May 15, 2007
A. S. Venkatesh Reddy
The Japanese Esperanto Institute is issuing a special invitation to 23 Asian Esperanto activists to take part in this year's World Esperanto Congress in Yokohama. In the April issue of the Japanese magazine La Revuo Orienta JEI has published statements by each of these people. I think I'll reproduce them here, in English translation, one by one.
The first listed activist is A. S. Venkatesh REDDY of India. Reddy is 47 years old and a consultant in social law.
I live in the village of Whitefield, an eastern part of the city of Bangalore. The name Whitefield was given by Englishmen who lived in my village. It was a colony of Anglo-Indians and everybody spoke English. So my family became accustomed to speak English from birth. And there were many schools where we learned via English. But we had many problems with those Anglo-Indians for many reasons. After my elementary school years I joined the prep school, "Sri Sathya Sai Baba Higher Learning". I was in that school for five years. The school is only four kilometers from my home. I met many foreigners who came to see "Sai Baba" and they all spoke many different languages, for example Russian, Japanese, Chinese, French, Italian, German, Swahili, etc. I was curious about the languages. I spoke with great interest and curiosity to foreigners. But there was always a lack of foreigners, books, etc. who shared my language.
Esperanto and I
When I was 15 years old, I encountered Esperanto. I decided to learn the language, although I knew nothing about it. A few years later I began to disseminate Esperanto among my friends and in the scout movement (because I'm a boy scout). Now I am disseminating it in schools and in the scout movement. I dedicate my whole time to the dissemination of Esperanto, because Zamenhof's goal was to have peace in this world. Via the noble purpose (universal love) "Sri Sathya Sai Baba" I became an Esperanto speaker. And now I want to give mankind love through Esperanto.
World Esperanto Congress and After
The visit to the World Esperanto Congress is to know more about the Esperanto movement, because the experience is very important for dissemination. After the World Congress I want to spread the Esperanto movement further, and to reach the goal for next year's project. This is to organize more courses in schools and the scout movement, and also a seminar.