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| Simply complex |
| Aabhas Sharma / Aug 30, 2009, 00:43 IST |
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Dr Kushagra Katariya’s passion for languages makes him appreciate sanskrit
It’s not every day that you come across a person who has a deep-rooted passion for a language such as Sanskrit. It’s not a language which one uses in everyday life. And if you are a doctor you are more likely to be familiar with Latin and Greek word forms. So it is a surprise when Dr Kushagra Katariya, CEO of Artemis Health Institute, says that Sanskrit is “more of a passion and less of a trivial pursuit”. Despite that, he does not get much time for it.
Katariya discovered his love for Sanskrit very early in life, through his father. It was his father who taught him the basics and got him fascinated. With the basics under his belt, “It was the scriptures which got me into Sanskrit, and since then I have tried to pursue it seriously,” he says.
Katariya loves to read Sanskrit works, and his aim is to interpret what’s written in the language of day-to-day life. “When you read scriptures like the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, you try to imbibe what’s written,” he says, which he tries to do as often as he can.
Katariya honestly admits that Sanskrit reading is not something he does daily, and also that he does not always try hard enough to make time for it. But whenever he can, he does try to recall Sanskrit quotes and use them in the professional presentations and lectures he gives from time to time.
What makes Katariya’s passion for Sanskrit even more interesting is that he has spent more than half his life outside India. Abroad, he says, he rarely got the chance to stay in touch with this passion. “I wish I could have devoted more time to it, but I never got the chance to do so,” he admits ruefully.
Since his return to India, where he set up Artemis, that passion has rekindled. Even when he was abroad, he says, he tried to keep in touch with the language, but just couldn’t. Lack of time and material are some of the reasons he attributes that to. Languages, Katariya thinks, are easy to forget if you don’t keep in touch with them, and that’s even more true of Sanskrit.
Katariya has a fairly large collection of Sanskrit and related books, including the scriptures. He says that he wants to improve his collection and that he intends to do the legwork for that in the near future. He tries to buy these books whenever he travels — whether abroad or in India.
What is it about this language which drew his interest? “It’s the complexity and yet the simplicity of it,” he says. Finding me at a loss for words, he laughs. He says it’s the interpretation which intrigues him the most. “The shlokas you read or hear can be interpreted in different forms, and that’s what makes it interesting.”
Katariya is trying to pass on his love of Sanskrit to his children. Both his sons were born in America, and studied in American schools, but he says he nevertheless tries to make them read and understand the language. “It’s essential that they know the language,” he says — not just because it’s an ancient language or important to our culture but because it is genuinely one of the “most interesting languages they will come across.” So far, his children are enjoying the language. “I won’t force it on them as long as they enjoy learning it. I will be more than happy to get them acquainted with it.”
As a doctor who runs his own hospital, Katariya barely gets time to indulge in leisure activities. He tries to catch up on his Sanskrit studies whenever he can. The fact that he is an extremely spiritual person helps him keep his passion alive. Every day, when he does his puja, he says he feels in touch with the language, as for the puja one only uses Sanskrit.
Katariya is also interested in sports. He makes it a habit to play one or the other sport daily. These days, he is interested in golf and tennis. “There is barely enough time, but I do try to play a sport to keep myself fit, because I love all kinds of sports,” he explains. He says he makes it a point to do at lest one fitness activity daily, be it a sport or a workout in the gym.
His biggest grouse is lack of time. Being back in India, Katariya feels the lack more than he did abroad. Too much to do and too little time to do it in, he feels. Irrespective of that, he says he will continue to pursue Sanskrit in whatever way he can.
“It’s something I wish to do not because I want to master the language or anything, but because it is the most interesting language,” he says.
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