Thur. May 31, 2012

The power has been out for seven hours today from 11-6pm. Nancy told me that due to some kind of general strike against the increase of petroleum price to 6 rupees/liter, many shops were forced to close and electricity stopped. India is such a crazy country sometimes that you have to be a little crazy yourself to really fall in love with it. The quality of life is such a drastic change from the US. Water is rationed and now power is out due to some strike!

I did not do much today other than going to the university for the one sanskrit class and the private class that I am taking with professor Vinaydev. Even though she doesn’t have a PhD in Sanskrit, her knowledge is insane. Neel agrees that she knows a lot of Sanskrit but that she was a little silly for not having a PhD. I wonder the same thing. Today I found out that she can actually converse in Sanskrit! She gave a little short story of Kalidasa in Sanskrit in class. Although I did not understand most of what was being spoken, I really appreciated the fact that she sounded so fluent in this language. Neel told me that he actually wanted to learn how to speak Sanskrit from her but because she was sloppy with time, he gave up. I didn’t agree with him because I thought that his idea of time is also completely out of whack. He told me that walking to Vinaydev’s apartment from the university would take about 1 minute. Little did I know that 1 minute is the equivalent of my 5-10 minute. Really there is no concept of being punctual with time here in India. Not sure what the reason is. My studies have improved dramatically and I am really excited and happy to study this text with some of the best scholars in the world. It’s truly a privilege to be here in India and to study a language that I love.

Sanskrit school-teachers

Vinaydev, my Meghadoot teacher.

I think I finally found someone who will be sweeping and probably mopping my room for me. I know I sound like a lazy snob, but houses in India get dusty really quick and since I am on vacation and I sweat like crazy even though I hardly do any work, you can just imagine all the hassle that I have to go through if I were to clean my own flat.

Classes will end very soon at the university and the people that I have met will probably go back to their villages. I am a little sad about this, and not sure what life will be like when I come back from Vietnam. I am leaving for Vietnam in a couple of days and Chinmay and Prachi are having their final exams. I think it’s when I get back from my trip that we’ll be doing more traveling, but even right now, things are going pretty well.  

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

I had my first sanskrit class w/ Vinaydev and all I can say is that I am in really good hands with this woman. She has a really lovely personality. She takes care of her mom who is more than 80 years old and their house is a seven minute walk from the university. We went over the first verse yesterday of Meghadootam. She taught me the meter and sung the first ten verse while I recorded it. While her voice sounded weak, it was good enough for me to understand the meter for me to sing it myself when I read the poem.

Hanging out with Neel is really like a test of physical endurance because he does not eat breakfast and he would eat a really late lunch or sometimes he would skip it. And so I have found myself really light-headed especially during the 12 o’clock hour. Even Vinaydev did not approve of Neel’s methods of eating such a late lunch.

Yesterday, Chinmayee and Darshana came to visit Neel. Chinmayee or Nandaji (Neel’s nickname for her) came in the morning to drop a lot of her belongings because Neel will be traveling to her hometown while I am going to Vietnam in a couple of days for two weeks. Chinmayee is studying for her exam and this is her last year of engineering. She also spent the night with us because she complained that her roommates were being too noisy so she slept in the big room that I have while I slept in Neel’s cramped apartment. Darshana also came by--she hasn’t seen Neel for several weeks. Darshana is married and her husband is a lawyer. One thing that I really like about her is that she has a really sweet voice. I don’t think she does any singing though which is too bad.

The lovely Chinmayee--she is by far Neel's favorite student. To pronounce her name it's really like "Chinmai".

 

Darshana has a really sweet voice. The sweetest that I have heard so far.

I also called my relatives and talked to my mom in Vietnam since I will be leaving Pune for Mumbai probably in the afternoon on the 2nd of June for my flight on the 3rd at 7:40 am. Indian airlines are notorious for having tons of delay so god knows when I will be actually flying. I’m gonna hate if my flight is suddenly canceled like it did last year when I flew from Mumbai to Varanasi. Had to wait at the airport for like 3-4 hours before they could schedule another flight. I guess we’ll just have to see.

