'Skype' helps octogenarian obtain MA in Sanskrit

It is rare to see a person born in 1933 use computers, let alone be accustomed to the fine details of internet video calling. T P Shantha Bai, however, is not any average octogenarian.

The oldest woman to receive a degree at the 13th convocation of the Karnataka State
Open University, Bai was awarded an MA in Sanskrit, after she passed the examination by scoring 62 per cent. She said she studied with the help of Skype — a famous proprietary voice over Internet Protocol software.

“I started studying the basics of Sanskrit to teach my grand-daughter Shashirekha. After that, interest in the subject grew and I wrote examinations for a few certificate courses in Sanskrit,” she said.

Her friends, who are almost half her age, was motivated Bai to take up the examination. “My great-grandson Raghunandan taught me to use Skype. My friends Haripriya, 45, and Jayashree, 36, used to login to Skype at the same time and we studied for one to two hours daily, prior to the examination,” she said.

Bai got her BSc degree from the University of Mysore in 1952 and BEd from Osmania University, Hyderabad in 1953.

“After that I served as a high school teacher for several years, before completing my post graduation in Mathematics from Benares Hindu University in 1963,” she said. She has completed two certificate courses in French.

New PG degrees

M G Krishnan, vice-chancellor of the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), announced on Tuesday that they would start post graduate courses in five science streams.

The courses would be in physics, chemistry, microbiology, bio-chemistry and bio-technology, he said, addressing the 13th convocation of the university. Krishnan announced that construction work of the new KSOU building would be completed soon.