Pupils embrace Hindi culture

Hindi is not a mere language, nor is it a name. Hindi is a person’s identity; a way of life and a part of one’s culture.

At the age of 76, Ramraj Dukhi is the eldest pupil at Hindi Pracherni Sabha’s (HPS) Hindi lessons.

“I started the lessons in May 2011, as I was searching for the meaning of a word from the Hindu scriptures and could not find it. I thought to myself that this was wrong, so I started to study and have reached the level where I only read Hindi books now.”

A firm grasp on the Hindi language has led Mr Dukhi to encourage people, especially parents, to teach children their mother tongue. “Leaning Hindi is important. It is a part of our culture and religion.”

Romilla Ramsunder learned Hindi in 1988, and she agreed with Mr Dukhi.

“To me, Hindi is my identity and mother language. How can you call yourself Hindi if you can’t speak the language? As Hindus and being descendants of the people of India, we need to learn our language.”

For the past three years, HPS has been offering Hindi lessons to the community, enabling students to watch Bollywood movies without subtitles, read religious scriptures with ease and travel India without making use of a translator.

On Sunday, HPS hosted a prize giving for the pupils of 2015.

As the pupils excelled with their work throughout the year, the HPS committee hosted its first ever prize giving.

Proud students were awarded in the presence of proud families and friends.

Vice chair of the HPS committee, Neven Singh, congratulated the students and said the classes formed part of HPS’s obligation to the community.

The programmes of HPS are the promotion of religion and meeting humanitarian needs, which include wellness day campaigns and language lessons, both for the upliftment of the community.

Focused on uniting the community, Mr Singh urged families to use services offered by HPS.

“We need more feet and we are encouraging people who want to learn Hindi to come forward,” he said.