On Vishwa Hindi Diwas, celebs share what Hindi means to them

Rinku Dhawan: I am so glad that we Indians have a way of celebrating our mother tongue. Hindi is the first language that we speak and it will always have a special place in our hearts.

By Sulena Majumdar Arora 10 Jan 2024 in Features

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On Vishwa Hindi Diwas, celebs share what Hindi means to them

Hindi: Our Beloved Mother Tongue

Rinku Dhawan: I am so glad that we Indians have a way of celebrating our mother tongue. Hindi is the first language that we speak and it will always have a special place in our hearts. Well, Hindi is a very attractive language. I haven't explored the world of Hindi literature yet, but when I was in school we used to read stories written by Munshi PremChand ji and Mahadevi Verma. Yes, I always keep an eye on the world of Hindi literature, by getting to know about the upcoming writers who are working hard to keep our language beautiful.

Sara Khan: Hindi is such a beautiful language, and I feel I am blessed to be born in a country where our language is respected the way it should be. Well, due to my hectic schedule, I barely get some time to invest in reading books, but if I get time I would be excited to read any. I remember when I was in school we used to enjoy reading Hindi stories with such interesting characters.

Shivangi Verma: I am proud to call Hindi our mother language. There are so many famous Hindi poets and writers who are underrated but have invested so much of their time and efforts to give life to our language. I am happy to know that we celebrate World Hindi Day. I remember we used to read interesting stories written by Mahadevi Verma. Her stories were always full of inspiration and moral values.

Sherleen Dutt: We all have a special emotion for our mother tongue. I am proud to be born in a country where people of different cultures celebrate one common language and that is Hindi. So, I was in school when I used to get lost in the beautiful stories of Premchand Ji. I am not that much into Hindi literature so, I have not read any novel as such but I do respect our writers who have contributed to the growth of our language.

Sonal Panvar: So my education has been done in these schools which were English medium. And we used to be fine, speaking Hindi. There are so many students that they don't even know a few words in Hindi, which is very bad because Hindi is our national language. In our country, why do we always try to adopt things from outsiders? Because every other country is very proud of their language, but we are not. But I think I come from a family where everyone is fond of Hindi literature, especially my father because he was in the army back then and he used to give me Hindi storybooks. I think I started with children's stories and then Premchand, Ki Kahania, and Mantu. So I have read all of that. Hindi newspapers were also a thing in our house. It should be our priority to make Hindi more and more flexible for people. At least children should know that Hindi is our national language. English is just a language. It's not an emotion. Hindi is an emotion.

Ismail Umar Khan: Celebrating Hindi Diwas is a brilliant initiative to promote the Hindi language across the world. The irony is that in the IG curriculum, Hindi is an optional language for classes 8th and onwards, during our times, till SSC Hindi was made a compulsory language. Since it’s our Rashtriya Basha, the education system must make it compulsory in International schools for a strong foundation of the Hindi language for Indian students. I think India is the only country Where most Indians feel very awkward speaking Hindi. They feel backward and under-confident when they are not able to speak English. Whereas in other countries people prefer to speak in their national language and are very proud of it. Hindi is my mother tongue, it's very close to my heart. Since we had a Books stall, I was always surrounded by books. I still love to revisit King of Hindi literature Premchand books, like Godaan, Gaban, Rang Bhoomi, Shatranj ke Khiladi. Gunahon ka Devta by Dharamvir Bharti. Madhushala Harivansh Rai Bachchan is some of my favorites. My love for thriller novels was always there. I love Rajan Iqbal series writer S C Bedi.

Mohit Kapoor: Hindi is our mother tongue, and it deserves to be respected. The first word we speak is either ‘Maa or Papa’ which is in Hindi. So, I feel everyone has a different relationship with this beautiful language. I remember we used to have Hindi as a subject which had some moral stories mostly written by Munshi Premchand ji. As a child, I used to imagine different scenarios that had taken place in the story and I still remember them. I have read the stories by Munshi Premchand ji and trust me they are so simple yet an effective way to teach us about life.

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