Thursday, April 15, 2010

Hindi malum nahi hai!

And that pretty much exhausts the very rudimentary, broken Hindi I know.
Nothing to be proud of, considering that it is our national language after all, and I have the audacity to call myself 'educated'.

We had Hindi subject in school only from classes 4 to 8. We had to learn everything by-heart, and I sucked at by-hearting things. And its worse when you don't even know the meanings of what your'e memorising. Our teachers gave quick, brief translations of what the lines meant, and I'd always get lost somewhere in the middle.

During exams, I'd stay up all night when we had a Hindi paper the next day, chanting, "Mera naam Lalchati hai", "Vunga bahut achcha larka hai", and all those stuffs. And then when the question paper arrives, I would have forgotten everything, and I'd inevitably fail the paper. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we no longer had Hindi in our syllabus by class 9, only to be confronted with Quantum Physics and Trigo maths, urghhh!! But thats another story. I digress.
, dos
I had not foreseen how my Hindi impairment would come back to haunt me. If I had, maybe I'd have tried harder, I don't know. I was bad at it right from the very beginning.

I rarely venture out of Mizoram. I spent 3 years in Shillong, where practically everyone can speak English... except the alu muri man. And he understood our broken Hindi perfectly, "Bhaiyya, khale alu, zyada pyaas, zyada tel, zyada mirchi, uff, zyada everything.. 10 rupees, 5-5 Rs. packing". Then a three month stay in Kolkata, where I hardly ventured out, and few trips down south, where we'd travel in groups, and there would be at least one person with good Hindi to speak for us. So my lack of Hindi did not impair me that much.

Then last year, I went to Delhi and Kolkata with a friend who knew even less Hindi than I do. The Delhiites were very helpful. We stayed at blogger Chawngtinleri aka Mapuii's place, and she gave us detailed info on how to deal with auto drivers. We even memorised her address, I remember that we had to say "Burra Gurudwara ke pas", besides the name of the locality and stuff.

Now couple our lack of Hindi and a completely awful sense of direction. My friend Mami took us DU, JNU and lots of other places and we managed to get back fine. Then Nunpuii took us to Sarojini, and my travel mate and I told her that we can get back on our own, so she left us. Mapuii had told us that an auto fare from Saro to her place costs no more than 25, and told us to be wary of crooked drivers. The first driver we spoke to said that the fare would be 'Bis' and my friend got really pissed. "Nahi, pacchis!", she screamed (is the spelling correct?). The auto driver tried to tell us that he could get us there for 'bis' rupees, but my friend insisted on pacchis. By this time I had finally counted through my Hindi numbers, and found out that pacchis was twenty five, and bis was twenty. I told my friend, and we sat squirming and giggling all the way home.

Then disaster struck. The driver took a completely different route. We were lost. He let us off somewhere, and I summoned all the Hindi I knew to ask him where the burra Gurudwara was, and he gave me some directions which I did not understand. There we were, laden with sooo many shopping bags, completely lost, and Hindi-less. A few days previously, a North-east couple had been assaulted and robbed, so we did not want to appear vulnerable. So we walked, and walked briskly, confidently, with absolutely no clue where we were supposed to be going. After about an hour, we managed to somehow locate Mapuii's place. Bliss.

We stayed for two days in Kolkata, at my cousins' place. They still talk about the time big sis came over and stayed for two days and got lost five times. It was actually seven times, but I didn't tell them. Somehow we always managed to find our way back, though after about an hour of going round in circles and asking for directions, and getting back indecipherable answers. We were fleeced three times by cab drivers, had to give an extra 5 rupees above the normal fare to an auto driver for his breakfast, cos he just wont stop asking, and we didn't know how to tell him to get lost.

And everytime someone asked where we were from we said "Korea" or "China" because we were ashamed to admit that we were Indians with zero clue about Hindi. I'm not surprised that we got fleeced because we were so clueless.

See thats the thing about a majority of us Mizos. We barely know Hindi, and we complain when we are fleeced. The thing is, we are sitting ducks for them- vulnerable, lost and clueless. We are notoriously anti-Vai, and a lot of us think that we do not even have to know the language because we rarely venture out. But unforeseen events can occur. You or a family member might need medical treatment outside Mizoram, and unless you have a guide who can be there 24-7, you need to know the language. Chuvang lo pawn thiam hrim hrim a trul. Unless we are comfortable interacting with them, there is absolutely no chance for development.

I'm thinking that I should make more of an effort to learn the language. I want to travel, and monetary factors not withstanding, I prefer radside food and fashion and auto rides to Malls and restaurants and prepaid cabs. So I really, really need to learn the language. Have gone to Hindi classes but I didn't benefit from them. I know a few words, but not how to frame them into sentences. Maybe if I watched a lot of Bollywood movies....???

