New Delhi
A Muslim student at Lucknow University has won five medals for being the best student of MA in Sanskrit. Ghazala's name was announced by the University during its convocation held in November, but due to the Covid-19, only a few students could be awarded medals during the ceremony.
Ghazala was awarded the medal by Professor Shashi Shukla, Dean of Arts during the faculty level medal distribution ceremony on Thursday. The daughter of a daily wage laborer, She is proficient in English, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, and Sanskrit.
Her father passed away when she was in 10th standard.
Ghazala said, "These medals have not been won by me but by my brothers, Shadab and Nayab, who left school and started working in a garage at the age of 13 and 10 respectively so that I could continue my studies. Her elder sister Yasmin also started working in a pottery shop, while her mother Nasreen Banooghar looked after her.
Ghazala lives with her family in a one-room house. She wakes up at 5 in the morning and after doing all the household chores she studies Sanskrit for about seven hours a day. Her wish is to become a professor of Sanskrit.
Gazala is a popular student on the University campus. She recites Sanskrit shlokas, Gayatri Mantra, and Saraswati Vandana at most of the cultural festivals. Why did she choose Sanskrit? Ghazala says, "Of all the languages, God's language is Sanskrit. It is divine and most lyrical.”
“I find poetry sweeter in Sanskrit language," she says. Her interest in Sanskrit began at the Government Primary School in Nishatganj, where her Sanskrit teacher in fifth standard involed her interest in the language.
She says, “My Sanskrit knowledge and interest in the subject often surprises people. Probably, it is also because I am a Muslim,” she says.
Her family has always supported her. Gazala wants to pursue a Ph.D. in Vedic literature.
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