Learning Sanskrit

 I have promises to keep.......

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1992 : I was 9 years old, in class 4. I began my senior school, with a third language, Hindi, in the curriculum. (My second language was Bengali). Those with Hindi as their second language, had Sanskrit in the curriculum. I was jealous. I wanted to study the classical language. I loved Hindi, don't get me wrong. Then and there, I promised myself that I would take up this course later in college (as a part-time study). Till class 8, I saw my friends study Sanskrit; and my resolve consolidated.

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2007 : I was a 25-year-old second-year PhD student at the University of Michigan. I was done with my PhD course work, and was occupied in full-time research. Then an idea struck me : why not take up some courses which I always wanted to take. I searched for courses in the Centre for South-Asian studies, and pronto! I found Sanskrit being taught that semester by Prof. Madhav M. Deshpande. Promptly, I joined as an audit course student. It was smooth sailing. I completed four semesters of Sanskrit and scored well. I loved the subject and wanted to learn more and more.

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After 16 years, I kept my promise I made to myself.

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Trivia : I was a good student in Sanskrit, and always got an 'A' grade. In fact, I was only student in the class with an 'A' grade. All others scored the A+ grade.