World Hindi Day: the Importance of Holding on To Your Native Language

January 10th marks the 16th World Hindi Day. It was first started in 2006 by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Often mistaken for Hindi Diwas [that’s on 14th September, that’s celebrated only in india] , it has primarily two aims: commemorate another anniversary of the World Hindi Summit, originally held in 1975. And the other is to raise more awareness about Hindi, the fourth most spoken language in the world after English, Spanish and Mandarin. It was a well-intentioned move from the government. But it hasn’t led to much impact. While people around the world celebrate, many in India still look down on Hindi and avoid speaking it in public. These are also the same people, who think the ability to converse in English makes you civilised or modern. This phenomenon can be extremely irritating, especially since the obsession with English stems from self-hate and a need to mimic Western culture. Things are definitely improving, with many taking to social media and uploading their favourite Hindi poems or sayings. But still, people who grew up with Hindi should appreciate the language and hold on to it before it’s too late.