the impressions were made, some embrace us leaving marks all over, some just touch at one point and the depression is only temporary.
March 28, 2005 — 7:56 am
gotjanx says:
Yes! So here is the question that I forgot to ask the last time : you found a Kathakali teacher in Bombay.
It if wasn’t for those Goyal guides, I would never have cleared my Sanskrit Exams. And I code for a living. Don’t enjoy either 🙂
March 28, 2005 — 8:17 am
Lakshmi says:
Yes! So here is the question that I forgot to ask the last time : you found a Kathakali teacher in Bombay.
:-))
What IS the question?
March 28, 2005 — 5:22 pm
gotjanx says:
lol! Sorry!
So you found a kathakali teacher in Bombay ? In that mad heat that outfit, those layers of paint.
You were a non resident who learnt kathakali. I on the other hand, can barely speak the language, no R’s for me :(. I am horribly embarrassed.
March 29, 2005 — 11:57 am
Lakshmi says:
🙂
Yeah, I was lucky to find a FANTASTIC Kathakali teacher in B’bay.
Btw, I am having my own doubts about speaking Malayalam…:-(
I fumble so much and get so damn self-conscious.. it’s shameful. Then there are these phases when it plain flows.. Wish they happened more often!
March 30, 2005 — 5:41 am
gotjanx says:
Same with me, I get terribly self-conscious, I only inflict it on close friends/relations :D.
March 30, 2005 — 12:17 pm
arunshanbhag says:
you never cease to awe me.
My only regret to date is not learning sanskrit [and ofcourse, not marrying Heidi Klum 😉 kidding btw ]. These days I struggle to get the meaning of shlokas for a project I am doing. its frustrating to use the dictionary for all the words and i still miss out on the grammar.
I did pick up one of those ‘Learn Sanskrit in 30 days’ book; but now its close to 30 months and I am on page 7 ;-(
I get all my shlokas from the site I listed below.
March 28, 2005 — 6:49 pm
Lakshmi says:
🙂 Thanks, Arun.
Guess we’re all lucky in parts, one way or the other!
Btw, the ISKCON website has a 2 CD Sanskrit learning package which, I hear, is very comprehensive as far as grammar and vocabulary is concerned. Pinch has purchased it; I can check it out and tell you how it is.
March 28, 2005 — 8:05 pm
arunshanbhag says:
let me know how Pinch likes the Sanskrit CDs. O, btw, don’t let him see the pic of Heidi Klum, otherwise …
the Sanskrit CDs will be collecting dust! like layers of it! 🙂
March 29, 2005 — 6:44 am
Lakshmi says:
This may sound totally ignorant… who IS Heidi Klum?
March 28, 2005 — 8:06 pm
ssheidi says:
she is a German supermodel.
March 29, 2005 — 1:23 am
arunshanbhag says:
w00t!
March 29, 2005 — 6:41 am
gotjanx says:
only regret to date is not learning sanskrit [and ofcourse, not marrying Heidi Klum 😉 kidding btw ].
Admit it! You weren’t kidding when you said that ! 😀
March 29, 2005 — 12:12 pm
Lakshmi says:
M is gonna whack Arun and now you’re next in line…:-)))
March 30, 2005 — 5:42 am
arunshanbhag says:
Yes G! don’t get me in more trouble. Besides, what does she know of making Dali-toi; Chana Ghashi; Madghanae and other konkani delicacies. Man has got to eat too you know.
And do you think she knows how to make south indian style Kapi?
The defense rests!
March 30, 2005 — 3:34 pm
Lakshmi says:
Please… there are many others worth marrying, Arun…:-)
March 30, 2005 — 5:42 am
gotjanx says:
No, no you see — she married Seal. Frankly, if she thinks Seal is hot it means we mere mortals also stand a chance.
Hence Klum tends to top the us-geeks-have-a-nonzero-chance ratings 🙂
March 30, 2005 — 12:33 pm