CHENNAI: Renowned pianist, Anil Srinivasan, on Wednesday expressed his disdain at the ‘politicisation of Sanskrit’ while launching ‘Fun with Slokas,’ a non-commercial audio-visual project to provide children with an enjoyable way to learn popular slokas on a digital platform.
“It is unfortunate that Sanskrit has become politicised,” he said. “It is almost as ridiculous as saying that if you speak Latin, you are left wing. It is a language. It is important, it is a responsibility. Just as slokas are a responsibility too.”
He lauded the initiative, which is focussed on giving the listener an exposure into the listening rather than teaching the slokas. “It doesn’t matter if the children do not understand what is being said,” he said. “Let it play in the background because it is important for them to listen to it. These days soap operas play in the background where children listen to Tamil being spoken badly and Sanskrit being murdered. Play the slokas for yourself in the morning. It will put you in a happy place.”
The project began in 2014 when Jaya Kumar came up with the first set of simple tunes for the slokas she was trying to teach her three-year-old granddaughter, who picked it up effortlessly. She then contacted musician R Chandrasekhar to set her ideas to lively music. Jaya’s son Viraj and daughter Divya, both trained singers added their backing vocals to the songs as well. Finally, Suriya Narayanan, director, and Sara Divya Mohan of The Studio Madras helped create fun visuals to go with the songs.
“Kids today spend a lot of time on phones, tablets and television,” said Jaya. “Observing my granddaughter and her friends gave me the idea of using this medium to familiarise them with our traditional slokas and culture. Hence, we’ve used simple melodies, lively music, and colourful videos to appeal to young children.”
She reminisced about the role these slokas played in her life. “My grandmother taught me these slokas when I was very young,” she recounted. “I remember that whenever I was troubled, I would remember them and feel calm. Children these days have so much more stress and anxiety, I hope it will give them the same comfort.”