English journalism in India has always been considered a notch above journalism in Hindi, although it is our national language. In Akashvani, the news was first written in English and then translated to Hindi for Hindi newsreaders. The reason was simple: radio was state-run and the government perhaps rightly thought that the English news writers were better trained at that time than Hindi news writers, in getting the right leads, and using appropriate words and nuances. When I came back to India from the US in 2011 to pursue freelance journalism, I was shocked to find that Hindi journalism had still not found its right place. Last month, I was baffled to see first hand, the unnecessary and brazen arrogance of some prominent Hindi journalists at an event organized to honour them and their peers. Some of these journalists are still suffering from a kind of a complex because their profession is still struggling to be number one, despite all the facilities and possibilities.
On one of my visits to India to cover the Indian elections for Voice Of America (VOA), my friend Trilok Deep, who at that time was working with the prestigious Hindi weekly Dinmaan, introduced me to his legendary chief editor Raghuvir Sahay, who was kind enough to assign me to send a weekly dispatch from Washington for Dinmaan. I accepted the offer that was full of hurdles because I still remember how I used to rush to Washington’s International airport to mail my handwritten dispatch so that it reaches Dinmaan’s office before it becomes outdated. So I know the values of the facilities the Hindi journalists now have in India. Ironically, it is still a notch lower than English journalism in India, and it saddens me to see that it has still not gained the status it should have gotten a long time ago.
The responsibility seems to lie on the shoulders of prominent Hindi journalists, who think they can carve out a place for Hindi patrakrita only if they use pure Hindi and not Hindustani, openly oppose the use of Urdu and hate the lovers of the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb. Of course, they also cannot tolerate a word of English when Hindi is being spoken. I faced the same problem in the VOA Hindi Service, because I am an ardent fan of Munshi Premchandji’s Hindustani, which is easily understood by the aam aadmi of India.
Jai Shankar Prasad, however, said his pure Hindi (“Sanskritized Hindi”) is not for the street hawkers (“khomchewalas”) to read. But today, in India we must reach those hawkers and illiterate villagers too, because they represent the real India.
Some enlightened Hindi journalists, like Urmileshji, who hosts the talk show Media Manthan on Rajya Sabha TV, have no problem in occasional use of English and Urdu words to keep the flow going for the viewers and to make it relevant for modern times. Even the British and Americans are adopting words from other languages and the Webster Dictionary is updated every year to include those words.
Incidentally, the day I watched Media Manthan, it was about the status of Hindi journalism in India. And Rahul Devji, who is a so-called “shudh Hindi” supporter, happened to be among the four eminent guests. Everyone was using English and Hindi words such as news break, management, decisional, grassroots, follow up action, professionalism, vision, revenue, market, scientific, launch, etc. No sweat. And no one dared to correct the other or object to their using “non-Hindi” words. Not even Rahul Devji.
But the real plight of Hindi journalism came to fore at an event organized by the exchange4media group, which honoured 50 out of the hundreds of Hindi journalists and editors. The media outfit’s regular anchor, who mostly does it in English, made an extra effort to do it in Hindustani with some occasional English words and also some beautiful Urdu couplets to make the evening romantic.
But I was more than amazed when the same Rahul Devji, who himself used a word or two in English while taking part in the Media Manthan on TV, became the first Hindi journalist to object to her not using “shudh Hindi” and threatened to boycott the proceedings. And this time too, he had no qualms in using the English word “boycott”.
Then two or three editors also walked out, objecting to the rankings they got among the 50 being honoured. They didn’t think it is fair to rank the editors, as if they are beyond any rankings. But they forgot for a moment, that they themselves do similar rankings of reporters almost every day. And besides they were not just being ranked, but also felicitated and honoured. I know how fair and objective the jury was, because I was one of the members.
But after the event, the fog in my mind about Hindi journalism was lifted and it became very clear that it will take a longtime for Hindi journalism to reach where the English journalism has already has.
(Author/analyst Ravi M Khanna is a senior journalist based in New Delhi where he free lances in both English and Hindi)
Feedback: ravimohankhanna@gmail.com
