Learning Gujarati

I remember myself eagerly waiting for the M.J library bus coming to our neighborhood every Wednesday at 11 am. The M.J. Library, established in April 1938 and started with donations of 9650 books by bapu, our own Gandhi bapu, carries a history within itself. There was so much to read. I remember the small square picture books (no board books though) with simplest of text within. But that was it for beginning readers, I guess. 

Over the period of time, I learned the younger generation is losing their interest even to ask about the meaning of a new word. The kids who were studying in Convent schools, and speaking Gujarati at home were lost in between. They just could not develop their interest in reading in either of the languages. 

I have always been interested in making Gujarati literature available to J. That journey can't start without the first step of learning our mother tongue. I am sure, he will equally enjoy what I have been cherished all my life. I dream of the day, when we will be discussing K.M Munshi, Gunavant Shah, Meghani, 'Ghayal' and many more legends and their creations over a cup of coffee.

This is the set of books we received from family, back home and will be following through. 

('Saral Vaachan' - our guide through the learning Gujarati journey)

Part 1 of this book is introduction to letters and the sequence to follow for both reading and writing, which are different from the traditional sequence.

Then there are two, three and four letter words, that does not contain 'Swar' - vowel. 

At the end there are simple, two and three word sentences, describing pictures above them.

Part 2 introduces, use of vowels with consonants, there are lots of examples to practice.

It ends with introduction to Numbers one to ten.

Part 3 progresses through more vowels followed by three to five sentences, describing the picture next to them. It ends with numbers, one to hundred. 

Part 4 is enriched with the use of all we learn through the first three parts and offers various learning opportunities. It starts with a prayer and moves through self introduction, relations, everyday work to letter writing along with opposites, classifications and so on.