When Gulsar Ahmed decided to change the optional language from Hindi to Sanskrit, he did not face any dilemma. For him, it was a language that would fetch him good marks during the Class Xth examinations: he scored centum in Sanskrit in the matriculation examination, earning the state second rank in the non-Tamil stream, the results of which were announced on Friday.“Till Class VIII, I had Hindi as my optional language paper. I wanted a change and decided to try Sanskrit, as I could not opt for Tamil due to certain mandatory requirements,” said the 15-year-old student of DAV Matriculation School, Mogappair near Chennai.When his mother Saira Banu suggested Sanskrit, his father, Abdul Hamid, a senior engineer with the Integral Coach Factory, was only supportive. “From childhood, he has been taking such decisions on his own. We have no qualms as he has always been the topper of his class and school,” he said. Gulsar, now, looks to aeronautics as his future, and will prepare for the IIT-JEE test from this year.This was the first time when the state board conducted examinations under the uniform syllabi.
