The Nehru Centre – Central News Hub

Utsav-The Celebration hosted at London’s Nehru Centre

The program is the culmination of the first-ever nationwide competitions for under 20 age group in classical dance and vocal streams marking the special milestone year of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, reports Asian Lite News

A rich confluence of music and dance was beheld at The Nehru Centre in London on Thursday, 1^st December.

Organised by Sanskruti Centre for Cultural Excellence in association with ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations), the program is the culmination of the first-ever nationwide competitions for under 20 age group in classical dance and vocal streams marking the special milestone year of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Winners in Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Carnatic and Hindustani vocal and instrumentals have demonstrated their prowess and impressed the attendees.

An excellent opening message was rendered by Sanjay Sharma, Deputy Director at The Nehru Centre, Cultural Wing of the High Commission of India.

Sanjay Sharma, Deputy Director of TNC at Utsav

This was followed by a vibrant array of presentations starting with Hindustani Vocal by Diksha Murli and Pearl Chokshi (accompanied by Hari Goswami on Tabla and Prabhat Rao on Harmonium), Sampada Purohit, Isha Joshi, Carnatic Vocal by Thersan Ganalingam, Violin recital by Vinitha Murali, Bharatanatyam presentations by Diya Ponsudhahar, Sanvika Kommineni, Tanvi Rao, Kathak presentations by Rakshika Chaudhary, Alisha Sriram, and Kuchipudi by Shwiti Talluri.

The performances were followed by the Awards ceremony and acknowledgements to the Judges panel Prabhat Rao, Chitra Suresh, Sampath Kumaracharya Daruri, Balu Raghuraman, Kajal Sharma and Dr Geetha Upadhyaya OBE. Niya Sajesh, Rithika Ravishankar, Swadha Gupta, Tvisha Shaiva, Arya Kumar and Ira Angre’s awards were received by Sandhya Mantravadi, Sujatha Das and Ashwini Kalsekar.

Team Sanskruti Centre at Utsav

The Vote of Thanks was presented by Sushil Rapatwar on behalf of Sanskruti Centre and a clarion call is given by Founder Ragasudha Vinjamuri to continue teaching, presenting and promoting authentic art forms for the overall socio-cultural well-being of the society.

Hindustani Vocal by Diksha Murli & Pearl Chokshi

Sanvika Kommineni

Alisha Sriram

Isha Joshi

Tanvi Rao

Shwiti Talluri

Sampada Purohit

Rakshika Chowdhari

Thersan Ganalingam

Sushil Rapatwar giving Vote of Thanks

Vinitha Murali

Diya Ponsudhahar

Gamified Sanskrit app Little Guru launched through The Nehru Centre

Little Guru , the world’s first gamified Sanskrit learning app was launched recently through the Nehru Centre, London, at the hands of its visionary Director and eminent author Amish Tripathi…writes Ragasudha Vinjamuri

Referring to Sanskrit as the ancient surviving language in the world and root of Indian culture, Amish Tripathi recalled that there are over 3 million Sanskrit manuscripts as per the National Mission of Manuscripts, despite the destruction carried over the last 1000 years. Expressing his delight at the Sanskrit app being launched at the Nehru Centre, he said “The manuscripts are a storehouse of knowledge that our ancestors have left for us and we need the language expertise to read and unlock the contents of that heritage”. He congratulated CEO Anuj Sharma for the same.

Author and Director of Nehru Centre Amish Tripathi rendering opening words

Anuj Sharma has then explained how the Sanskrit language can be promoted through Little Guru with the help of a presentation. Vote of Thanks has been rendered by Brij Kumar Guhare, Deputy Director of the Nehru Centre.

In an exclusive interview with Asian Lite, Anuj also exchanges his views and objectives.

Tell us about your background.

I am an entrepreneur. I have founded Gamapp Tech company where education through gamification is one of our verticals. I have been an entrepreneur in Fintech space before this and worked with Infosystems earlier. I have done my post-graduation at IIM-Ahmedabad and graduated from Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh.

Launching Little Guru

What is your fundamental motivation to embark on this idea?

It’s 3-fold.

a. Discover ourselves by studying our history and scriptures written in original Sanskrit

b. Teach my own children; and children of the world, the glorious language of their heritage and of Indian civilization

c. Unite India and Indians through our common language Sanskrit.

I remain deeply passionate about the Sanskrit language and Education & Sports.

CEO Anuj Sharma speaking at Little Guru’s launch

What impact would you want to envisage in the next 2-3 years and what is your long-term vision?

In the next 2-3 years, we would want parents and schools the world over to start getting their kids & students to use Little Guru and start learning Sanskrit and move to higher levels if they are already learning Sanskrit.

There are millions of people who are keen to learn but do not have access to modern forms of teaching Sanskrit, Long term vision is to encourage every kid across the world to access Sanskrit and Little Guru will be one of the platforms to reach that goal.

What efforts went into creating this app? Were there any challenges?

A tremendous effort went into creating this, from conceptualising to finding partners, to put together a team of content, technical & design people. A team of 15-20 worked on it for almost a year to develop the product.

Some initial challenges were to find the best Sanskrit scholars, which was overcome with our conviction to bring scholars on board and the support from ICCR. We had the power of our belief and blessings and never felt that any challenge was insurmountable.

Brij Kumar Guhare giving Vote of Thanks

What do you reckon with having any competing apps now or for the future? What is your target segment?

We believe Sanskrit is a language that belongs to all. So all initiatives in Sanskrit teaching by traditional methods and Apps are welcome.

I am sure that now that we have set the ball rolling with the first Gamified Sanskrit App in the world, more products will follow. We welcome all such initiatives that promote our glorious language, as the task before us all is huge.