If you’re looking for fun and exciting ways to introduce your child to South Asian culture, Gnaana.com is right for you!  In Sanskrit, Gnaana means knowledge or learning.  Gnaana.com offers busy families with a way to incorporate elements of South Asian culture, languages and traditions into their everyday lives in order to teach the more than five thousand year old history to today’s children. 

Gnaana’s products are inspired by the Montessori Method. The Montessori Method emphasizes early learning – stressing that a child’s mind is most receptive to learning specific skills and knowledge (such as languages) before the age of 6. The products sold on the site, which range from alphabet blocks in 5 regional Indian languages (Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu), to puzzles, musical CDs, a recipe collection and child-sized aprons available for personalization in Indic fonts, are designed to inspire children to take interest in learning about one of the world’s ancient civilizations. The products are geared towards children from birth to 12 years of age. 

Although the initial launch focused mainly on India, the company plans to soon have items that are relevant to the other South Asian countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal) and also the region’s various religions (Islam, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism).

“We believe young children can benefit tremendously from being exposed to elements of the South Asian culture,” says Aruna Hatti, founder of Gnaana. “This is a living culture which is over five thousand years old and infinitely rich in philosophy, science, literature, religion and art. There is a lot of ancient wisdom that’s being lost between generations. I think that’s a shame.”

 Hatti, an attorney who practices in commercial real estate and environmental law, was living in Bangalore, India when she came up with the idea for Gnaana. “I was pregnant with my son, and I looked all over India for toys and material that could help my children learn about and appreciate our Indian heritage. I found a few books and DVDs – but they were geared towards older children, and most were of poor quality. There was nothing that babies, toddlers or young children could relate to. I was very surprised.”

EVENTS

Gnaana is teaming up with Making Books Sing to present a family musical based on the book  Chachaji’s Cup by Uma Krishnaswami.  The musical is directed and choreographed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj.  There are performances Saturday January 30^th to Wednesday February 3^rd.   Gnaana is offering a reduced rate admission. 

Please visit http://www.gnaana.com/events/Tea_With_Chachaji.htm for more information. 

PROMOTIONS

Gnaana is proud to present a special offer to CitySaheli readers:  Free CD of choice with any purchase over $15.00.  Just enter “CitySaheli CD” in the Comment Box at checkout and indicate your CD selection (Tagore or Krishnasastry) and it will shipped along with your order.  This offer is valid until February 15th 2009.