Mamta Kalia

examinations, results of examinations,
prize distribution, certificate distribution,
and so on.
Along with this, under the
presidentship and direction of Shri
Narayan Mathura, there is an organization
called “Hindi Parishad, Netherlands”,
which organizes every year the Prathma,
Madhyama, Uttama, Praveshika and
Acharya exams of Wardha Rashtrabhasha
Parishad. Lovers of Hindi from among
the people of Indian origin hold free
classes for preparing candidates for these
exams at many places. The Arya Samaj
and several other organizations and
institutions of Sanatan Dharma play active
roles in the promotion of Hindi language.
Among people doing such work, Surya
Prasad Bire’s name is prominent – he
has been engaged heart and soul in the
work of promoting Hindi language and
Indian culture. He has made notable
contributions to promoting Hindi through
a weekly one-hour TV programme and
through the cooperation of other
organizations. Apart from being the priest
in-charge of Arya Samaj, he also has
an excellent knowledge of Sanskrit and
Hindi languages.
Eleven thousand four hundred and
two certificates have been distributed
so far by Narayan Mathura of Hindi
Parishad, Netherlands. He has been
serving the organization for twenty-five
years [by 2009] and on an average five
hundred students sit for these exams
every year.
146 :: April-June 2010
From around the year 1993, a bilingual
magazine in Dutch and Hindi, called
Vishwa Jyoti, began coming out, which
had material on learning Hindi along
with material helpful on living a life
balancing Indian culture and
multinational culture. This was a cultural
and social magazine in Hindi. In the
80s, a twenty-page magazine called
Sarnami used to be published which used
to highlight Sarnami literature and
promote Sarnami language on the one
side, and on the other, it used to declare
Hindi as the mother [mahtari] language
of Sarnami and give on the cover page
information about devnagari letters.
In this way, Hindi has been available
for reading for a while through magazines
and booklets but essentially the standard
of Hindi here is extremely low. If the
work of teaching and learning Hindi has
been going on, it is because of the amazing
love people have for Indian culture. But
no creative work of literature is visible
in Hindi. One might say, though, that
some meaningful literary work is going
on in Sarnami. But the authors [poets
and writers] of these works consider
themselves Sarnami writers, and as
distinctly separate from Hindi writers.
They are engaged in giving expression
to the life and culture of their ancestors
in Suriname and the cultural struggles
of people of Indian origin in the
Netherlands. These writers have their
own individual groups and their own
strategies to establish themselves among
the people of the Netherlands.