ಕ್ಷಣಪ್ರಭಾ - Kshanaprabhaa

After years of gap, I had the honour of talking to one of the most wonderful human beings I have ever come across till date, Shri. L. S. Raman (LSR). A well known Hindi Lecturer who taught at the Navodaya Composite College at Channarayapatna, has been for a long time, one of the best authorities on Hindi language and literature in Karnataka. After retiring in 1993, he kept himself among little kids, something that he enjoyed, by joining as an advisor and teacher at the Chaitanya Vidya Shala primary school. He was very deeply involved with the school till 2006, after which he moved to Chennai, where he is settled now, with his family. What was striking with the conversations I had with him this week was that, although nearing 80, he still has the same levels of affection, memory, clarity of thoughts and expression, which made him the favorite among his students. I still remember him teaching Hindi, English and sometimes even Social Sciences to us at Chaitanya Vidya Shala. I don...

On 3rd April 2009, I could realize a long standing dream, i.e., to travel to Kyathanahalli village, in search of our “Yoga Mestru” at Chaitanya Vidya Shala, Channarayapatna – Mr. K. S. Kantharaju . Kyathanahalli village is near Pandavapura (it is actually 5 kms away from the Pandavapura Railway Station a.k.a. KennaaLu) and I had known for long that it was Mr. Kantharaju’s native place. Long back, that is, just before he left Channarayapatna, probably around 1997-98, he had gifted me a book, and had written his address inside the book. From this, I could get to know that he was from Kyathanahalli. Also, about a year ago, Srikanta, a friend and fellow “Kantharaju admirer” :) had learnt from another source that Kantharaju was running a business at a place called “Arathi Ukkada”, which was also close to Pandavapura. I will come back to the Kantharaju story a little later… Many a times, I had seen a signboard just after passing Pandavapura Railway Station that said “Way to Vivekananda ...

I was meeting him after a gap of two years. There is always a feeling of expectation, excitement, suspense, happiness and a little bit of hesitation just before I meet him every time. He always provides that element of surprise, invariably in every meet. I am talking about the first Principal and Head Master I had in my educational career, Mr. Ramesh, presently the Secretary of Chaitanya Vidya Shala, Channarayapatna. He is an exceptionally principled man, who inculcated discipline amongst us, and gave us awareness of the rights and wrongs of life, at a very young age. During school days, we were almost afraid of him, but it was a fear that came out of immense respect and admiration. He used to love his pupils and we loved him too, and fondly called him Ramesh Maava (i.e., Ramesh Uncle). He has left an everlasting impression on me, in particular, as I always liked him the most among all the teachers I had during my initial school days. Looking back now, I treat him as my mentor. Th...

Every year, the full-moon day in the month of shraavana, is celebrated as World Sanskrit Day, according to Samskrita Bharati . This year, it was on Saturday, the 16th of August. I had a good news on Sanskrit front to share, and I feel this is the occasion to do so. A new secondary school, with focus on Sanskrit language, has come up in Channarayapatna town of Hassan district, Karnataka. The age old building of "Samskrutha Pathashala" in the old fort area of the town has been renovated to bring this school up. All the credit must go to the "Samskrutha Vidyabhivardhini Sangha", and its dedicated members, who set about the ambition of providing good quality education, with focus on the language of Sanskrit. The main person behind this ambitious project, Mr. A. Chidambar, senior English lecturer at Navodaya PU College of the town, has poured his heart and soul to this dream. He was ably supported by Mr. G.K. Vishwanath, English lecturer, Navodaya High Sc...