… the strongest part of the program was the sense of community it created. When your parents encourage you to do something, it can sometimes feel like an obligation, but when you have friends learning alongside you, the experience becomes much more engaging and enjoyable. ~ Chandra

… Also being a Carnatic musician, I could connect well with Dikshitar’s kritis which were primarily composed in Samskritam. Now as I learn more and more compositions, I am able to appreciate the lyrics better. ~ Niva

Many immigrant families struggle in fostering a strong cultural connection in their children. Being raised in India, exposure to a language outside of English was taken for granted even if it were by watching television or movies. However, how would one instill the same love for a generation alienated by distance? 

In this blog, we hear from Niva Mangalampalli and Chandrakumari Suvarna, both notable SAFL alumni. Niva is a rising senior at the University of Maryland studying Bio-engineering. Chandra graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a Masters in Natural Language Processing and a Bachelors in Computer Science.

By volunteering as full-time teachers, they inspire the next generation to learn the language. What motivated Niva and Chandra to learn Samskritam? What challenges did they face, and what did they learn along the way? Often, the greatest rewards are the unexpected ones. Let’s hear about their journey.

How did you start with SAFL?

Chandra: I started early at the age of 7, after my dad signed my sister and me for Bala Kendram once he completed his L1 adult class. I stayed on for two years and reconnected back in high school with SAFL. I started reluctantly at first with the online curriculum, it was after Pragnya, an in-person summer camp that I came back with much more enthusiasm. I had made friends and found a peer group that I instantly connected with. The course helped me foster that community. 

Niva: My mother is Tamil speaking and dad Telugu, and both were volunteers and teachers through training in our local kendram. It was through my mother’s insistence that I attended Bala Kendran in Maryland and was able to get direct entry into the second year of SAFL in 2014. My then teacher tricked me saying that Pravesha was necessary for direct entry so I was fairly well prepared! My mother was key in nurturing my interest, making sure we read Sandesha magazine regularly.

What part of SAFL was most memorable for you?

Chandra: I enjoyed group projects and hanging out with peers who I participated with. I remember one project very distinctly. We had to take a scene from an English movie and translate it into Samskritam. My friend, Sahana from Redmond and I chose some scenes from Mary Poppins. The relatability became instant with projects like this and the learning became suddenly relevant.

The first year is basically conversational Samskritam very similar to Bala Kendram. The part that gets hard is in the third year when you have to do avyayam where you read a passage and parse it with sandhi, and articulate its meaning. I thought that part was challenging, along with the memorization involved at that point. But I had some very good teachers in Harichandran Mahodaya, Brinda Thakur, Sowmya Joisa, Vineetha and Srikrishna Mahodaya over the years. 

Niva: The Shraddha Shibiram in summer was the highlight of my SAFL experience where I made a lot of connections. I found to my surprise many from my music class also participated in SAFL. By studying here I started to engage better with my music training outside of class.

Were there any benefits to Samskritam learning beyond your classes that you noticed?

Chandra: Learning Samskritam was a gamechanger for me as a musician. You sing better when you understand the lyrics – the quality improves. At home we speak Telugu, and much of its vocabulary is derived from Samskritam which is very helpful. The vocabulary translates over and it’s easy for me to learn both languages because I know some of the other. I also have some friends who are Bharatanatyam dancers and they do a lot of productions. They wanted someone to compose some lyrics in Samskritam on pancakanyas like Seetha and Tara so I wrote them and they included them in their dance production. It was a cool opportunity which I couldn’t have done without my Samskritam training.

Also, I keep emphasizing the community aspect – like-minded people is the most important thing I got from Samskrita Bharati. Usually when you are in high school, you don’t want to come across as different. You try to stay away from Indian culture. But when you feel like you have a community, you don’t feel the need to do that. That really influences your ability to stay in the community and engage with the program. Sangha is an important concept. Whoever you surround yourself with influences you. Being part of this community helped me connect with like minded people who value Indian culture and the values you get from it.

Niva: Also being a Carnatic musician, I could connect well with Dikshitar’s kritis which were primarily composed in Samskritam. Now as I learn more and more compositions, I am able to appreciate the lyrics better.

Did you learn other languages besides Samskritam?

