Vasant Panchami

Vasant Panchami (वसन्त पञ्चमी) is a Hindu festival celebrating Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, music and art. It is celebrated every year on the fifth day (Panchami) of the Indian month Magh (January-February), the first day of spring. Traditionally during this festival children are taught to write their first words and most educational institutions organise special prayer for Saraswati. The color yellow also plays an important role in this festival, in that people usually wear yellow garments, Saraswati is worshipped dressed in yellow, and yellow sweets are consumed within the families.

Every one pray goddess Sarswati to increase the knowledge of their particular area of work .this is the festival which is celebrated by everyone. Students get the statue of goddess Sarswati in school and they make a special pooja which last for two day.

It is believe that by worshiping goddess Sarswati people gain intellectual power and wisdom. And special kind of prsad is offered to goddess. This is also the beginning of spring

In Varanasi Holika is kept at a place which will be burnt by social community just before the day of  Holi. from this day people get palnts and wood to this place and make it big until the day of burning so this is the a starting part of the Holi.

Goddess Saraswati

Her expression is so serene and calm even as She is majestic. She is seated on a white lotus in Padmasana, adorned by a pure white silk sari, has a book in Her lower left hand, Her lower right hand showing the chinmudra, Aksharamala in Her right upper hand, and Amrithakalasam in Her left upper hand. Both eyes are full of compassion. The vehicle assigned to each of the three goddesses also symbolically represent their special powers.

Goddess Saraswathi is the consort of Lord Brahma (Lord of Creation) and is the Goddess of wisdom and learning. Saraswati is the one who gives the essence (sara) of our own self (swa). She is considered as the personification of all knowledge – arts, sciences, crafts and other skills. She has a beautiful and elegant presence, is pure white in colour, clad in a white sari, seated on a white lotus, representing purity and brilliance. She has four hands representing four aspects of human personality in learning; mind, intellect, alertness and ego. She has the sacred scriptures in one hand and a lotus (a symbol of true knowledge) in the second. With her other two hands she plays the music of love and life on the veena.

She is dressed in white (sign of purity) and rides on a white goose (swan). The swan is known for its peculiar characteristic of being capable of separating water from milk, indicating that we should possess discrimination in separating the bad from the good. The seat being a lotus or peacock implies that the teacher is well-established in the subjective experience of truth. When sitting on a peacock she reminds us that wisdom suppresses ego.

हिंदी विद्यार्थी

अंकुर वारधवान एक हिंदूस्तानी लड़का है जो कि अपने माता और पिता के साथ आस्टरेलिया में रह्ता है ! वह  एक हिंदूस्तानी कंप्नी के लिए काम करता है ! जैसा कि वह बता रहा था की उसके परिवार मे उसको छोड़कर सबलोग हिंदी बोल सकते हैं ,इसलिय वह हिंदी सीखने के लिए बनारास आया था !

उसके माता और पिता मुम्बई के रहने वाले हैं ! लेकिन वह आस्टरेलिया पैदा हुआ है तो इसलिये उसको हिंदी नहीं आती थी !

वह बनारस में सिर्फ दो हफ्ते के लिए था, इसलिए हर दिन दो घंटे सीख रहा था !

Hindi Classs

Anna Nies  is a German  student and  friend who has been coming to Varanasi for past three years to just study Hindi.

Every year she does intensive Hindi course three hours of instructions every day. This time I arranged accommodation for her in hotel Haifa however she was very much interested in staying in hotel Ganges view but they were sold out of that particular date.

As it is my outside Hindi instruction to watch Hindi film together with student and student try to give the summary what is going on in the film.

She did this outside Hindi instruction course and she learnt Hindi for two weeks.

Hindi class and Indian Culture

Namaste friends ! These days I am teaching hindi to two students from Germany .these two students are students of Berlin University ,Germany.they are students of south asian study programme .