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I could write a whole post about my bad experiences with Hindi, but not IN the language. We had Hindi Subject for 10th Board, and I barely managed to get the passmark. We had the English-I and English-II version of Hindi.. etc etc. yet during my Hostel days, I never made any REAL effort to learn it. I didn't speak in Hindi with friends, only mugged up the answers (Which really didn't help with the essay and precis writing, not to mention the Hindi Parts of Speech) yet after being stuck there for 5 years, by the time I graduated, I could simply speak it! Not that I ever spoke before. I guess to really learn a language, you've gotta live with the people who speak it.
BUT: On the contrary, I've been in Maharashtra since 2001, yet haven't picked up on Marathi. Guess I'm making too much effort NOT to learn the language.. hehe.

ku2 said...

@Black: heh, I suddenly remember that joke where this Mizo guy is trying to seduce his Vai maid, and she's using her hands to hide the 'important' bits, and the Mizo guy kept saying, "Vishram, didi, vishram!" :D

Nia...to speak a language fluently, its best when you live with the people speaking it. I wish I was one of those people with a talent for picking up languages easily. Then the CIA would recruit me and... (drifts off into Ludlum territory)
Hindi essay and precis writing, awi thaw!

Mizohican said...

This is one of the biggest misconceptions people have - that Hindi is our National language. India does not have a National language.

Hindi along with English is the official language of India, not National, and other states can use their language as their official language. Currently, there are 14 official regional languages in India, as per the Constitution.

There was an attempt to make Hindi a National language in the mid 60s but the entire South Indian states and West Bengal revolted, so the Constitution of India does not state a National language. In fact the anti-Hindi sentiments in South India has been gaining momentum even before India got its Independence.

Nice blog.

:-)

Lucy In The Sky said...

Lol..I was really mad at rickshaw drivers tonight and I read that bit about Bis and Pachis and I started laughing so hard... I had been hailing rickshaws for about 45 mins when one of them decided to take a couple of guys next to me who were also going to the same place I wanted to go! And I asked him first!

ChRiStyZ - Memoirs said...

lalkuku, kei chu i mit atrang tawp poh khan ka lo hre thei nghal che ........ tak tak, u had the "brownestest" eyes in high school if i remember correctly :-)

ku2 said...

@Illusionaire: Point taken, thanks! Didn't know...though... I think some of the text books when we were kids stated that Hindi is the national language. Still, its the most widely spoekn Indian language, thiam chu ngai ve pah reng.

@Lucy: LOL, yOU and your rickshaw drivers. I duh ve ngot mai. But I bet you know enough Hindi to really give 'em hell. Kan thiannu 1 pawh auto driver inla zei deuhin a phura, a tlan kawi vel zuai2 a, "Hey, kya side-side karenga?" a ti pawr vak ringot :D

@Chrissss: Ka mengkur danah min hrethei nghal alo? Brownestest..hehehe, Smoky eye makeup nalh deuha tih a har duh lutuk, I want deep, dark, mysterious eyes, alo buang leh thur zel.. kha i dam tha reng2 amo?

Lucy In The Sky said...

Ka Hindi thiam:

1) ....ke pas = Chulmah chuan kal rawh
2) Sida jana = Hmalamah kal rawh
3) Left jana = Vei lamah kal rawh
4) Right jana = Ding lamah kal rawh
5) Kitna bagis = Dar engzatnge
6) tumhara nam kya hai = Enge i hming
7) A chha nahi = a thra lo
8) A chha = A thra
9) Nahi jana = Ka kal duh lo
10) Bas = A tawk
11) Kya karta hai = Engthil nge ni ta
12) Mera pas = Hei hi chu ka man va lova mahse ka hre deuh vuai

E! ka lo thiam ve treuh a nih hi! :D

ku2 said...

Lal Lucy, kei ai chuan ila thiam xok feee.. taxi driver hnena "Daine dek" ti tawk vel kan la om hi, hehehe...South lamah i om tak, Hindi an hmang vaklo in ka hria tiro? sign language hman treuh mai tur :)

Malsawmi Jacob said...

Language(s) is such an issue, and i'm bad at learning them. After nearly three years in Mumbai i haven't learned any Marathi though i manage Hindi essentials. Growing up in Shillong i didn't learn any Khasi since learning English took all my mental energy. If only Babel hadn't happened!

ku2 said...

@Mesjay: My Khasi friends taught me their bad words, and I taught them how to speak English with the most atrocious Mizo accent :D Not exactly beneficial, but fun for both of us. I miss Shillong. And if Babel hadn't happened, I wonder what language we would all have spoken?

jay-me said...

here comes a latecomer...kinda late but ur blog sure givs me sumthing to read...ur a great writer heh...cuan like illusionaire *** said hindi is nt our natnal lang. its jst wats been fed into our brains thru textbks...so its sort of a brainwash to promote hindi heheh tak2 a hindi cu its the official lang alngwit english n othr regnal lang, its safe nt 2 claim hindi as a ntnal lang. beyond vairengte cos it becums a very political issue...i had my eyes opened in Baroda...Gujaratis n S.Inds there were flabbergasted n i became "a korean who wants to belong by promoting hindi"