Millennials and Hindi: A unique reunion

A great number of millennials in North India had a strange introduction to Hindi. It was the language of thoughts, of informal communication at home and within friends and oral stories. However, at school, children were reprimanded for speaking in Hindi. Thus, establishing early that English was the language of the professional world.

For many of us, Hindi teachers were too strict or simply absurd. They had their idiosyncrasies while the students poked fun during lectures. Some were so strict that students could never feel passionate about the subject. In addition, some of the text was really difficult and out of colloquially used by us. As a result, many millennials could never completely fall in love with Hindi.

What the millennials needed was to find their way to Hindi. Through the experience of childhood and adolescence, they did. Their current language is a sort of pidgin made from Hindi, English, and native languages. The millennials found their love for the language later through poetry, golden Hindi lyrics, and street theatre.

In a recent interview with Financial Times, poet and academician Kumar Vishwas said, “A Hindi poet is nothing short of a celebrity today… travels in a VIP charter, earn a lot of money, and can be a global brand name. Kumar, who has nearly 5 million followers on social media has signed contracts worth 1 crore this year.

Read | Hindi Diwas celebrated with enthusiasm at govt school in Dwarka

Hindi-spoken art has emerged as people’s poetry. With subjects ranging from epics, romance, politics, and satire, more and more people, of all ages are becoming patrons of Hindi. This also echoes in the growing street theatre traditions among youth.

Young poets such as Simmar Singh, Hussain Haidry, Priya Malik, Gaurav Tripathi, and Yahya Bootwala, have challenged the inherent orthodoxies of our society and questioned traditions. In the present day, it would not be odd to find copies of Hindi or Urdu poetry in Hindi, with the millennials. Hindi poetry books are being published and sold in India.

Bollywood has always played an important role in promoting the beauty of the Hindi language. Now, young people, who have a taste for music are going back to the lyrics of Gulzar, Sahir Ludhianvi, and Javed Akhter. Plus, lyrics of artists such as Irshad Kamil, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Prasoon Joshi, and Kausar Munir are becoming increasingly popular.

As a matter of fact, Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India. Nearly 57.09 per cent of Indians speak in Hindi, which means it is widely accessible. Another underlying reason behind the surged love for Hindi among the youth is the growing taste for culture and literature.

Hindi remains to be the language of imagination, thoughts, communication, entertainment for many Indians. The millennials may have lost their way to Hindi in school, they have carved their own niche with classic Hindi/Urdu traditions and modifications made for convenience.

CitySpidey wishes all its readers a very Happy Hindi Divas!