Not much happened the last few days so I thought that it is a good idea to give people at home what life is like for me this past week. Since I landed at Mumbai airport Thursday night, I have had a really good time with Neel and so many people I have met. We went shopping yesterday and I feel so happy that I am now not limited to the wardrobe that I have at home. I bought new styles of dhoti and new kurtas. Furthermore, I have also a few white pyjama pants that look really nice, now what I need to get is some churidars.

I went and saw my old housemates Sunday night and had dinner there. The only person that I saw was VIkas. Abhik and Sunil were not there nor was Renjeet, the live-in servant who was there last year. I also called Vaibhav on the phone who is still in Delhi, Bhavesh is still in New Zealand.

The first four days I came here, sleeping has been pretty difficult but since last night I was able to sleep pretty well. What’s been keeping me up at night was the mosquitoes and despite using a net, they still give me lots of problems hence I decided to buy a spray yesterday and sprayed the entire room. The smell is very strong and and probably dangerous but what the hell. It keeps the mosses at bay, they did not give me any problems last night and I’m planning to use it tonight.

Front door to Neel's apartment.

Neel's 500 sq ft. apartment.

Neel's afternoon yoga class with the kids in apartment complex and Savita, an aspiring yoga teacher. I live on top of this place and I have a place this big all to myself...hahaha! 

Vaibhavi, in the 6th grade--very silly.

incredible boy who is very flexible, the best in the class.

Savita, a sweetheart. She's married and has 2 child I think. while Neel thinks she will not be the greatest yoga practitioner, she is as sweet as a mango! love her.

Water has been a problem since I have come here. Not all parts of Pune are without water. My former roommates somehow have water running 24/7 while at Neel’s place water is only available at 6am-10am and then there will be no water until 9 or 10pm. Sometimes we don’t even have running water even at night. I know it sounds terrible but there is a way to survive without running water. We just store it in a 20 gallon bucket and use that throughout the day. Instead of taking my usual 3 showers when I’m at zen center, I take around 3 bucket baths with a small cup, so really it’s not that bad.

The biggest problem is the heat which is unbearable for those who live in temperate climates. Coming to India for me is a 20 degree difference. In SF we average about 13-15C...but in Pune which is the best place compared to most other places in India, the temperature is around 35C..and it will only go down to 26C. Other places in India, the temperature goes up to 40 and stays there...which is really intolerable even for Indians.

One of the best methods that I have learned to cope with this heat which I haven’t seen any Indian people use is to wet my head scarf and cover my head and face. As I have mentioned earlier, Indian men do not wear head scarf unless they’re going to a funeral. And the other one was discovered by accident--wearing a wet t-shirt that was waiting to be dried on a laundry line. It makes such a huge difference to have a wet tshirt underneath my kurta.

Unfortunately at Neel’s place he drinks directly from the tap which I will not dare to do. I have heard a few horror water related stories and so I’ve been using my own MSR water filter which takes like 10 minutes to pump just 1L of water but at least I know that the water is safe to drink. Neel said that for him the water directly from the tap is safe to drink, but no matter how comforting that sounds, I will not definitely not take that risk.

Again my regular eating schedule has been compromised by the fact that Indian people eat much later than me. Breakfast is not until 9 am or later, that’s if they eat breakfast. Lunch is around 1-2pm which is extremely late. Lately I have been eating at 2:30 which is not an ideal time at all. And dinner is at 9 which is considered to be the earliest. As you can see I am not a huge fan and I definitely need to think of some strategies because I feel so weak especially when I have to wait this long for lunch. The reason why we have to wait is because the last class is over at 1pm at the university and Neel sometimes take really long because he likes to mingle with the girls. And it’s not like breakfast is served in huge portions like what we have at zen center...but even at zen center we usually have a light snack around 10 am before lunch at 12:30am. So I need to really think about snacks since drinking two coconut juice is definitely not enough. This second time around, keeping myself hydrated is not a problem but I need to solve my hunger pangs.

