Hamiltonians will mark the annual ‘Hindi Diwas’ this year on September 23 at the Celebrating Age Centre (30 Victoria Street) from 7 pm.
Labour MP Dr Ashraf Choudhary will be the Chief Guest at the function, which will be held under the theme, ‘Future of Hindi in New Zealand- Opportunities and Challenges.’
The programme will include an informal get-together, an outline of the history of Hindi Diwas in Waikato, speeches by Dr Choudhary, Dr Pushpa Wood, Dr Rachna Kumar, Sudershan Batra, Questions & Answers, Poetry by Som Nath Gupta, devotional songs and Bollywood songs and dances.
Hindi may not be the Mother Tongue of many Indians, but it is a language spoken and understood by a majority of Indians from India and Fiji, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Nepalese living in New Zealand.
We have encouraged people, especially the younger members of the community to learn Hindi. While ‘Roshni,’ our newsletter is an attempt in this direction, we also encourage others to acquire a working knowledge of the language.
Mehfils (Poetry sessions), Hasya Kavi Sammelan (Laughter and Poetry session) and Chatkule (Comedy) are some of the programmes that we conduct to keep the language alive.
‘Global Mehfil’ aired over Access Radio for five years was one of a kind.
Global Walk for Elders
We will observe the ‘International Day of Older Persons’ at the Celebrating Age Centre on September 30, 2011.
‘Global Walk’ will be the highlight as usual but this year, we have planned a cultural programme at St Peters Cathedral Community Hall.
The ‘Golden Embrace’ is another initiative of the World Health Organisation. It is a ‘big walk’ event that takes place in many parts of the world as a part of the International Day of Older Persons’ (the actual day of which is October 1).
It consists of a chain of locally organised walks and events encircling the globe over a 24-hour period. It draws attention to the benefits of walking and physical activity.
