My tryst with Hindi !!

I have become a Hindi buff now. Or is it more of a Tamil buff with changing times?

You believe it or not; my late father was a DMK devotee and I was his faithful follower. Not necessarily were, all my family members and some of them were cunning (!) enough to learn some Hindi as a side kick, (along with type writing; I was a failure in that too) whilst they were at school and or college. If my memory serves correct, my sister had passed her “Prathmic level” and my brother did slightly better than her.

Appa was obviously not interested in our Hindi; however didn’t stop his children from learning the same on private tuitions. My tryst with Hindi and Sanskrit started at my primary school, which was managed by Mr. Iyer, who was our then principal. He was also fondly and reverently called as “Butttu kudimi” by us, as he sported a tuft on his occipital bone of his head and with the sacred thread across his torso, and most of the time was also topless. He would also be carrying a stick with him, ever ready to offer corporal punishment to his beloved students.

Mr. Iyer used to be very good to my Appa, as the school was then using the local temple premises for its playground and sports activities. Appa as a DMK man and local big shot helped the school in that process. My father was also the main official bearer of this local temple, as a DMK representative.

They both were showing lots of mutual admiration for each other as I often seen our principal, as a token of gesture, outside our corner shop, chatting with my Appa; and this continued even after DMK lost its power. Our corner shop was so popular with Appa at the helm of the affairs those days and even the local DMK MLA would come for a chat with Appa, en route to visit his mistress!

Well, I was presumably doing 1^st standard in 1973 and was possibly respected as a big shot during this time at our school, whilst the DMK was still in power. This reverence might have disappeared after the introduction of Indian emergency in 1975 and with the subsequent dissolution of DMK government in 1976.  This is purely my guess.

You may have guessed it. This nice gent a headmaster was not a DMK man (!); and he was possibly against the two language policy which the DMK government implemented in early 70’s; was likely a genuine person. He wanted to teach us all both Sanskrit and Hindi, discreetly, against the then DMK government decree. Mind you the school was under the jurisdiction of Madras Corporation and not privately run. (Incidentally all my brethren studied at the same school and were seniors to me by years together.)

Well, the special classes were held during most of the evenings and I was a beneficiary too. If my memory serves correct, my sister, who is two years senior to me had already left the primary school by this time. I must have been in year 2 or 3 during these evening, uneasy trips to school to learn both Hindi and SANSKRIT.

By father, who didn’t like the idea of Mr. Iyer teaching us all those foreign languages discreetly against the government wishes was none too impressed, however, he never complained. (He cried, when MGR died and mind you, Appa was a staunch devotee of DMK till his end).The fate was his son took the clues of disinterest from his father, and showed no real interest in learning those languages at those lovely free classes. I used to fail the tests miserably and tore away the mark sheets very discreetly too. As they were not part of the routine curriculum offered, my parents were never bothered about those results to my chagrin (!). 

Thus how my tryst with Hindi began in early 70’s and continues till today.  Hindi songs which were trendy in early 70s in Tamil Nadu were taken over by Tamil songs as Maestro Illayaraja arrived on the scene. We started listening to Tamil songs with lots of pride and never missed learning Hindi or listening to Hindi songs of 80’s, as we concentrated more on our English language proficiency.

I have watched the famous “Hum Log” serial for couple of years without knowing a bit of Hindi. I have watched “Yeh Zhogi Zindagi, from the first to the last episode without knowing an iota of Hindi. I had watched matinee shows on National television and once aging using the cues from the body language and emotions. It even continued for me till the early 21^st century until the advent of sub titles!!

Hindi songs of 80’s almost disappeared from our radar as IR was going great guns, giving us hits after hits during this time. The likes of Lakshmi Kant, and Anu Malik were not even considered as musicians in the south those days except for RD Burman, who carried it on from the seventies and was a great contemporary of IR. With the advent of nineties, however people from north of Vindhyas began listening to lots of Tamil songs dubbed in Hindi, with due credit given to the arrival of ARRahman.

The top two composers of India come from Chennai; one is currently the top most music director in Hindi and the other one is one of the best music composer and director in world arena with his excellent composing skills in various forms of music ever to have come from India.

Well, things changed for good in my late twenties. I became more of a liberal(!) after settling in Britain. The twenty odd years in Britain changed my perspective and my out look too. I began learning both Hindustani and later Carnatic music in violin. I began to appreciate other languages, however remain in my belief that no language should be imposed on others.

I began to learn and understand more of Tamil language antiquity. I have learnt that the oldest inscriptions available in Tamil are from 500-300 Years Before Christ, whilst the contemporary Indian language spoken in the North, during that time “Prakrit” with inscriptions of Asoka’s period is now not a spoken language any more. The oldest inscription available of Sanskrit is currently from 150 years AD and it is not spoken by masses too.

I have also learnt that there were languages like Pali widely spoken in the north of India whilst Tamil was the lingua franca in the south of Vindhyas; and Tamil still a spoken one! I have also learnt that people from the south of Vindhya were involved in Maritime trade with Greeks and Romans, around two century before Christ (whilst the North of Vindhya was fighting with them) and continued the tradition in south East Asia until the 14^th Century. Tamil and south Indian temples were built in china dating from 8^th century AD and other south Asian countries from that period.

I have also learnt that Tamil will never disappear from the world radar as a spoken or written language, with its antiquity matched by only few other spoken world languages. However I have also learnt that other languages like Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit, were also essential and instrumental in the development of the spiritual psyche of the Indian sub-continent in the early part of this millennium.

Well, am I more secure in my feeling or has my perspective changed? Am I still a language fanatic?

I never considered myself linguae phonic before, however now have already started picking up few words in mandarin in Singapore during the past few months. My Hindi is warming up and Priya’s definitely got better than before. There were times, during the early years of our marriage, when I had caricatured her likes for Khan’s and Hindi tunes. In the process she became huge fan of IR rather than ARR, which is a different matter altogether!!

Now, the irony is at times I try to converse with her in Hindi and also trying to do the same with our friends in Singapore who had come from Hindi speaking belt of India. I seem to enjoy! Few of them try to speak few words in Tamil, however not all of them, Well the loss is theirs and not mine. I am assured about that.

Well, I still get occasionally flustered; whilst our friends from Hindi belt start conversing in Hindi, after their early tryst with English, when amongst the group. Albeit I have now learnt to listen to these conversations as if I were watching “Hum Log”, ago with a smirk on my face. Well, I would have walked away from the scenario 20 years ago.

Have I become selfish or is it an evolution?

My brother one of the top Managers in Ranbaxy and managing at least a thousand Indians across the sub-continent is currently holed up in Mumbai! Here in Singapore, my children are currently studying Hindi as a third language at school!! They don’t speak it and that’s different ball game! My nephew in Mumbai is studying Visual communications in an Arts College and apparently going great guns from what I have heard from the latest edition of our household news channel. My Amma is presently holed up in Mumbai too and may be familiar with few odd Hindi phrases by this time.

I have already watched more Hindi films this year than what I have watched in previous 43 years together! A  Tamil actor turning about to be an unassuming super star in Hindi and possibly the whole of India this year, with his recently released Bollywood flick! Life moves on and also my tryst with Hindi.  

Well, I am certainly convinced that I have evolved and my Tamil too.

Now, I realize that you may have different take and perspective on my conundrum, however I would like to listen to you.