POETS, writers and journalists from across Canada gathered, on the invitation of Alberta Hindi Parishad, at the Center of Council of India Societies in Edmonton on November 1 to informally discuss issues related with Hindi teaching, publication and promotion.
Acharya Dwivedi found that Hindi teaching is mostly being carried out by the temples and a few organizations such as Ottawa Hindi Society and Alberta Hindi Parishad; also, some of the schools in Ontario also provide Hindi teaching facilities. The University of Toronto, McGill University and Calgary University offer undergraduate courses. Hindi radio and television programs are broadcast mainly from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto. Also, Hindi newspapers and magazines are being published from the same cities. Obviously, to promote Hindi we need more print and electronic outlets.
Prof. Jagmohan Humar thought that unless we speak Hindi in our homes only then the language will be continued to be spoken by the next generation or else it may disappear slowly from the families. “There is interest among the younger generation but we have to make teaching interesting and useful,” noted Yogesh Kumar. Rajiv Ranjan said that it is the responsibility of parents to see their children are learning Hindi and practicing at home.
“We are not serious and persuasive about teaching Hindi to our children,” said Kulbir Mehra. According to Pundit Shiv Shankar Dwivedi, the mother language is the symbol of an individual’s identity and we should be proud of promoting it as our cultural heritage. He said that we should use simple language in literature and in our communication, too. Dr. Prithviraj Kalia, a journalist, declared that modern technological tools such as blogging and web are used by Hindiwalas, but more needs to be done on this front.
The evening’s highlight was the Kavi Sammelan, which was conducted by Hindi and Sanskrit scholar Pundit Dwivedi. He frequently applied Hindi Rubaiyat to introduce the poets successfully. Acharya Shrinath P. Dwivedi, Dr. Jagmohan Humar, Dr. Desh Mitra, Rajiv Ranjan, Dr. Prithviraj Kalia, Pramod Kumar, Sarla Sharma, Sita Sarasvat, Pemla Malhotra and Sendy Gill recited their poems, ghazals and songs which were well appreciated.
(Info and photo by ACHARYA S.P. DWIVEDI)