They came to know about me through internet.theirs name are Carolin and Shabina. however they know some  Hindi .Shabina could speak better than Carolin.

As they are here just for two week so they want to learn as much as possible.mostly we are talking during the class.during our conversation they are very much interested in knowing about Indian culture such as cremation rituals and its performance.they also wanted to know how a “”DOM”” ( a cast who cremate body at the ghats) is important for Hindus rituals.

They are learning two hours per day and in this class they are reading and translating story book.some time they are also doing exercise for practice

They need a certificate for showing in the university so that they may obtain credits.I will be writing the details of hours they learnt and their performance during the class

Australian Hindi Student

Margaret wrote me mail in the month of November telling that she is interested in joining my Hindi course.as she said she got my information from wiki travel.I wrote her back that i will be available for her to teach Hindi.She is not beginner as she was learning in evening class in Sydney.she told me that she is very much interested in Indian culture.

Finally she arrived in Varanasi on first of January and I called in the hotel Ganges View if she can meet me for the lesson.at time varanasi was almost freezing so it was very difficult for her to have class in such cold.she told me that she want to take rest for few days.

On the fifth of January she called and wanted to have class.I went to hotel and I asked with prakash ji one of employee of Hotel Ganges View.She was standing at the reception when he said this is your Hindi teacher .having seen me she kept watching my face I don’t know why.I think my age seems to her too young to be Hindi teacher.I greeted her by saying Namaste and I said this is Binit as we had email conversation but we did not see each one.she said hello to me once she heard my name.

It was my first lesson with her she asked me how do i teach and what is my method.she told me that she has already finished chapter 8 of teach your self in Sydney.but she can’t speak.her big confusion was “want ,want to and should ” construction .she often get confused with “mujhe chai chahiye, or mai chai pina chahti hu,mujhe chai pina chahiye” .I explained her chahiye and should is “ko” construction and it will be used with oblique pronoun and want to is tense from of present habitual tense.

After getting the explanation she was very happy and particularly she was not confidence enough to make conversation.we were mostly talking on daily basis conversation.Besides this she was talking about village life how do people get work form local government,how a village get develop so on.but i did not know why she was asking about my village,what kind of my village is.Later on she told me that she is helping a family in Devaria district and that family was her auto rickshaw driver family.

She learned until 14th of February between this time she went to Devariya to see that family .she went to Jaipur to visit her family but she is still taking classes with Skype.

Hindi Student

Jake Zenn is student of Law from Washington D.c. united state of America.He wrote me mail in the month of September .we had very less conversation I think just once or twice as he was interested to join my Hindi course.we agreed for the class and all.

Between this period of time there was no any communication between us and I thought he is no interested any more.but in the month of December he wrote me  if I am available for tutoring him in Varanasi.I said yes I am available.

Upon arriving in varanasi he called me and I went to his guest house in shivala where he was staying.I took him to my place and we fixed up the timings of the lesson.and from following next day we started class.He could make the conversation in Hindi all what he wanted to improve his fluency and to increase vocabulary.mostly we had conversation class and using the new construction and new vocab.He was doing quiet well and he used talk in restaurant.

Every day after his class he used to play with my son and both they became friend and he gave a “dridle” to play him.I did not know what is a dridle and he explained me that it is a jewish play or something.

Online Hindi course

For two weeks I am teaching Gabrila  online through skype .she is my old student from the vision of India semester programme of where there be dragons.she lives in New york city in U.S.A.she wanted to continue her Hindi as she is studying international development.how ever it not my first experience.I have already taught some of my old students from vancouver Canada and states.First day I had great experience with skype as there was not any problem but one the second day there was a little problem with Internet.

Now she is taking four hrs in a week.every Friday and Saturday we meet on 7.30 pm according to India time.I have already sent some teaching stuff on her email address and which she has got the print out and we work both together.how ever i have recommend her teach yourself by rupp snellbut once she will have confidence in speaking Hindi