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I grew up watching Hindi movies; idolising Indian actors such as Mithun Chakrawarti,Govinda, Sanjay Dutt and Aameer Khan . I grew up listening and singing Hindi songs by Kishor Kumar, Lata Mangesher etc. Radio Nepal used to play hindi songs regularly and later Nepal television began entertaining Nepalese people by playing three hours long hindi movies on prime-time Saturday. Indian culture and language were deeply inbreeded into daily lives; which is still continuing. Then, I did not feel anything wrong while using words such as Rakhi over Janai Purnima or Deewali over Tihar or Bhaipuja. I also did not feel anything wrong saying Holi instead of Fagu Purnima. I even put on gents Kurta-Suruwal at times because I looked cool according to my friends. We sang Hindi songs in every party and get together; and sometime watched Hindi movies all night long.
My attitude and sentiment changed once I left Nepal around ten years ago. Once I started living abroad, I felt a lack of identity as a Nepalese. I began to feel an unease and uncomfortable when someone started a conversation with me in Hindi. People of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian origin automatically used to start up conversation with me in Hindi and I assume this is the case with majority of Nepalese people living abroad. I thought it was wrong. I am from Nepal and my language is Nepalese. So, I politely decline to communicate in Hindi by saying I am from Nepal and living in the United Kingdom, let us either talk in English or Nepalese. Some people appreciate this with high regards whereas some people give me a funny look. But, I do not care as I know I have a valid point.
One might say there are so much similarity between Nepal and India. I agree, off course, there are. Then again, there are huge similarities between Portugal and Spain, Canada and the USA, Ireland and England, Argentina and Brazil. The point is Nepal is a separate country since her inception unique by nature, culture and history. When I say history, I meant Nepal is a country never been colonised in her history. We should be proud of our heritage, culture and identity. This pride can be demonstrated only by following original Nepalese culture and using proper Nepalese language, using Nepalese dress and following Nepalese values. However, this is always not possible when you are living abroad. Then again what is possible is I have set some principals to myself for last 9 years; which are I do not watch Hindi movies or watch Hindi serials. I do not have any Hindi TV channels at my home neither I listen Hindi music. As I have already mentioned above, I do not communicate in Hindi. Ladies members of my family wear jeans not Kurta-Suruwal.
When I had visited Nepal early this year, I had few hours of transit
at the Baharain International Airport. There I saw airport officials
were talking to Nepalese traveller in Hindi and even the airport
announcement to the flight to Kathmandu was done in Hindi followed by
English. My sentiment was badly hurt. I felt huge dent in my pride. I
had decided to meet the airport officials and express my grievances but
due to lack of time this was not possible. I felt even worse as I landed
at the Airport in Nepal, there was Hindi song being played on the
airport television. I approached a police officer and asked why there
was Indian channel on the TV not Nepalese. He did not get the gravity of
my question and simply replied other channels were boring.
I visited Paris to fulfil my long overdue holiday promise to my daughter this month. I found Paris amazing and beautiful city. The only difficulty I faced was language. French people are so proud of their language that they almost refuse to speak English even though they knew. I found many English programmes in French TV but these were all dubbed in French languages. Geographically France and the United Kingdom are only 34 kilometres apart from each other.
Whereas in Nepal, our TV programmes are absolute copy of Indian TV and so are the news channels. We get Indian films and songs more than Nepalese in Nepalese media.
Nepalese movies are given Hindi titles such as Hifajat, Silsila and Kismat to name a few. Could someone please tell me since when words such as these became Nepalese words? Could we not get proper Nepalese words for Nepalese movies titles? Now, we are not only watching Hindi movies as the main source of entertainment but also begun to produce Hindi movies under Nepalese banner. This may sound cynical but this is serious sign that we do not care our own culture but happy to emerge into Indian culture.
We are over sensitive when an Indian mentions something controversial about Nepal. We take on the street, protest and vandalise our own infrastructure. We demonstrate as if we are the most patriotic citizens in the planet. Rhitik Roshan case a few years back is a typical example of this.
In fact, the problem lies within us. There are huge differences between Nepalese and Indian cultures, way of life and languages. Yet, we follow Indian culture as if they are our own. Nepalese language is beautiful if spoken maintaining its true vibe. Yet, we speak Hindi language with so much ease. With all respect to people from Southern part of Nepal, Nepalese is the Language of Nepal not Hindi.
I am not a politician neither an Intellectual. I do not have anti-Indian sentiment at all. India is a great country and there is so much we could learn and gain from India. My point is that we are following Indian way of life so much that our own culture and identity have been heavily diluted within India. We are submitting ourselves into Indian culture and identity. We are losing our own identity.
We are producing Nepalese music exactly and absolutely similar to Hindi songs. You have to listen lyrics carefully to know if the song was Nepalese.
There are so many entertainment websites hosted by Nepalese people living abroad for example www.dcnepal.com , www.canadanepal.com where links to Hindi movies and channels are provided. This is yet again another way of saying that we are Nepalese but can not pass a single day without associating ourselves to India.
Once again, I repeat India is a great nation and I have huge respect for Indian people and we can learn and gain so much from India. But, Nepal is a great country with its own proud history and culture. This is our responsibility to preserve Nepalese history, culture, language and identity. We can only do so by practising our own culture and language not by practising Indian culture and language. People living abroad have bigger responsibility as people of our country of residence look at us make their opinion about Nepal, Nepalese culture and identity. So if we are living in the UK, we should speak English or Nepalese not Hindi. One should speak the language of country of residence and Nepalese language but not Hindi.
This is my opinion and correct me if I am wrong. You can contact me on pratikpradhan@msn.com
Source: Mysansar.com
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