From Maatar to Mother: Seeing Sanskrit in English
“How are your Sanskrit studies going?” asked Indira, a dear friend. Over the years, attending Sanskrit classes, I used to be fascinated as I began sensing similarities between many English words and Sanskrit More...
Anglophonic Hegemony and Indian Languages
In the wake of a statement by Sri. Venkaiah Naidu urging cultivation of Hindi by all Indians, a specter of an anti-Hindi agitation is being raised from some quarters. It is time to understand deeply, some plain More...
Language and Discourse: Why the issue is not merely about Sanskrit or English
With the rapid spread of English in India, most Indians are worried about the future of Indian languages, especially Sanskrit. It is also observed that learning is less efficient when conducted through a foreign More...
Decolonizing India’s Education
India is witnessing a disparity in education between the haves and the have-notes, between the 20 percent, who study in English medium private schools and the 80 percent, who study in vernacular government schools. More...
The case for Sanskrit as National Language of India
In my previous column, I had raised the possibility of adopting Sanskrit as the national language of India. But Hindi, along with English, has been our official language since independence. Therefore, before I move More...
Say ‘Om’ to Sanskrit
The British left long ago but sheer inertia and a colonized mindset has ensured that the legacy of blind deference to the English language survive to this day. So ubiquitous and ingrained is such servile behaviour More...
Savarkar: Inside the Enemy Camp
As stated in the previous part, Savarkar went to London with a specific purpose—that of knowing the enemy which was the British Empire. But what were his thoughts before reaching London? In those days, travelling More...