Born in Tamilnadu, a part of estwhile Madras presidency turned into Hindi bashers mainly coz' of DMK's politics to manipulate electorate and come to power. In that context, there was an anti-Hindi sentiment and in addition, anti-Brahmanism was all-time high as well. Generally Brahmins were supposed to patronise Sanskrit and for DMK followers they were fighting a twin-cause: against Hindi and Brahmins.
I remembered an incident from an early part of my life - when I was 8 years old or so. My parents always noted that I always played/befriended senior school boys and girls. In this event, I used to move around with a chap - Karthik who was probably 5-6 years elder to me. He was an all-rounder and was looked up to by many. I was one among them. So I wanted to emulate Karthik and apparently convinced my parents to put me in Prathmik class an elementary course to learn Hindi. I spoke to Karthik, however he didn't want me there, coz' I would be bugging him in front of his mates... Anyway, I convinced him and he took me to the same class. Hindi teacher conducted just one single class irrespective of the age group - In fact Steven Harrison recommends that this is actually a better method of imparting education in the happy child. May be in this instance it did a bit more damage to me...
Karthik's classmates started making fun of me and the teacher for some reason always called me Baskar - God knows why! So I decided to call it quits almost nearer to the exams... No it was not the exams, coz' I did well in Hindi... its actually funny that a lot of Tamilians excel in Hindi exams like Prathmik, Praveshika, Rashtrabasha and Pandit - but when you try to converse, they defend to the skies that indeed they are worthy of that Hindi qualification, but not necessarily required to speak in Hindi... in essence they were literate but cannot communicate! Anyway, my Hindi learning stopped right there...
I remembered an incident from an early part of my life - when I was 8 years old or so. My parents always noted that I always played/befriended senior school boys and girls. In this event, I used to move around with a chap - Karthik who was probably 5-6 years elder to me. He was an all-rounder and was looked up to by many. I was one among them. So I wanted to emulate Karthik and apparently convinced my parents to put me in Prathmik class an elementary course to learn Hindi. I spoke to Karthik, however he didn't want me there, coz' I would be bugging him in front of his mates... Anyway, I convinced him and he took me to the same class. Hindi teacher conducted just one single class irrespective of the age group - In fact Steven Harrison recommends that this is actually a better method of imparting education in the happy child. May be in this instance it did a bit more damage to me...Karthik's classmates started making fun of me and the teacher for some reason always called me Baskar - God knows why! So I decided to call it quits almost nearer to the exams... No it was not the exams, coz' I did well in Hindi... its actually funny that a lot of Tamilians excel in Hindi exams like Prathmik, Praveshika, Rashtrabasha and Pandit - but when you try to converse, they defend to the skies that indeed they are worthy of that Hindi qualification, but not necessarily required to speak in Hindi... in essence they were literate but cannot communicate! Anyway, my Hindi learning stopped right there...
Almost 12-13 years later, a good friend Aarthi Murali knew I had the basic Hindi skills, but had a bit of inhibition when it came to matters of conversation. She kept pressing me and I consistently ducked. One day in a bus commute, she decided on her own that, from that moment on, she would only converse with me in Hindi. She got me by surprise and I was stunned actually... In my own stride, I tried dismissing it in vain... so for a few weeks our विचार - विमर्श were all in Hindi... I coped!
Then a few years later, another good friend Veena almost did the same!! quite unbelievably, she used the same technique (Veena and Aarthi did not know each other)... So my Hindi became functional... quote and quote - functional, I can survive! It was altogether a few weeks of Hindi, then later when I moved out of India, ironically in US, Hindi helped me out!
Today again ironically in UK, after many many years - Hindi has saved me a lot of money! (a good sum I should say)... I am currently converting my loft into a third en-suite-bedroom and a Punjabi contractor who speaks very little English is building it for me! Thanks to Aarthi and Veena...
PS: don't ask a commission girls ;) (What are friends for...)