Sunday May 27, 2012 "Neel's negativity"

Now that I somewhat have solved the breakfast, lunch, and dinner issue I feel much better now trying to have some steadiness in my daily schedule. It’s been somewhat hectic since I landed Thursday night. One of the thing that I still have to adjust to is the eating and sleeping schedule of people who live in Pune, even Neel is not free from this “vice” even though he wakes up really early in the morning. Since I have lived at Zen Center for around 7 to 8 years, I have gotten really used to the strict schedule that temple life calls for. I eat at a certain time--breakfast at 7:30-8am, lunch at 12:30-1:00pm, and dinner at 6:30-7pm and finally go to bed at a certain time...around 9:30pm. But here in Pune, everything is a little out of whack for my schedule and I have made it clear to Neel that I am not planning to change my eating schedule completely even though I am on vacation. Unfortunately in the past few days, I did not have dinner until 9:30pm and I was straight with Neel that it was too late for me to have dinner, hence my grumpiness and lack of energy. He has solved this problem by fixing me up with a woman who will be cooking very delicious homemade food for me for breakfast and dinner. Since I am always out with Neel in the afternoon, lunch will be at a restaurant. So far I have not been disappointed in the food that I have been eating.

We went to the university today to attend classes but instead there was some kind of ceremony that was going on probably to acknowledge the important Sanskrit figures in the field. I’m not too sure about it, since everything was spoken in Marathi. While they were speaking, I browse through Meghaduta, (The Cloud Messenger) a short poem written by the famous Sanskrit poet Kalidasa. I will be reading this work with a Sanskrit sahitya (which means literature) professor this summer. The story is about a demigod who was forced into exile for one year, and while serving his sentence, he sent a message to his wife by having the clouds relay his message. The poem explores the pangs of separation experienced by both husband and wife and the promise of a future happiness once the sentence has been served.

Husband’s words to his distant wife:

“I am constantly reminded of you, O love, when I note the resemblances of various objects with you in part; the Syama creepers put me in mind of your physical frame. The eyes of the frightened female deer, of your eyes; the peacock’s plumage, of your curly hair...I try to draw you in a picture...but I am so much overwhelmed with emotion that tears well up in my eyes and it is impossible to draw the picture at all...Occasionally, I see you in a dream and like a mad man, I try to clasp you in my arms...I also try to embrace the breezes coming from the north, fondly hoping that perchance they might have come into contact with your body!... Of course, I am trying to bear all this with great fortitude; please do not be anxious on my account. My chief concern is for you. One cannot hope to be always happy; these ups and downs in life are normal events in the life of all. But fortune’s wheel is always going round and these days of misery are bound to be followed by days of happiness--is not the darkest hour nearest the dawn? Only four months remain now for the curse-period to end; bear up patiently till that time; and then, believe me, we shall make up for the lost time and enjoy life with greater zest and redoubled vigor....my love for you has become more forcible and more ardent. Truly has it been said that separation intensifies love and makes it more abiding.”

