Ritanjali Hastir, Freelance writer, 14th September, 2013, Shimla
Over the years there has been a great rage forcing people to focus more on English language than Hindi, the official language of Union — Hindi — is taking a back seat. With the approach of yet another Hindi Day, that is, September 14, Keekli finds out students’ views on the importance of our language in present times and especially its use in their day to day life.
Needs More Focus
Yamini Kashyap (Class IX, Auckland House School)
On September 14, we celebrate Hindi Day because the Constituent Assembly of India had adopted Hindi written in Devnagari script as the Official Language of the Union in 1949. No doubt over the years there has been more stress on usage of English language considering it to be a commercial language but I feel that being an Indian, even Hindi holds great importance for us all. It is very rare that we see people using Hindi but I feel that more focus should be laid on it too as being Indians we should respect it.
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Feel Proud Throughout the Year
Gaurav Thakur (Class X, Chapslee School)
On September 14, we celebrate Hindi Day. I fail to understand in current times why people feel shy to use the language and focus more on English language. The language is so pure and sweet to hear and I feel that we people are loosing focus on it. These days, less emphasis is laid on the language. I do not think that only once a year we should feel proud of inheriting a language that is rated among few top used languages in the world.
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Hinglish Rules
Dhruv Sharma (Class IX, Dayanand Public School)
In our school, Hindi Day is celebrated with great zeal. Special programmes and competitions are organized in which we all take part. Hindi poems, story recitations, vocabulary quizzes, slogan writing competitions are held in school so that the use of Hindi language is promoted which is taking a back seat in current times. As Hindi is our official language, we should all be proud of it and I feel that even more focus should be laid in schools too. Many of us have no idea what does proper or pure Hindi sounds like as we are all accustomed to Hinglish.
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Lot to Catch Up
Abhimanyu Thakur (Class IX, St. Edwards School)
Shimla being a British capital always had more connection to English than Hindi. We see that people are more polished and are really well versed with the foreign language rather than our own native language. Many of us are unable to speak in proper Hindi sentences without making grammatical error and in current times youth are misusing English too as slangs are more into fashion. I feel just celebrating Hindi language for a day or a week at maximum is not going to help. We need to work more to make our current generation aware so that they stay close to their own roots.
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World Embraced What We Discarded
Dorgee Thakur (Class IX, DAV School)
On September 14, we celebrate Hindi Day and have various competitions on this day organized by school as well as the government. I fail to understand when throughout the year we are discouraged to use the language what difference will it make in one day. Hindi is spoken in many parts of the world and is one of the main languages in Mauritius, Surinam, Trinidad and few other countries. It is the mother tongue of 258 million people and is the fifth largest language in the world and still we are ashamed to use it. We all should realize the beauty of it as soon as possible.
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Hindi is Extended Self
Mrinal Suroop Thakur (Class VI, Loreto Convent Tara Hall School)
September 14 is celebrated as the Hindi Day. We have poster making competition, debate and other such competitions. In present times, no doubt Hindi language is looked down upon by many of us but I feel it is the very first common language that helped us express ourselves. I am proud of it and I feel that there is no other language that can help me express myself with such an ease that I can do in Hindi. Our own literature is very rich and all we need to do is open our eyes and see.
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