Change is the only constant in the universe, similarly and contradictorily nothing actually changes but our point of view. Aren’t both true?
Recently one more of my thinking has been changed and that is of reading english books only. Being a resident of an urban city and being a candid reader, I’ve never given it a thought that I must read hindi books too. Which have a whole dedicated, deep realm. Just a few months back luckily I joined a platform which is a 22 years old body, where every month a book has been selected and given to each member, which they are supposed to read during that month, to prepare themselves to meet and ask the queries to none other than the author herself and the authors arrive for the meeting from their respective cities. Every month we meet a new author, each month we read something new.
I must admit it has been quite a learning for me, exploring the deeper realms of our own mother tongue, each writer with a different grip on the same words, have different stories to share from the different parts of our own country.
We must read hindi books, not only because its our mother tongue, but to know more about India and its culture, its people, what is happening deep down there in the tiny towns and villages. How is the culture there, how do people survive, what are their values etc.? When we read english books, we choose mostly the ones written by the foreigner writers, definitely our horizon expands, they cover the boundaries and enhance our knowledge tremendously. But in quest of knowledge we can’t ignore our own countries’ stories, happenings and problems. Hindi books are written by those who deeply observe the ongoings of our society, are a part of it and sensibly notice the psyche of the people. Their writings take us there.
And I think the expression anyone can give in his/her mother tongue, can’t be given in any other language, to the core, honestly, deeply.
I am really glad that I’ve joined that platform, where I got to meet some of the prolific writers of the current times. Like Mrs. Nasira Sharma, Mrs. Sunita Jain (padma shri award holder of 2004), Mrs. Mukta (great grand daughter of Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla), Mr. Shyam Sakha, Mr. Kashinath Singh among many others. They all have done commendable work in the field of hindi literature.
Unfortunately, we don’t find hindi books in the book stores located in malls. They occupy a very little space and that too in a tiny corner.
I request all the readers to start reading hindi books as well, we must value our mother tongue, if we want to see our future generations speaking this language. No doubt English has its own importance in our country’s growth and development but we can’t deny our responsibility towards hindi.
In future if I would get any opportunity to promote hindi reading I would grab it for sure. Till then I would keep reading…
Happy day friends!!!
Medhavi 🙂
Sharing the real pic of my current collection
