Help Pradnya Produce India's First Series of Animated Sanskrit Rhymes

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Updates (19)

Every student in India makes a tough choice in class 5th or 8th - To choose or not to choose Sanskrit as second or third language. In most of the schools and colleges, Sanskrit is taught by a grammar-translation method which is the main reason why Sanskrit appears difficult and discourages students from learning it. In grammar-translation method, students learn the grammatical rules first and then the usage.

Memorizing Rules Is No Language Taught

Merely knowing the moves of every piece in chess will be of no help unless you apply it to counter the opponent's moves. Memorizing grammar rules in any language without knowing the usage is a tedious task, especially when you are new to it.

But what if we told you that one woman in Bangalore is single-handedly making Sanskrit a more approachable choice. Pradnya Jere Anjal is using rhymes and animations as her chosen weapons to break down the daunting image of Sanskrit.

For This Gold Medallist, Masters Was Just A Step Closer To A Doctorate.

Young Pradnya always knew she would pursue Arts for the sheer love she had for Sanskrit. "I still remember the Sanskrit song my teacher taught me in school. With a simple but catchy tune, she made it into a fun song with hand actions than just reading it out loud."

It was very clear to Pradnya that learning a language needs two things. First, to have a 'usage-first, grammar-next' approach and second, to make it a fun process. Her curiosity and love for the language pushed her to do an MA in Sanskrit. It was no surprise to her family when she won a gold medal for it. But for Pradnya, a Masters was just a start to pursue her Ph.D. Today, her LinkedIn profile has a 'Dr.' to her name.

An Instructional Designer Feeding Her Fetish for Teaching.

In early days of her career, it was clear to Pradnya that she wanted to teach. But regular blackboard teaching did not excite her enough. With a strong urge to break through the traditional teaching techniques, Pradnya trained herself to become an Instructional Designer and worked for MNC's like Wipro, Bosch and a couple startups. She also freelanced to create e-learning content for HCL.

Quitting Her Job To Become A ‘Mompreneur’.

Pradnya’s love for Sanskrit was not getting enough space in her everyday schedule. The idea of making Sanskrit more enjoyable to learn had become a weekend project.

Then one day, her daughter came home from school humming a rhyme mentioning Kannada alphabets and it all came back to Pradnya, reminding her of the very incident that got her into loving Sanskrit. What better way to teach a language than with rhymes! Pradnya took it a step further and brought in her Instructional Designer experience.

“I started working on the rhymes. While writing all 15 of them, I had such a clear visual of them. I knew animating them will definitely make learning more enjoyable and engaging.”

Soon she quit her job and decided to make these 15 rhymes a reality. Today, Pradnya’s first Sanskrit animated rhyme has over 70,000 views on YouTube. The responses she has been receiving from parents and teachers only proves how useful this video has been.

Pradnya now wants to produce the remaining 14 rhymes of the series. Using popular tunes such as ones of Jingle Bells and Old McDonald will not only make it appealing but enjoyable for learners across ages. But she needs your support to make this a reality.

How Can You Help?

If you were a Sanskrit student, you know rhymes like these would have made your learning less tedious and dry. For every student and parent contemplating to learn Sanskrit or not, this Mompreneur's work will be a game changer.

Support her to produce these rhymes and make it accessible to anyone and everyone who wants to learn Sanskrit.

You can also do a bank transfer to the below mentioned account setup for this fundraising campaign:

UPI: givetovedika@yesbankltd (Copy to clipboard)

Click here to read the instructions before you make a bank transfer.

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9th October 2018

Dear All,
I have uploaded 14th song in Vedika: Sanskrit Rhymes Series. Please share the link with your contacts. Thank you once again for your support and good wishes.

-Pradnya

30th August 2018

Dear All,
I have released our 13th song. Here is the link.
Thank you so much.
-Pradnya

27th August 2018

Dear All,
I'm planning to release our 13th song this week. It's about the names of the months and seasons in Sanskrit. It's taking time as each scene depicts a particular season and needs careful visualization. We're trying to do our best. Thanks.
-Pradnya Anjal
9742854096