Chandra: We didn’t get credits for SAFL at that time so I took Spanish to fulfill my foreign language credits. In the high school Spanish curriculum you basically learn to speak the language, and not much of the literature or even say Hispanic culture. In Samskrita Bharati the speciality is that you learn Indian culture through Samskritam which is really good. It gives you a sense of identity and values. Even the subhashitams we learnt, while I did not fully appreciate it then, I am able to value them more now.

Niva: I learned Spanish in parallel to Samskritam and was able to draw a lot of parallels between the languages. In my Spanish class, many of my peers struggled with understanding what conjugations are. On the other hand, I had a lead because of my Samskritam training to identify declensions or vibhakthis and lakharas for your verbs. Having that understanding that you can change the root form to different forms made it easier for me to grasp the fundamentals.

What were some of the challenges you noticed among your peers or students in the SAFL class? 

Chandra: Since I was part of the early years of SAFL, our class size was quite small—only about seven students in 2013. Out of those, perhaps three or four of us were truly committed to learning the language. Because the program was online, we missed some of the liveliness that naturally comes with an in-person classroom experience. There were also practical challenges at the time, especially for an eighth grader, like scanning and submitting homework assignments online. Still, the strongest part of the program was the sense of community it created. When your parents encourage you to do something, it can sometimes feel like an obligation, but when you have friends learning alongside you, the experience becomes much more engaging and enjoyable. We had a group chat and we would ask each other questions and help each other out. That definitely created a bond so when we saw each other in person, we knew each other personally.

Now I am on the other side as a teacher so I can relate to the struggles. That has led me to adapt my methods to make it more fun for them. For example, I would use teen slang and that instantly grabs their attention. Also I notice that students who are exposed to an Indian language adapt more easily. Even students who come from Bala Kendram, attend shibirams or volunteer tend to pick up speaking more easily.

Niva: When I was learning, our biggest problem was that no one would participate initially. The teachers would try hard to encourage them. Maybe some struggled with the online format and would get lost or feel. It’s a lot better now as many of the teaching methods have improved after Covid. Students are a lot more participatory now.

How did you stay in touch with Samskritam after high school?

Chandra: We did not have a Samskritam department at CMU. Along with a couple of friends, one summer I tried reading Karna Bhaaram – it was really hard but fun. There was a shibiram at Bali in 2023 which was also pretty cool as they taught us advanced topics like samasa and sandhi that took the studies further. Since I am from the bay area, there are a lot of people who are connected with the language. One of my neighbors who had an MA in Samskritam taught me a couple of chapters on Niti Shatakam one summer. Beyond that it required us to invest more time which I was not able to consistently do. My biggest connection though, has remained SAFL. I teach classes and that’s helped me stay in touch.

Niva: After I graduated, Samskrita Bharati reached out to me, and I began helping with Pragnya and Shraddha Shibirams. When the summer programs moved online, we came up with many new ways to make the classes more engaging, including interactive online games. We now use much of that material in our regular classes as well, and my students this year were very enthusiastic about it.The University of Maryland does not have a language department. I am active in SPICMACAY and as part of CSN (Campus Sanskritam Club) here, I will be teaching a one credit student initiated course (STIC) for introductory Samskritam next semester! 

Sadly I couldn’t attend Medha camp as it was cancelled because of Covid. However I did attend the Bali camp for two weeks. It was very enjoyable. I caught myself talking in Samskritam with the Balinese as comfortably as I did in English with folks here. They have a kendram and karyalayah there, and we received instruction from their karyakartas in addition to teachers from Maryland and California. We had presentations and lectures on Balinese Hindu culture from professors in their local universities. Most of the 30 students there were SAFL graduates. Since then, we have Camp Dhimahih annually to stay in touch.

If you would like to get the next generation interested, what would you do?

Chandra: I am trying to help organize in person meetings for SAFL potential students, current students and alumni to help students meet one another. I believe this will really help them get to know one another and stay connected.

Niva: I would use social media more extensively to make it appealing to a younger audience.  People are more aware now that you can learn Samskritam and it’s not dead. Everyone is on it even if they are not actively engaged. I really like what Samashti Gubbi does with her @SanskritSparrow Instagram handle. Outreach programs like teaching at the local temple  regularly would also help.