Caution: Some of you might think what is the big deal. But coming from the state where language is such a controversial topic, you should be able to appreciate my honesty.
After a peaceful Sunday filled with the usual activities of vegetable shopping and spending quality time with the kid, got some private time after 10pm to watch the TV. There was nothing interesting on the usual Tamil and English channels, so switched to Hindi and found Sony TV playing DDLJ for the 1,395,289th time? Yet, could not switch channels though more than 3/4th of the movie was finished. Just got to watch the climax and what a revelation it was!!!
This set me on a time travel to my 4th or 5th Std. when I was a total illiterate in Hindi. My second language then was Tamil and though it was my mother tongue, I found it difficult, esp., the grammar. My mom worked in the Central Govt. and had to undergo a course in Hindi (I think it gave them an increment on completion). But my Mom became so fond of the language that she not only topped her class, but also tried to inculcate the passion in her sons. She was half successful – her first son (me) imbibed the passion and enrolled in private Hindi classes. My brother could never go beyond the basics of learning the alphabets.
So, I started my private Hindi lessons when I was in my 4th or 5th Std. My second language at school was Tamil, and though I did not excel in it, I got sufficient marks to keep my rank. But, Hindi grew on me. The fun was to learn the varied alphabets and sentence structure to start with. But, by the time I was going into the 9th Std., my Hindi was so advanced, they were teaching 3 classes below my level!!! This was when the next bombshell fell. My mom decided that Hindi was to be my second language for me to score big in 10th class and wanted me to switch from Tamil to Hindi. Both of us approached our school Principal (who was a terror). She just laughed at the idea and with the Tamil teachers glowering on me, I made the request.
What followed changed my destiny for the next 5 years at least. The Principal knew my abilities and threw up a challenge - if I could be in the top 10% of the class by the first mid-term, she will allow me to continue in Hindi. If not,. I switch back to Tamil for the Quarterly exams. She also made it clear that I need to make up my lessons if I fail and make the grade. Both my mom and I were so confident, we took up the challenge much to the chagrin of my Tamil teachers (one of them was my class teacher as well). What followed was hilarious, to say the least. I had gone levels beyond, in my private Hindi classes and exams that I was allowed to write the script without the dashes on top. So, I took my mid-term and wrote the entire paper without the dashes on top. The Hindi teacher promptly failed me. When asked, she said that it is mandatory to put the dashes since I was just in High school. I had to bring my private certificates to prove that I was way above the league. The final scores – topper in the class in one paper and second or third in the second paper. So, my fate was sealed with Hindi.
I continued my private Hindi lessons and finished my Visharad when I was in the 11th Std. Mind you, Visharad is equivalent to a B.A. in Hindi. I had learnt all the nuances of the tough grammar and read most of the great literature in Hindi. Few that I should mention that expanded my horizons of thought were Munshi Premchand’s prose (I think I follow his no-nonsense style) that included ‘Nirmala’, ‘GoDhaan’ and some of his poems like ‘Khafan’. Mahadevi Varma was another poet who impressed me. But the most impressive were Harivansh Rai Bacchan (yes, Amitabh Bacchan’s father) who wrote poems like ‘Madhushala’ and Jai Shankar Prasad, who wrote epic poems like ‘Jayadhradh Vadh’. These were masterpieces that not only explored the language and its ties with Urdu and Sanskrit, but also the social scene of the times like Sati, Dowry, Untouchablility, Freedom Struggle etc. Then there were the classics like Khabir and Thulsidas who challenged the very basis of religion and explored the form and substance of God. These gave me a sense of national pride and a social awakening that were not part of me earlier.
I breezed through Hindi in school and had some difficult time in College in the second year when Grammar formed the main crux of the paper. But never posed a challenge to me. I never realized what I had done till I got the chance to travel to North India. I was to attend a training program with my new company in Ahmedabad for a month and this included people from across India. The day I landed in Ahmedabad and reached the resort, I was a bit shy and flustered. But from the next day, I had everybody in a spell with my Hindi speaking abilities that gradually got better with usage. Most North Indians could not believe that a guy from TN could speak such fluent Hindi!!! I got so fluent, that I learnt a couple of Bengali (Tagore’s) poems from the guy from Bengal!!!
Today, I feel bad that I am not able to write or speak Hindi fluently purely because I am out of touch. But, that does not worry me. I know that all I need is a couple of days and I will be back to form. Wifey didn’t know Hindi when I married her. But after some basic education and a stint in B’lore where she became a crazy fan of SONYMax Hindi movies on Sundays, she can understand most of the language (barring the Urdu words). Though she doesn’t appreciate the nuances of the language (like a Sher or Ghazal), she has working knowledge of the language and appreciates its importance (I become the translator for the urdu/sanskrit part).
So, will my son learn Hindi? You bet. I will make sure he learns as many of the languages as he can. Learning a language never harmed anybody. It is the ignorance that can cause grievous harm!!! After all, there is no greater pride than in learning one's own Rashtrabasha!!!
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