After the lecture and ceremonies, Neel and I with two other girls went out for lunch at a place that was so packed with traffic jams that it somehow ruined Neel’s mood when we met up with the girls for lunch. I suddenly have this big realization that even though it was Sunday in Pune, the traffic was so bad that it resembled nothing like the Sunday that I am so used to in San Francisco. And as a matter of fact I actually kinda miss it. Since Sunday for me at Zen Center meant a day of peace and quiet and maybe even riding my bike to the ocean through Golden Gate Park, today was not like that at all. The weather was super hot, but I was able to keep my head cool by wetting my head scarf, but again I was wearing jeans. Neel for some reason was somewhat kinda grumpy, maybe because he lost his cap earlier and he was getting really hot, and the horrible traffic didn’t help his mood either. Well anyways, while we were waiting for Prachi and her roommate to join us for lunch, we both had some very interesting discussion on India and its numerous problems. This second trip has given me somewhat of a stark and pessimistic view of India as a whole. I just feel that India somehow is heading towards a cliff and that it needs to really act quickly if it’s going to transition into this new century. Neel agrees but adds a lot of other interesting insights on the topic. The first problem for me was overpopulation which leads to numerous headaches like nasty traffic problems and overcrowding. I asked Neel what the cause was to which he said he does not know exactly but attributes the introduction of medicine which prolonged life as one big reason why the population has grown exponentially. He said that back in the days, married couples would have lots of children not because they wanted to but because so many of them died in childhood. But due to medicine, those children have survived. His mother had 21 brothers out of which only 2 survived! I told Neel that I thought the country was beautiful, of which he completely denied. He said due to overpopulation, the beauty is completely gone. So I asked him what it was like in the time of the Buddha and he told me that back then it was probably more beautiful than it is now.

Both girls are really wonderful, both are 22 and are roommates. Prachi, the one wearing a purple t-shirt studies Sanskrit at the University.

Lunch with Prachi and her friend was nice even though Neel somehow kinda made it difficult to enjoy by dwelling so much negativity on American culture and its past history. In my opinion, it was a little inappropriate. Neel did apologize for his pessimistic and depressed view of American culture afterwards. I saw that he was sad. I accepted his apology but I didn’t make much of it really because at least he did most of the talking and the girls showed interest in what he was saying. Because he kept on talking, it broke a lot of the ice between me and the girls and I talked to them as if they were my friends and I felt that they were comfortable being around me which was a good feeling. So I guess I didn't mind since it ended pretty well.

I have learned so much in just several days hanging out with Neel and talking with other Indian people that I do appreciate this aspect of my travels. Otherwise, I would think twice the next time I come to India. The temperature is unbearable in the summer, the traffic is horrible, and the noise level is pretty horrendous. Thank GOD for my IPOD! But once I overlook all of that, traveling in India is such a privilege. I just hope that anyone in the sangha who will be traveling to this country will not be weigh down by all of its problems.

Saturday 5/26/2012 "Gautam"

I can’t believe that sometimes Neel and I can really go on talking for hours on end like today. He woke up quite early this morning at 4 am and I got up not too late after that. While I went to bed at about 11 pm, I was able to fall asleep quickly and comfortably because I slept in a mosquito net that Neel had prepared. We started talking this morning at about 4 and we went on and on until 7. Now that I am writing this in the evening at 6pm I don’t remember half or most of the stuff that we talked about. Sure enough we do not agree on everything, and we do sometimes argue on our differences but never too passionately or angrily. There is an openness on my part to see where Neel is coming from and I embrace our differences or at least make clear to him that he has a good point but so did I and we leave it there. We talked so much this morning, that my excuse (which is not really an excuse at all) to him was that I needed to write my blog and catch up on the news.

One student came this morning for yoga Harshan, and I got a chance to talk to him. He sounded like an interesting dude, age 32 married for five years with no children. After a while living in India, I found myself cutting to the point pretty quickly (i.e., asking people how old they are, marital status, etc...). Those kinds of questions are considered intrusive in the West but it’s perfectly normal here.

We were supposed to attend the Sanskrit class but given how we talked so much, we couldn’t make it to the first class. For breakfast today, Neel found me a cook who will probably be making me breakfast everyday at 9 o’clock. It is a little late for my usual liking which is at 7:30~8am, but I think it is rare for Indian families to even eat breakfast at that time. While the food was simple, it was a little on the heavy side lots of yellow saffron rice and mashed beans--delicious and healthy. After breakfast we talk some more and by this time I got so tired talking to Neel that I made him agree to a period of silence so I could just zone out, relax, and listen to music.

