On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, we bring you stories and excerpts from the lives of some Indians, who are not native to India. They settled in the capital and started speaking Hindi.
The biggest Hindi Sevi-Jillian Wright
To begin with, let us look at the biggest Hindi Sevi -Jillian Wright. Coming from Britain, Jilian Wright, lives in the West Nizamuddin of the capital. It is impossible to believe when she starts speaking Hindi, because of her peculiar command over the language and her love for Hindi. Before coming to India, Wright used to work in BBC London. After coming to India in the 70s, she translated Rahi Maoom Raza and Srilal Shukla’s novel “Adha Gaon”.Raag Darbari is also one of her favourite novels. And not just this, but she also translated the works of Bhisma Sahni-the brother of famous Bollywood veteran actor Balraj Sahni. Due to her passion for Hindi, she loves Uttar Pradesh too. She mentions that one who loves Raag Darbari and Adha Gaon, how can that person be away from Uttar Pradesh?
Who taught Hindi to that Japanese woman?
Moving towards Rajghat on the Ring road, you will see a white-coloured stupa o the right side of the road -situated near the Indraprastha park. The monument is called – Vishwa Shanti Stupa, which indicates a signboard in Blue. Here you will find the old Japanese lady -with whose face you can reminisce your very old grandmother’s face. If you approach her-she will speak fluently in Hindi, “My name is Katsu San. I am associated with Vishwa Shanti Stupa. You are welcome here”.One will be amazed by the accurate level of her diction and pronunciation. Hailing from Japan originally, a devout Buddhist, Katsu came to India In 1956. Her interest in India increased due to Lord Buddha. Once she came to India, she was so happy to be here that there’s no going back for her and she settled here for good. She says that now India feels like her own country and assumed the citizenship of India 40 years ago. Katsu learned Hindi from Kakasaheb Kalekar.
Chinese woman from Delhi teaching Hindi to children
After talking to her employees in the morning, Violet Chu is ready to deal with the customers in her shoe showroom in Connaught Place. In between all these works, she also makes shoes by herself. She speaks both English and Hindi. She has limited the conversation in her native language (Mandarin-Chinese) only to her husband and son. Before marriage, she used to live in Calcutta. While getting a school education, she learnt Hindi too. It has been almost 40 years since Violet settled in Delhi after marriage. She taught alphabet knowledge to both her sons who were in St. Columbus school. Now she is teaching the same language to her grandsons-who whenever encounters a problem seek her help.
