BENGALURU: Divyaa Doraiswamy’s day is packed, starting from 5.30 am when she begins teaching shlokas to young children across the world – the United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands and Germany. The shlokapreneur, as she calls herself, has combined the old and the new – ancient shlokas and modern technology – to reach out to today’s millennials. “I started off with six kids and today several students across the globe are keen to connect with their roots through shlokas. I teach through Skype and WhatsApp videos,” says Doraiswamy, whose shloka school is called Gurukulam.
While she first started taking offline classes in 2014, she switched to online classes – not just because of the city’s traffic but also due to her personal travel schedule. “I travel to the US every year and started feeling that my students were missing classes for about four months when I was away. That’s when I thought I should use technology and make the course available round the year from any part of the world,” says Doraiswamy. She earlier used to teach at different pre-schools, dance and art schools. “Before I moved this online in 2016, it was more of an afterschool activity,” she points out.
Having moved back from America and working for a software testing company as their branch head, she decided to do something that would help kids connect to their traditional roots. “My personal life was a disaster, and I was not too happy with my professional life either. So I wanted to do something that will keep our traditional roots in place, thereby tapping an area that has been left unexplored,” she says.
Teaching at different time zones can be crazy, she admits. Doraiswamy’s teaching style – interactive and fun sessions – that include Sanskrit shlokas printed in English with meanings and pictures, doesn’t make it seem taxing.
“People now realise that shlokas help in math, reading skills and also speech improvement in special kids,” she says, adding that admissions for shloka education are not as demanding as art, dance or any other activity. Doraiswamy plans to make it a franchise model so as to reach out to more kids, and maybe help in providing employment to homemakers through teaching.