We went to Tilak Maharastra Vidyapeeth (the Sanskrit University) where Neel wanted me to mingle with the students. It was pretty cool though because I get to practice speaking Sanskrit with all of the students and I learned how to speak some basic Sanskrit greetings. Oh by the way, Neel has given me a Sanskrit name of Gautam (the surname of the Buddha) because it is much easier for Indians to understand and pronounce than Quang. Here is what I said to all of the students:

Quang: Namo namaha! Bhavantyaa yaaha naama kim? (Greetings! Good madam what is your name?)

Students: Mama nama ‘their names...’ (“My name is ....”) and then I introduce myself

Quang: Mama naama Gautam. "My name is Gautam."

Everyone that you see here in these photos are all Sanskrit school teachers in their villages. There are lots more that Neel still hasn't introduce to me.

अहं बुद्धमुनयोः विंशतशतकस्य अवतारः अस्मि । “I am the manifestation of lord Buddha in the 21st century.”

After all of this introduction, Neel wrote on the board a silly statement about me that caused a rupture of laughter among the Sanskrit school-teachers. I also got a chance to talk to a possible teacher who will be teaching me sahitya (literature). And afterwards, we went to cash my traveler’s cheques and to my disappointment Thomas Cooks did not give me the exact exchange rate that I had hope they would. On top of that I had to wait 15 minutes for someone to serve me. Neel was out waiting in the rickshaw when I waited, finally he burst in asking the teller why the hell no one assisting me or that no one had informed me that I had to wait for someone to come back from lunch (the customer service in India is very pathetic) and I was rather glad that he took it upon himself to give a good yelling at the tellers. I told him that because I am a guest in a foreign country, I did not feel that it was my right to raise hell even though back at home I would readily give hell to anyone who don’t inform me why I am waiting for so long. Well we were told that someone would be with us after 2 minutes, and after 5 minutes when no one showed up, we decided to come back after some errands and lunch. Lunch was really good at a mid level thali restaurant with air condition for a change. 

Neel said that this shop (Ocean of Sanskrit Literature) is the best shop in all of Pune for Sanskrit texts. The shop is rather small for my liking but seems very promising. This will clearly not be the last time I will be here.

very good thali. I enjoyed the rice, tomato, mango, and the stuff in the center.

Fri. May 25, 2012 "Making a good first impression"

I reached Mumbai airport Thursday night at 8:33 pm and it was good to know that I did not get hustled coming out of the airport because I easily spotted Neel and Dr. Thite who were both waiting for me. I found out that they came around 8:30 and waited for about one hour before I could cleared custom. On the way back to Pune from Mumbai which took about four hours, Neel and I talked for more than an hour in which I learned a lot about him, his triumphs and more fascinating his mistakes with money and family life. I listened very carefully because there’s a lot that Neel has to teach me.

I also met Dr. Thite which Neel held in very high esteem. I found out that Dr. Thite was Neel’s Sanskrit teacher when he was probably a kid although he is only twelve years older than Neel. His specialty is on Veda, and my impression of him is that while he is only 68, he looks like he is in his 80s because he moves a little slow and he has a very contemplative persona. He looks and acts very much like a wise person and someone whom I would like to emulate. Neel, on the other hand, has a crazy sense of humor and acts very natural, just like himself--nothing more and nothing less. We didn’t reach until a little after 1 am, and I was able to sleep on and off during the night. What kept me up was the mosquito bites.

On Friday, we went over some of the daily routines and also Neel went over some of the formalities that he expected from me when I am staying over in his apartment with his wife Nancy. I also took part in a yoga class that he gave to one of his student Sweta who will have an engagement party event on June 3rd in Nagpur which I will not be able to attend because of my trip to Vietnam. I also learned one pose which is called in Sanskrit शवासन्न (shavaasanna “the dead body pose”). Afterwards Neel played a recording to teach me how to relax my body which I recalled from his words is “to imagine parts of your body melting like butter. And after relaxing one part of the body, one also needs to move on to other parts and forget about the last part.”

