Hindi Literature... Hanged Till Death

Today is a particularly a good day because it’s a Saturday and I am not in office, hence I would want to present my heartily congratulations to all proud fellow Indians for as they have eventually succeeded in killing the Hindi literature in broad daylight and not even a single soul stirred or dared to raise its voice against such gruesome killing - this is what one would call a perfect murder.

Like English literature, Hindi too had produced some of the greatest works of the world, but for that perhaps we have to go back in time for almost 7 or 8 decades. In current times, the young generation is infested by the habit of flunking in Hindi subject which is their mother tongue and excelling in English as though they are better off English than Desi. Yes, being Desi is as good as being untouchable now days. Once, a junior college student requested me to teach her Hindi because, to her, swimming through English Channel was quite easier than scoring passing marks in Hindi.

Our young generation, we have so crippled them in such a manner that to them  completing a Hindi sentence without using a word from English is next to impossible. Lot of intellectuals, now days, discuss on eroding Indian culture and its values, and pose the examples of Chinese, Japanese, French, German and Russians who still have their lives based and running on their own culture and language.

What is with the illicit affair of India with English, that she threw her own very language away, no one understands it. I reached to the conclusion, perhaps it was the inferiority complex of Indian’s that had led us to the path of praising English and punching Hindi at its face, when I try to go deep into this problem of illicit affair. Not a single good Hindi writer had been achieved by the glory in the past 4 decades whereas writers like Chetan Bhagat, Durjoy Dutta and alike whose work in English is even below the sub-standards have been minting money, praised by masses and collecting awards at various functions and events. I have a friend named Imroz Alam, whom I met in Mumbai is a wonderful poet, but living in poverty and begging for work. His poems and Ghazals have earned praises by audience wherever he recited them, but no one gives him work as there is no market left for Hindi Literature.

One more reason, which I believe had contributed towards the fall of Hindi in her own land is the obsession of Indians with everything that is foreign and disdaining everything that is Indian.

The only Hindi literature one can find, that is being produced in the current times is because of the Bollywood but the quality has taken a straight dive and the moment is not far away when it will hit the ground just to be buried in the grave that would have no markings - an anonymous one.

If a Hindi novel sells 1000-5000 copies then today it is quickly tagged ‘Bestseller’. Now imagine a country with population of 1.3 billion where almost 0.7 billion are Hindi speaking and to become bestseller a Hindi novel just need to achieve the sales figure of 1000 to 5000 copies, I believe there can be no greater insult to a language than this by its own people. We also translate the best-selling English novels in Hindi, not many, but the quality of translation is again questionable, perhaps either the translator themselves are not so good these days or the publishing houses are not willing to spend much on producing good Hindi translation, nevertheless where are the buyers since this Hindi speaking nation is obsessed with only English books or English translations.

Recently, HRD Minister Smriti Irani was in controversy due to her decision to replace German with Sanskrit in KVs. Honorable Minister, it seems, you are not listening to the silent plea of Hindi that most of the country speaks and understands, may be for the reason that our political class knows very well how to present speeches in Hindi and believes that the language of masses is still thriving which is, in reality, quite the opposite.

Every country in this world that holds power and prosperity both speaks and does business in her own language and unlike India where even to get a low level job one must know English to some extent. America, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Britain, Japan, China, Russia all these countries are the finest example of growth based on their own language. Yes, I agree to the fact that we had needed official language (English) which everyone can speak and understand due to the diverse nature of this country but then eventually that language became the primary one, why?

We as a country always looked outside for approval and recognition and this very tendency of ours left us dependent on a foreign language and still we couldn’t secure those much-desired approvals and acknowledgments. Number of people knowing and learning French as an additional language in this country are if not equal to the population of France then surely not too less in comparison.

We, as Indians want to learn any language but not ours. Today’s youth aspires to write like Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw or TS Elliot but no one dares to write like Premchand, Harivanshrai Bachchan or Dushyant kumar, why, because, in Hindi, they have written their masterpieces?

Yes, we have few Hindi writers those who have reached the glory, but do we know what they have gone through to reach where they are today? Their journey have been much more painful than most of the Indian English writers. Gulzar is one of them who once wanted to be a novelist, but eventually became a poet and the best.

Hindi as a literature needs revival and it’s the call of the time and we as a nation must heed to it. Not just government but a society as a whole must act. Start giving as much importance to Hindi as we give to English. Education system must be changed in such a way where as a language Hindi should take precedence over any foreign language.

We must make our kids familiar with Kabir, Rahim and Kalidas just like Shakespeare, Dickens and Elliot. Converse with children in Hindi instead of English, now days most parents converse with their kids in English, trying to make them learn it as their primary language, which sounds funny and irritating both. Encourage them recite a Hindi poem with same enthusiasm as English poem. Otherwise, the day is far when Children of this very nation would live in identity crises and couldn’t comprehend the real meaning of ‘Mother Tongue’.

Note: This article is meant for those who officially and personally recognize Hindi as their Mother tongue. Besides, yes I do write stories in English and have written my first novel in it but let me assure my readers that had I written them in Hindi they would have been more beautiful than they are right now but as a writer I need reader and Publishers both, securing which in the shrinking world of Hindi Literature is not quite feasible.

Image : Courtesy to Google search.