Hindi fails to talk its way into young hearts

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Blame it on the Yankee Doodle or the global village syndrome. From the way they dress to the way they eat, youngsters are mindlessly emulating the West. Therefore, it is not surprising that they don’t take pride in their mother tongue, Hindi. While the government is vigorously trying to push it to be one of UN’s official languages, is the move going to help Hindi win favour with the city youth?
Experts suggest that steps should also be taken to popularise the language back home. “Youngsters haven’t disowned it completely. It’s undergoing a natural transition, which we have to accept,” says Prof. Ashok Chakradhar, vice chairman, Delhi Hindi Academy. “We have to understand that it’s not only about the way they speak, but a complete way of life,” he adds.
Agrees artist and curator Alka Raghuvanshi who has ‘spent many years abroad’, but takes pride in speaking in Hindi. She recalls how even during her growing up years in the 80s, it was very cool to look Indian with a traditional sari, kolapuris and a huge bindi. But now she observes a clear trend reversal. Most youngsters dress in Western ensembles and speak in a heady mix of Hinglish, i.e Hindi and English.
Experts feel that one has to understand that Hindi is no longer the language of the metros. Many speak in Hindi at home, but not at work or when they are with friends. “Hindi doesn’t go with my personality,” says Ashima Segpal, a 23-year-old professional.
Unfortunately, even the icons of Hindi language are not inspiring enough, she says. “Even the likes of Amrita Pritam haven’t been able to attain an iconic status among the youth, unlike English writers from the country,” she adds.
The number of students enrolled for the language in colleges isn’t heartening and the main reason for this is the lack of job opportunities, reasons Nandani, a Hindi scholar at DU.
“Many school and college going students are opting for foreign languages like Spanish, German and French. Everything is computer-based today. All the BPO work is done in English, so there are fewer avenues for Hindi professionals,” she says.
The service Bollywood films are doing to popularise the language is laudable, according to Ashok, who has also done a series, Hindi Ka Bhavishya, Bhavishya Kee Hindi, which stresses on the need to make Hindi popular. However, the circulation of radio and TV programs in the language is encouraging.
The the number of Hindi blogs has increased from 700 in 2007 to 30,000 today. Moreover, even on social networking sites, Facebook and Orkut it’s very convenient to write in Hindi.
Lawyer and activist Ashok Aggarwal, who initiated a signature campaign of 3,000 lawyers, requesting the High Court to allow them to argue cases in Hindi says, “It’s people from small towns who are Hindi speaking and holding the flag of the language high. I don’t have anything against English, but many think of it as a language of slavery.”