After the brief yoga class, Neel took me to the Sanskrit school where he informed me that I will be sitting in on classes meant for schoolteachers who are teaching Sanskrit at the high school level in India. Many of these people come from all over India and know Marathi (the state language of Maharashtra) and many live in villages where they experienced high levels of poverty and very few of them know English, hence the language that Sanskrit was conducted in these classes were mainly Marathi. It almost broke my heart when Neel informed me that these school teachers are given a monthly stipend of 750 rupees (a mere $15 dollars per month) of which 700 rupees had to be spent on monthly lodging. As you can imagine how much it pained me when I heard that. Not all the teachers are Sanskrit scholars, sometimes they are forced to teach Sanskrit in their village school and the choice is rather stark: either learn this to get a job or find other means of livings. It’s crazy sad to know how little value is given to people who want to devote their life to this sacred language.

The university where Neel attended when he was about 12 years old. He is also pursuing a Master degree and perhaps a PhD later on.

On a lighter note, Neel wanted to introduce me to the Sanskrit women teachers who were there. However, many of them are married, but according to him, there is no harm in getting to know them and visiting their villages since it could lead to other possibilities. And instead of wearing my usual dhoti-kurta, he wanted me to wear his trousers. I decided to wear my blue jeans instead and a white long kurta. To cover my head, he suggested wearing a cap but I decided against it and put on my head scarf instead. It’s important to keep the head cool and cover the face from the sun during the hot summer. His rationale for wearing jeans is because no men in India wear dhoti anymore and they only do it on rare occasion and so women in general will not like it. It’s also very important to make a good first impression. His rationale for wearing a cap instead of a scarf is also men will only wear a scarf for a funeral or if they are um humph...”attracted to their own sex.” I objected that they will have second thoughts about my sexuality once I flirted with a few of them but he rebutted me by saying that they would only think that I am “bisexual.” That however did not deter me from choosing a head scarf instead of a crumby baseball cap.

I don't look quite so bad, but honestly wearing jeans when the temperature is in the upper 80s is not that fun.

I sat in the first class by one of the professor and there was literally five ppl in that room. Me, Neel, and two other female students and the Sanskrit professor. Boy did I learned a ton in that class. The class was meant to teach Sanskrit to students who are in the tenth grade. There was a lot of discussion on grammar which was fantastic and all the Sanskrit that I learned in the past four years really came to fore. It cleared up many of the things that Neel himself could not have taught me because his speciality was neither in literature or grammar which was fine. What Neel has is a very good working knowledge of the language-- being able to understand what he reads and clearing it up for me. What I learned today were some grammatical nuances of the language that was a little over my head a few years ago and now today something just clicked and I feel really great to see how far I’ve gone. The other class was not so great because the lecture was in Marathi and I did not understand anything. But even then a lot of people enjoyed the talk.

Tues. May 22, 2012

Finally the day of my departure is here. It’s been a hard year, but also a very rewarding one. Horace Mann the middle school that I have worked at for the past two years is now completely taken over by Buena Vista elementary school. The district has turned it into a K-8 Spanish immersion school which means most of the middle school staff have to be let go because all or most of the classes are taught in Spanish. I was pretty much forced to sub elsewhere and I found a long-time subbing position at James Denman MS which is near the Balboa Bart station. For the past three months, I had to bike 5 miles to get there from Zen Center which pubt me in very good shape but the bike ride in the morning was a little dangerous at first. Even though there are barriers on San Jose Ave. to divide cyclists from cars, I didn’t feel safe biking next to cars that are going at 40-50 mph. Instead I chose to climb up the hills of Arlington St. which is exhausting work.

