The Indian community in America deserves full compliments for the way they preserve the India’s cultural, social, spiritual and religious heritage. For two months a year, my friend’s house in Phoenix is an open house for musicians and artists visiting from India. A retired official in New Jersey has just completed a weekly discourse on Bhagawatham, through the teleconference network at a fairly convenient time from the East coast to the West. On public demand, he is giving a discourse on Narayaneeyam. In Cupertino, my niece and her husband are fully committed to carrying forward the Art of Living activities, outside their official commitments.
We have a senior scientist, Mr Krishnamurthy, (Krish to his friends) who wears many caps. A Tamil by birth, he is neck-deep into Kannadiga Sangha activities in Phoenix. He conducts a weekly Kannada class in the ‘Udupi’ temple. Instead of looking for some relaxing moments on Sunday mornings, he channels them to teach children of 4 to 8 years the basic tenets of Hinduism, and helps them recite and understand the meanings of several slokas.
He holds annually a ‘jeopardy’ dividing at random his students into two groups. He allows them to select a team leader as well as a name to the team. I had the pleasure of attending it today. I understand it is conducted on the lines of the popular Jeopardy programme in the American channels. I am yet to view one though. But I was more than happy watching Krish conduct one. It was both gripping and engrossing. Twenty-five questions spread across five categories, each carrying five questions, fetching scores of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500. On one’s turn the team selects a question from the different score category. If that team is not able to answer the question it is passed on to the other team.
Now a peep into a few questions for the 4 to 8 age group. What is the Sanskrit word for Ant Hill. It starts with the letter V. The team answered it Valmiki, but Krish clarified that it was Valmika, and the person who got covered with ant-hill during his long penance and got named thus is Valmiki. So he gave them 250 marks instead of 300. What is another name for Parvati, which starts with the letter ‘A’. The answer: Agaja. What is the word in Sanskrit starting with ‘A’ for face or head? Anana. What are the words, both starting with the letter ‘A’ for No Disease, and No Infection. This was the solitary question that neither of the teams could answer (nor could I, truth be told). The answers were: Arogatam, and Ajadhyam. In the Avataar category, he asked what is Man-Lion starting with the letter ‘N’ – Narasimha. Whose tool is Axe – Parasurama. What is the Sanskrit word for fingertips – Karagraha, and who occupies the centre of one’s palm – Saraswathy. Well it went on and on, with the difference in score narrowing down just to 100 marks. With all the questions answered, there was the final question fetching 1000 marks. What is the real name of our Hindu religion. It reads: S…………D………… The team leaders were given 30 seconds to write the answer. The team that answered within the allotted time wrote Sanatha Dharma. So they were granted 750 marks, reducing 250 marks since the answer was incomplete. The other team that managed to do it during the extra time, wrote it fully, Sanathana Dharma, and marched ahead of the other team by a slender margin of 50 marks - 4300 and 4250. It was all fun and frolic, everyone enjoying. At no time during the jeopardy could anyone say with certainty which team would make it. So intense was the competition. The parents simultaneously were busy taking snaps and videos of their children in action.
As a gesture, the parents presented Krish with Kindle Fire tablet, e-book reader. He said he was planning to buy one himself, and thanked them. A group photo, and a delicious lunch by Girija Krish followed. We understand she politely declined the potluck offer made by children’s parents. She wanted to have the pleasure all for herself, for hosting the lunch.
The parents with a full belly and more inclined for a reclining pose, were treated at a piano recital by Krish’s son, Sharad, in his twenties. Starting with Christmas carols befitting the season around, he went on to play Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and English songs, with a finale Bhagyatha Lakshmi Bharamma.
No doubt everyone left his home on a happy note. If only there was one Krish in each city of US for an orientation on Hinduism, the spiritual moorings of Indian-American children are sure to be firmly rooted.
V.V. Sundaram
18 December 2011
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