Effort Is Part of Bitter Debate Over the Role of Hindu Language in a Diverse Society. From The Washington Post:
New Delhi: Hemant Singh Yadav, a lean and sprightly 15-year-old, was sent by his parents to a summer camp to learn to speak Sanskrit, or what he calls the language of the gods.
He had studied the 4,000-year-old classical Indian language at school for six years. He knew its grammar and could chant the ancient hymns. But he could not converse in it. During a two-week course at the camp, Sanskrit Samvad Shala, he had no choice: He was forbidden to speak any other language.
“At first I thought it was impossible. The teachers and attendants spoke to us only in Sanskrit, and I did not understand anything,” said Hemant, one of the 150 students gathered inside a Hindu temple on the outskirts of New Delhi. “I knew big, heavy bookish words before, but not the simple ones. But now Sanskrit feels like an everyday language.”
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