Sanskrit - the venerated language of the Pundits...and Punditas

Mrs Amla Thukral used to move about with an irritated expression on her face whilst our class continued talking. Those were the days when we used to study Sanskrit –our second language. And then suddenly, as all teachers do, she used to pick one kid who would be disturbing the class the most and start scolding the chap. The class used to fall quite all over again and Mrs Thukral would commence with her usual lecture on the importance of the Sanskrit language. And no she never spoke out superfluous praise of the language. It was the language of the educated, that of the highly respected pundits and that of the civilized Aryans –the purest race. Some of us used to get bored to the utmost during her periods. No, she isn’t a bad teacher. We all respected her a great deal, despite her constant reprimands. However we weren’t intelligent enough to understand and hence enjoy the language. After struggling through the chapters of the book consisting of various shlokas from the Ramayana, the Geeta and other great books by great people, I used to reach the examination halls, leaving large parts of the course. However the designer of the exam was quite accommodating to our problems and we were given a large number of choices in most questions. And so I never scored below 90 and above 94 in any of her school examinations. Yes once I did. I scored 75 because that day unfortunately I finished the whole course by sitting till about 3 in the morning. That was one of the saddest days of my life. Mrs. Amla Thukral gave me a disappointed look –she evidently thought that I was a Brahmin descendent…. she perhaps never realized that my surname was Punjabi.

So that day Mridu Chadha felt good for nothing. I decided never to finish the whole course again, except of course, for the boards. And also decided to always get decent marks in this ‘language of the elite’.

Mrs. Thukral told my mother that she expected me to get above 95. I was aghast at that suggestion. How could she?? How could ma’am expect so much from me?? And oh, now what should I do?? I worked hard …still not expecting anything from myself. …afraid to face Amla ma’am again…. and finished the course. I got 95 (thank god!) in the boards! Now I consider myself amongst the learned and perhaps Amla ma’am knew more. Perhaps I too descended from the ‘Brahmins’. There must definitely be some Brahmin amongst my ancestors.

And so I have, since then, smiled with a sigh of satisfaction with those very pleasurable thoughts.

Now its been two years since her tenth board results and I have passed my 12th. I recently attended my cousin's wedding where a ‘Brahmin’ Pundit carried out all the basic rituals. The rumors abuzz were that the Pundit was quite handsome (its called the theory of relativity).

I went to see the sought after man. …And he turned out to be just. …Just so average….oh well, he was just a pundit and what more did I expect from him. This one was certainly different. He did not have a crow-like voice. He spoke in ‘shuddh hindi’ and explained the meaning of the Sanskrit Mantras which he was speaking out. While he spoke, he was quite aware of the undue attention he was getting from some female members of the wedding family and one could almost see a smile flicker across his ‘handsome’ face. Yet he was a Pundit after all and people got tired of his monotonous sing-song. People cracked jokes, both at the wedding couple and their Pundit. However no one spoke out praising words like- ‘yeh punditji to ek-dum Kouwwe ki tarah gaate hain. Oye kouwwe ,oye kouwwe!!(This pundit speaks out just like a crow. Hey crow hey crow). These were the comments of Mridu’s little sister who was about 3-4 years old then. No this pundit was given a higher status. He had even done a Sanskrit Honors from DU (so the rumor went). And so he was respected.

Recently I received my 12th class board results. They were certainly very bad. I always wanted to get admission into St Stephens College. However my marks did not permit me to even think of it . I looked at the cut-offs…. They lied in the 90’s for every subject ….yes every subject. “Except one”, said my mother. “You can get it in Sanskrit Honors. The last year cut-off was 45%. How about it?? “

Oh yes ….How about it?? I would be studying Sanskrit- Ma'am Thukrals subject.

How about it?? I would master that highly respected language ….I would become a ‘pundita’. And ‘RESPECT’, 'REVERENCE'….would 'I' get that??

hi............

Hiiiiiiiiiiii.................... I think i am a bit too late in joining the group,
Anyway its bettr l8 than NEVEr. I am going to Symbiosis Law College,
to study what else but law.( i dunno how did they check my paper..?!?!)
what bout you guys......?


I am really worried about the fate of indian cricket moreover the journalism concerning it.IMAGINE................ contemplating Sachin's retirement right now!?!Guess they"re trying trapping a whale with the fishing rod!!!
I am really missing school a lot!! anyway do tell me if any of you guys plan to come to pune in the nxt 5 years, coz i m trapped there wioth the lengthiest constitution of the world till then. GOD SAVE ME or.............. SAVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!!!!!!!!

Ek Do Teen

I have been waiting for these days ever since...Freedom!! Oh oh temporary of-course.

Now that I have plenty of time to while away I have very wisely spent it in watching two bad movies with great company and a great movie in ....well what do u expect ...yes, bad company.

<> The first one was Bunty and Bubbly which everyone watched and it was dreadful in my opinion ....ah I wish we had taken your advice Anubhav. Now everyone knows why it was so...maybe there were exceptions (Hey no offence meant to the die hard Big B fans o'er here). And the second movie was Mr and Mrs Smith. Now I am sorry to rip off your hopes and expectations but well, a critic has to do what a critic has to do...So hey it was a pathetic movie. Yeah there were no sizzling scenes between the hot pair (if you were anxious to watch those) and Angelina Jolie acted terribly. She had the same expression on her face throughout and uff I was getting irritated after some time. The savior of the flick was Brad Pitt…. oh his muscles ….wow he was just looking so HOT! Now you may think that the storyline is interesting. Yes it definitely is. The first half of the movie was engrossing. However the interval seemed to have changed just about everything. I felt as if I was watching some Bollywood action film rather than a much awaited Hollywood flick. It almost reminded me of Sunny Deol’s bravado in Gadar. <>

Jolie and Pitt holding guns in both hands …fighting off the whole of the commando force…Killing all of them…Fleeing away with minor injuries…How heroic that was!! <>

Now thankfully the guys (we were 3 girls and 3 guys) weren’t enjoying it or else I would have felt I have come with a bunch of nut cases. Oh yes the company was great and we passed loads of comments- Sabaa and Awais that is (for that seemed a better form of entertainment). Awais was as usual trying to impress Sabaa and me together. And that day he had another prey who was subjected to his buffoonery. That was Anubha of-course. …But the poor fella was disappointed when he learnt she was already ‘booked’ (poor poor Awais). I had to suffer in turn. So I enjoyed the rest of the day at Subway munching away at Shaubhik’s Sandwich, Archit’s salad (the subway salads taste awfully) and my sandwich. And yeah one good thing I discovered was that guys hate to be thrashed by a girl …especially with a hair brush …oh but the girl always enjoys it immensely! And its lovely when you hit hard and the guy almost squeals …and he can’t hit you ….he’d better behave like a ‘man’!!<>

And the third movie was Parineeta. I watched it today with Mom, Malika, Mom’s friend and me…. and that’s boring company for sure. However the movie was good. It did not have a great storyline but was done up pretty well. The songs were great, the performances were greater and Saif looked handsome, even in his old fashioned look. The new introduction Vidya Balan is excellent. The only negative aspect being her nose ….it almost looks like Jojo Momo Popo’s nose (that is Mrs Jyotsana Taneja- math teacher) and is a trifle too long. It was a serious movie mainly telling us the story of a girl falling in love with a guy who can’t really stand up against his father. It had a few twists and unexpected turns. It was a little too dramatic in the end though. Oh yes go and watch it if you are the kinds who appreciates sober dramas. It’s a complete no no for those with dhash dhoosh dhiish tastes. Sensitive stuff for sensitive people – full stop