Aileen and Eva both accompanied me to the SFO airport where I waited for an hour and a half before I could check my bags. I decided to wait for another 45 minutes when I saw how long the line was. It only died down a bit, I finally gave up after the 45 minute mark, when I saw that people were still slowly trickling in so I went ahead and waited in line. It didn’t take that long though. From what I can tell, a lot of the ppl were tourists and were heading back home to Asia.

The flight was quite nice even though it was brutally long! I thought it was a straight shot to Singapore but that was not the case. It took 12 hours to get to Hong Kong and then another 3 hours to Singapore. I was probably on that plane for a good 16-17 hours. But I got a really good seat right next to the exit doors, which guaranteed that I have a lot of leg room. I should have brought more snacks with me or at least I should have eaten a big meal or something before I boarded that plane so that I did not have to wait around for dinner at 3 o’clock in the morning. I guess if I had done that, I could have had more sleep. Right now as I am blogging this at the Singapore airport, all I desire right now is to doze off when I’m on the plane heading for Mumbai. It’s a five hour flight and I really desperately need to get some shut eye time.

Singapore is a nice airline to fly on. Their food is good and I like the fact that they use small tupperware and they are quite conscientious about the use of plastic. They use silverware unlike other airlines. The flight attendants are very friendly and young...there’s a kind of exuberance and enthusiasm about how they do their work. The airport is very nice, it’s quite a hub for a lot of flights all over Asia. Despite the fact that there should be a lot of foot traffic, the ambience in the airport is very quiet and calm.

A year of changes!

Since I got back from my last trip in late August, there have been many changes in the lives of my housemates in Pune. Bhavesh got married in November--the wedding took place in Chandigarh all the way up north in the state of Punjab. They went on a really nice honeymoon afterwards to an island resort (maybe the Maldives...not sure). Vaibhav moved to Delhi for work and hasn’t been back to the flat since October. I believe he is living with his relatives and he doesn’t mind that at all. As a matter of fact, I think he enjoys it! The last time I talked to Vikas, he was getting very excited about his upcoming trip to London for work. Bhavesh also moved to New Zealand for work. His contract will be six months to one year.

Of all the people I have met on my trip, I have kept in touch with Neel Kulkarni, who taught me Sanskrit in the last nine months via Skype. Neel is a yoga teacher in Pune and I met him through Aradhana, whom I took Sanskrit lessons from when I was in Pune. She referred me to Neel when I was complaining to her that I needed someone who can help me with my lower back pain. Neel not only has fixed the pain in my lower back, he has been a really good friend and my guru. I have learned so much Sanskrit from him. Much of what I learn from him is not grammar per se but being able to read simple Sanskrit stories. In the last nine months we have read many simple stories to help me improve on my syntax and increase my vocabulary. Despite four years of studies, my vocabulary still is quite insufficient. Sanskrit is truly a difficult language for any westerner to master because there are hardly any words that are cognates to our western languages. For Indians, however, Sanskrit is not so hard because they can draw many relevant connections from their language i.e., Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, etc. It’s not farfetched to say that Sanskrit is three times harder for a westerner than it is for Indian people. If it takes Indian people ten years to master this language, it probably will take a westerner thirty years. I came to this conclusion because of my experience of how it took me three months to be familiar with the devanagari (hindi) script alone, while most of my indian classmates at that time already had some familiarity with it.

And to address a further point whether Sanskrit is a living or dead language. I am always puzzled when previous Sanskrit teachers asked me what exactly do I want to do with this language. Do I want to read, write, or speak in this language? How can anyone write or speak if it's already a dead language? All I can tell them was that I want to be able to read texts or any texts for that matter and be able to understand what is being written whether it’s philosophy or literature. But for an Indian who is studying Sanskrit, reading dead texts alone is not the only goal, one must also be able to compose and converse in Sanskrit. Neel himself can speak Sanskrit to me and he’s been training me in the past several months to at least learn how to listen to fairly simple conversations. Even then it is still hella hard! There are many scholars who are still writing novels in Sanskrit! So I’ll let you decide whether you think Sanskrit is a living or dead language.