For the love of language
AS A young girl, Hindi intrigued and fascinated Usha Devi Shukla so much so that she turned her love for the language into a career.
Her passion has led her to receive numerous accolades locally and internationally, publish two books, and chair over 36 international and national conferences.
Now at the age of 59, there is no stopping the University of KwaZulu-Natal professor, who has a PhD in Hindi and Sanskrit. She is still instrumental in propagating Hindi at the university where she serves as the academic cluster leader of languages, linguistics and academic literacy.
Shukla also does community service at the Hindi Shiksha Sangh as the organisation’s vice-president and academic head.
She has just been honoured again for her work by the government of India, at the 10th World Hindi Conference in Bhopal, where she received the Vishwa Hindi Samman award presented by India’s minister of home affairs, Rajnath Singh.
“I could not believe it,” she said of the award. “It made me feel appreciated, because the work I was doing was not done in vain and there were people out there who appreciated my contribution.”
Shukla described language as the “vehicle of culture” which could open many doors for people.
“Our Eastern languages form part of our birth right and are a reflection of our identity. People fail to realise this and we need to claim it because it will add value to our lives,” she said. “It also helps us stay connected with our roots.”
She said today in society there were only a handful of young people who were interested in learning their mother tongue, and the onus was on parents to encourage their children to learn.
“When I was growing up, learning Hindi was as important as learning English. It was a huge accomplishment. But nowadays Eastern languages are not even a thought.”
Unless parents started playing an active role in getting their children to learn Eastern languages, it would die off, she feared.
“While there are challenges with teaching Eastern languages at schools, parents need to know that there are temples and religious organisations that have free classes for children to attend.”
Shukla said the Department of Basic Education needed to recognise the importance of having these classes in schools.
“Other countries have implemented the three-language formula, whereby pupils get to learn three languages of their choice.
“The department needs to see that Hindi, Telugu, Urdu, Gujarati and Tamil are part of the South African heritage, and need to be implemented in schools.”
Even with the challenges, Shukla said that with the support of her husband, Devendra, she would continue to propagate the Hindi language.