Sections of the Indian community here is doing what it can do to keep
alive Hindi in a country where most Indians count English as their first
language.
South Africans of Indian origin number about 1.15
million or 2.5 percent of the country's population of about 50 million.
The largest group of Indians counts Tamil as its mother tongue followed
by Hindi.
But most Indians here, particularly the younger
generation, have English as their working language. Despite the appeal
of Bollywood movies and CDs, it is English they are at home with.
This
is where the Hindi Shiksha Sangh (HSS) comes in. HSS was founded by
Hindi lover Pandit Nardev Vedalankar in 1948, just a year after India
attained independence.
Vedalankar hailed from Gujarat. He
graduated from Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya in Hardwar, and trained
as a teacher from the Vardha-based Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti.
His
sole motive behind coming to South Africa was to promote Gujarati.
However, his love for Hindi and his efforts to promote the language
earned him the sobriquet 'Father of Hindi in South Africa'.
"Nardevji
was the greatest advocate of Hindi in this country," says Rambhajan
Sitaram, a former Hindi professor in the University of KwaZulu-Natal,
the province home to most Indians.
"I learned Hindi under his
guidance. Now, at least two dozen organisations are dedicated to
teaching and promoting Hindi under the banner of Shiksha Sangh in South
Africa," he added.
The bulk of Indian migration to South Africa
took place between 1860 and 1911 when people poured in as indentured
labour to work in sugar and other plantations.
Said HSS president
Malati Ramali: "We are striving to make Hindi a popular language as it
is the symbol of our cultural identity. Our efforts are paying
dividends."
There are about 50 schools in South Africa affilaited to HSS.
Many Hindi magazines, newspapers and a news channel, Hindivani, cater to the Indian Hindi-speaking community in South Africa.
Most
of the Indians who still prefer Hindi are from the older generation,
people who trace their origins to present-day Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
HSS
played a leading role in hosting the three-day ninth World Hindi
Conference that ended Monday in Johannesburg. The conference was
attended by some 700 scholars and delegates from around the world
including India, Suriname, Mauritius, Guyana, North America and Britain.
