Nishatganj, LUCKNOW, UTTAR PRADESH :

Highlights

• Gazala’s interest in Sanskrit began at the government primary school in Nishatganj where her teacher ” Meena ma’am” taught her Sanskrit in class V
• Gazala has been reciting Sanskrit shlokas, the Gayatri Mantra and Saraswati Vandana at cultural programmes in the University

Amid the row in Karnataka over Muslim students not being allowed to wer hijabs to college, a Muslim girl from Lucknow was adjudged the best Sanskrit scholar in November last year and was handed over gold medals by Dean Of Arts Prof Shashi Shukla during a faculty-level medal distribution ceremony on February 10. 

Gazala’s achievement is proof that one’s skill has nothing to do with one’s religion, and everyone should have equal access to education. Gazala is the daughter of a daily wager who succumbed to cancer, and her two younger brothers and elder sister gave up their studies so that she could pursue hers.

Gazala has been reciting Sanskrit  shlokas, the Gayatri Mantra and Saraswati Vandana at cultural programmes in the University.

She resides in a small one-room house located in the narrow lanes of Nishatganj. The 23-year-old wakes up at 5 am every day to offer namaz, do her household chores, and then study Sanskrit for seven hours straight to gain in-depth knowledge of the subject.

Gazala, without a doubt, wants to be a Sanskrit professor. She is now the winner of five gold medals for being the best student of MA (Sanskrit) at Lucknow University.

“These medals are won not by me but by my brothers Shadab and Nayab who left school and began working in a garage at the age of 13 and 10 years respectively so that I could study,” said Gazala. 

Her elder sister Yasmeen, too, began working in a utensil shop while her mother Nasreen Bano took care of all of Gazala’s requirements. 

“These five medals are for all five of us,” Gazala added. 

When asked why she wants to be a Sanskrit professor, she said, “Bhashasu mukhya madhura divya girvan bharti. Satrapi kavyam madhuram tasmadpu subhashitam (Of all the languages, God’s own language Sanskrit is the mother: divine, and most lyrical. In Sanskrit, poetry is more melodious wherein good verses hold prime position).”

Gazala’s interest in Sanskrit began at the government primary school in Nishatganj where her teacher “Meena ma’am” taught her Sanskrit in class V. 

“Thereafter I got admitted to Aryakanya Inter College and got a brilliant Sanskrit teacher, Archana Dwivedi. As a result, I scored very well,” she added.

“These are Nagma Sultan, who taught me Sanskrit during BA at Karamat Hussain Muslim Girls’ PG College, and Prayag Narayan Mishra, at LU during MA,” she said.

“My Sanskrit knowledge and interest often surprise people who ask me how being a Muslim I developed a love for the language. They ask me what I will do with it, but my family always supported me,” said Gazala. 

She also said, “You can’t imagine how big these medals are for a person like me who just dreams of getting a study table and a laptop one day so that I don’t have to attend online classes on the phone.”

Gazala now wants to pursue a PhD in Vedic literature. Eventually, she wants to become a civil servant.

source: http://www.indiatimes.com / India Times / Home> Trending> Social Relevance / by Aishwarya Dharni / February 11th, 2022