The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Catching them young

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Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Catching them young

S. Sandeep Kumar

E. S. Mukundan is bent on teaching Sanskrit slokas to young minds to inculcate moral values

- PHOTO: S. SANDEEP KUMAR

Missionary zeal: E. S. Mukundan conducting free Sanskrit classes for children at Sri Datta Talent High School on Saturday.

HYDERABAD: Teaching children to cherish inherent human values through Sanksrit slokas, culled out of the ancient scripts is his mission.

Undaunted by challenges, which crop up at every step, E. S. Mukundan, an engineer by profession conducts free Sanskrit classes for students at his home, in temples and even in schools during lunch hours. He has been conducting such classes since couple of years.

Driven by the idea of ‘catch them young’, he runs from pillar to post to make sure that students, particularly children are taught human values so innate in the Indian culture.

“The great, ancient Indian scripts clearly elucidate the ethical and moral way of living and teaching children these principles is very important in the present days. I chose Sanskrit language as a tool to educate students, irrespective of caste, creed and religion,” says 47-year-old Mukundan.

Hayagriva Sthotram, Kaamashika Ashtakam and Sudarshanashtakam not only help students in developing spiritual values but also help them in improving their memory power, physical and mental health, he explains. Not confining to just teaching spiritual values, he also teaches arithmetic puzzles, moral science topics, lectures on patriots and great leaders of the country during his one-hour session.

Venues for classes

Sri Datta Talent High School and Sri Balaji Temple in Alwal are the venues where Mukundan conducts his classes every Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Ever since he started conducting Sanskrit classes in our school, students appear to enjoy reciting the slokas and sthotrams. Their pronunciation and concentration levels are steadily showing improvement and there is not much of stage fear in them, informs Sri Datta Talent High School principal D. Muralidhar Gupta.

Apart from conducting classes, Mukundan also organises summer camps where in, students are taught Sanskrit, yoga, meditation and personality development skills. “Credit goes to my wife, friends and relatives, who donate funds and help me in conducting classes and camps,” he signs off in all humility.

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