"Hindi Hai Hum, Watan Hai Hindosta Hamara" is the famous quote you might have noticed in bodies of most of the railway coaches, if you are a frequent Indian Railways traveler. The moment I saw the writing, I googled and found it to be a beautiful motivational poem written by Sir Iqbal Mohammed-exhorting all pre-independence Hindustanis to be proud of their cultural heritage:
"MAZHAV NAHIN SIKHATA AAPIS MEIN BAIR RAKHNA;
'HINDI' HAI HUM WATAN HAI HINDUSTAN HAMARA"
(Religion doesn't teach us to have mutual animosity; we are "Hindis" and Hindustan is our country)
I am not sure as to why he used the word "Hindi" in this, but for the purpose of my blog, I assume he might have stressed on this word to magnify the relevance of Hindi as the national language of India. Hindi, in fact, binds our entire nation by acting as the common mode of communication. It has got that strong force of unifying the various religions, castes, creeds and sections of the society that may have found it difficult to converse and decode e
ach other's expressions in their respective unique languages.
Having visited several parts of India, I had the privilege of listening to various forms and ways of speaking Hindi. I could feel the variation that can happen to the utterance of the same language in four different parts of the country. And the interesting part was I could understand what was being conveyed. That is obvious in a culturally rich and diversified country like India.
Starting off with North, believed to the birthplace of Hindi, in most parts, specially Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, you will get to listen a very pleasant tone of this language. Lucknow, once ruled over by the Nawabs, is known as the land of tehzeeb (good manners). Here people use "aap" (as a mark of respect) even if they are talking to someone very young or even to children. You might even encounter some Urdu (the lingua franca of the city for centuries) words in between and may need someone to translate them. They follow a very polite and polished way of speaking.
Moving to the West, the kind of Hindi uttered here is an ad-mixture of Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi. Famous for its tapori (rowdy) style, the dialect is more of a style statement and might seem indecent at times. Words such as "Raada", "Raapchik", "Waat", "Kalti", "Jhakaas", etc. though not preferred to be used in all conversations, are imitational and humorous.
Southwards, Hyderabadi Hindi is something that is bound to tickle your funny bone. Once again a hotchpotch of Hindi, Urdu and Telugu leading to the deformation of the original Hindi. If you hear "hau", which is modified "yes" for "haan", do not interpret it as "how?". "Atoon", "jatoon" stand for "aata hoon" (coming) and "jaata hoon" (going) respectively. "Howle" is someone tagged as crazy. "Tumako" ("Tumhe") and "Merku" ("Mujhe") are Hindi words only but spoken differently here. If you are roaming around in parts of the Old City and Charminar, you might come across such a lingo. The tone in which these words are uttered is highly comical.
To the Eastern part of India, in parts of West Bengal and Orissa, specially Kolkata, the Hindi dialect is again a case of local language influence. Since speaking Bengali demands a lot of stress on "O", the flow drills down to Hindi too. That "O factor" is to be clearly observed in Hindi accent of most of the Bengalis.
To sum it up, whichever way we might speak Hindi, or whatever maybe our styles and mannerisms, we are able to communicate properly. Unity in diversity, though not pursued consciously by all, is an unconscious effort (by speaking Hindi) to unify our thoughts, actions and ethos- That is the essence of being an Indian.
"MAZHAV NAHIN SIKHATA AAPIS MEIN BAIR RAKHNA;
'HINDI' HAI HUM WATAN HAI HINDUSTAN HAMARA"
(Religion doesn't teach us to have mutual animosity; we are "Hindis" and Hindustan is our country)
I am not sure as to why he used the word "Hindi" in this, but for the purpose of my blog, I assume he might have stressed on this word to magnify the relevance of Hindi as the national language of India. Hindi, in fact, binds our entire nation by acting as the common mode of communication. It has got that strong force of unifying the various religions, castes, creeds and sections of the society that may have found it difficult to converse and decode e
ach other's expressions in their respective unique languages. Having visited several parts of India, I had the privilege of listening to various forms and ways of speaking Hindi. I could feel the variation that can happen to the utterance of the same language in four different parts of the country. And the interesting part was I could understand what was being conveyed. That is obvious in a culturally rich and diversified country like India.
Starting off with North, believed to the birthplace of Hindi, in most parts, specially Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, you will get to listen a very pleasant tone of this language. Lucknow, once ruled over by the Nawabs, is known as the land of tehzeeb (good manners). Here people use "aap" (as a mark of respect) even if they are talking to someone very young or even to children. You might even encounter some Urdu (the lingua franca of the city for centuries) words in between and may need someone to translate them. They follow a very polite and polished way of speaking.
Moving to the West, the kind of Hindi uttered here is an ad-mixture of Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi. Famous for its tapori (rowdy) style, the dialect is more of a style statement and might seem indecent at times. Words such as "Raada", "Raapchik", "Waat", "Kalti", "Jhakaas", etc. though not preferred to be used in all conversations, are imitational and humorous.
Southwards, Hyderabadi Hindi is something that is bound to tickle your funny bone. Once again a hotchpotch of Hindi, Urdu and Telugu leading to the deformation of the original Hindi. If you hear "hau", which is modified "yes" for "haan", do not interpret it as "how?". "Atoon", "jatoon" stand for "aata hoon" (coming) and "jaata hoon" (going) respectively. "Howle" is someone tagged as crazy. "Tumako" ("Tumhe") and "Merku" ("Mujhe") are Hindi words only but spoken differently here. If you are roaming around in parts of the Old City and Charminar, you might come across such a lingo. The tone in which these words are uttered is highly comical.
To the Eastern part of India, in parts of West Bengal and Orissa, specially Kolkata, the Hindi dialect is again a case of local language influence. Since speaking Bengali demands a lot of stress on "O", the flow drills down to Hindi too. That "O factor" is to be clearly observed in Hindi accent of most of the Bengalis.
To sum it up, whichever way we might speak Hindi, or whatever maybe our styles and mannerisms, we are able to communicate properly. Unity in diversity, though not pursued consciously by all, is an unconscious effort (by speaking Hindi) to unify our thoughts, actions and ethos- That is the essence of being an Indian.
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