Learning ‘about ourselves’ through Hindi
THROUGH Hindi, we get to learn a lot about ourselves, our religion and our culture.
Assistant Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Sashi Kiran made this known to attendees of the inaugural World Hindi Conference road show at Ba’s Xavier College on Saturday.
“A lot of people are coming from places like India and for us, this is something to be happy about because the people of Fiji have been recognised to host the Hindi conference,” the assistant minister said.
“About 1000 people from around the world will come to our nation, this will be a beautiful event and we will be able to take part in this celebration.
“A lot of people in India don’t know where Fiji is so this is a proud moment for us that we can showcase Fiji, the languages connected to Hindi, Fiji Hindi, our culture.”
Ms Kiran said she was fortunate to have been taught Hindi from her young days.
She informed about 200 Ba residents that Fijians of Indian descent were thankful to their forefathers for preserving the Hindi language as their way of living.
“We are in Fiji and I say thank goodness I was born here. I really feel connected to Fiji and I am also very proud of my Indian heritage because mixing both identities complements me a lot.
“When we used to study Hindi the concept of vanua is very similar to what we learn. In every village even if I go in the most rural village in Rakiraki or Nakorotubu, even if Indo-Fijians aren’t that far, people will say ‘can I speak in Hindi with you’.
“Because they feel more comfortable with Hindi as opposed to English.”
Meanwhile, the World Hindi Conference will be held on Denarau Island next month.