DISTRICT DEUTSCHLAND

A king teaches his people German, hoping it will get them more jobs. The jobs haven8217;t come yet but his people have learnt to say, 8220;Danke8221;

A king teaches his people German, hoping it will get them more jobs. The jobs haven8217;t come yet but his people have learnt to say, 8220;Danke8221;
In a land called Sangli, about 200 km from Pune, there lived 8216;King8217; Vijaysinghraje Patwardhan. One day, the king was lost in deep thought: his was a kingdom that boasted of sugar mills and wind mills; yet, several of his people remained unemployed. What was the best way to 8220;reciprocate the love and respect they bestowed on him8221;? And then, he came up with an idea: he would teach them German. And soon, Sangli learnt to say 8216;Danke Thank you8217; to their king but the jobs8212;well, they are still waiting.

Royalty may have long been abolished, but the people of Sangli see Vijaysinghraje Patwardhan as their king and Patwardhan says teaching them German was his way of ensuring the 8220;intellectual development8221; of his people. But why German? 8220;The German economy will be the next engine of growth in Europe. A place where people spoke German will be an obvious choice for any German company that would want to work from India. And that8217;s where my people will have an advantage since they know the basics of the language,8221; explains Patwardhan, relaxing in his haveli.

8220;I cannot make scholars out of them, but if my students are able to read and write the language, my job is done,8221; says the 67-year-old erstwhile king, who teaches the language free of cost to the people of Sangli town. Now, at least 600 people in the town speak the language8212;professionals, students, housewives and unemployed youth.

Patwardhan is an unlikely king. He did his double graduation from Bombay University8212;in both law and engineering. He retired as senior vice-president and legal advisor of Bajaj International Limited, an export house and export wing of the Bajaj group. It was during his days in Bajaj that he tavelled extensively to Germany and picked up the language. Patwardhan, who is an NCP member, says he has a weakness for films and music too. Incidentally, he is the father of Bollywood actress Bhagyashree of Maine Pyar Kiya fame. Patwardhan has dabbled in Bollywood too8212;he has written the lyrics for a few films like Hum To Chale Pardes and has written scripts for a few others.

But it was his latest initiative8212;the German classes8212;that proved a big hit. When he started the classes in 2003, the response was overwhelming. Nearly 400 students registered for the first batch and he had to divide them into two groups to accommodate everyone. The German course is spread over 36 hours at an average of five hours a day. Patwardhan even takes extra classes for those who can8217;t catch up with the rest.

Shubhangi Limaye, a doctor in Sangli district, is among Patwardhan8217;s first students. 8220;Guten morgan, ist es nett, Sie zu sehen Good morning, it8217;s good to see you,8221; she greets you. Limaye has taken over from her teacher and now takes German and Urdu classes.

Incidentally, Patwardhan doesn8217;t consider himself an expert in German. But he used an ingenious method of teaching to get his lessons across to his students8212;many of them who couldn8217;t read English. He used the Devnagari script8212;8221;a magical script8221;8212;to teach German. 8220;It took me one-and-a-half years to decide on the teaching module. And when I started teaching, the Devnagari script made my work much easier. German is phonetically very accurate and so is Devnagari. So it was very easy for me to write German in Devnagari for my students,8221; explains Patwardhan.

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8220;Raja Saheb taught us in such a manner that we formed our own sentences and even cracked jokes in German,8221; says Anagha Kulkarni, another student. She is a student of homeopathy and feels Germany offers a lot of employment opportunities for homeopath doctors.

Apart from German, Patwardhan also taught a crash course in Urdu8212;8221;all in seven days8221;. The course was a big hit8212;both with youngsters who hoped to get jobs in the Middle East and with people like Kamal Narhar Sahasrabuddhe, a 74-year-old who enrolled to 8220;be able to enjoy Mazrooh Sultanpuri8217;s lyrics better8221;. 8220;As a youngster, Sultanpurisaab8217;s lyrics fascinated me and I always wanted to learn Urdu,8221; he said.

8220;My Urdu classes were a lot of fun. I would usually start with a shairee and my students would join in with theirs,8221; says Patwardhan.
But the 8216;king8217; has a regret: when Patwardhan started the classes, he dreamt of a day when European companies would set shop in Sangli. But that hasn8217;t happened yet and with Sangli8217;s poor infrastructure, Patwardhan8217;s dream remains surreal.