{"id":9370,"date":"2021-05-17T20:41:27","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T20:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/?p=9370"},"modified":"2021-06-03T17:30:25","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T17:30:25","slug":"the-rise-of-hindi-in-mumbai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/the-rise-of-hindi-in-mumbai\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise of Hindi in Mumbai"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Autorickshaw

Image Courtesy Thinkologie by Nicole Herbert Dean<\/p><\/div>\n

Mumbai is one of India\u2019s most diverse \u0935\u093f\u0935\u093f\u0927 cities. People from linguistically \u092d\u093e\u0937\u093e\u0908 \u0930\u0942\u092a \u0938\u0947 separated states converge \u0905\u092d\u093f\u0938\u0930\u093f\u0924 \u0939\u094b\u0928\u093e on Mumbai to work and live. They bring \u0932\u093e\u0928\u093e their language, culture, and unique \u0905\u0926\u094d\u0935\u093f\u0924\u0940\u092f flavor to this great city. This convergence leads \u091c\u093e\u0924\u093e to colorful speech<\/a> \u092d\u093e\u0937\u0923 with sentences a mix of Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Gujarati, and English. Mumbaikars code switch<\/a> with ease \u0906\u0938\u093e\u0928\u0940 leaving a visitor befuddled at the communication \u0938\u0902\u0935\u093e\u0926.<\/p>\n

Marathi takes a back seat<\/h2>\n

The official language of the city is Marathi but it is quite possible \u0915\u093e\u092b\u0940 \u0938\u0902\u092d\u0935 to not know that language and to live and work efficiently \u0915\u0941\u0936\u0932\u0924\u093e\u092a\u0942\u0930\u094d\u0935\u0915 \u0915\u093e\u0930\u094d\u092f \u0915\u0930\u0928\u093e in Mumbai. Although, I must say, if one does know Marathi, one can get through bureaucratic \u0928\u094c\u0915\u0930\u0936\u093e\u0939\u0940 red tape much quicker. It is also, easier to get a license, be approved\u0905\u0928\u0941\u092e\u094b\u0926\u093f\u0924 \u0915\u093f\u092f\u093e \u091c\u093e\u0928\u093e for a credit card, etc. by speaking in Marathi with the person handling the stamp.<\/p>\n

It is interesting \u0926\u093f\u0932\u091a\u0938\u094d\u092a to note that although \u092f\u0926\u094d\u092f\u092a\u093f the state language is Marathi, in recent years Hindi is gaining prominence \u092a\u094d\u0930\u092e\u0941\u0916\u0924\u093eand popularity \u0932\u094b\u0915\u092a\u094d\u0930\u093f\u092f\u0924\u093e. A 2011 census report stated that Hindi had grown from 40 percent \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0924\u093f\u0936\u0924 from 25.88 lakh to 35.98 lakh. This is due to the influx \u0905\u0902\u0924\u0930\u094d\u0935\u093e\u0939\u0940 of people from the northern \u0909\u0924\u094d\u0924\u0930\u0940 states. People from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar come into Mumbai to work, bringing their own Hindi dialects \u092c\u094b\u0932\u093f\u092f\u094b\u0902. As housing has spread out, so does the language, with Hindi being spoken in Thane and Raigad which are smaller cities outside Mumbai.<\/p>\n

Obsolete Hindi<\/h2>\n

Initially \u092a\u0939\u0932\u0947, Mumbai attracted migrants \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0935\u093e\u0938\u093f\u092f\u094b\u0902 from the West Coast mainly being a port city \u092c\u0902\u0926\u0930\u0917\u093e\u0939 \u0936\u0939\u0930 and having many textile mills. These migrants came from Gujarat, Coastal Maharashtra, and Goa bringing their languages of Gujarati and Konkani. When the mills started shutting down, the city transformed into a service hub from a manufacturing \u0928\u093f\u0930\u094d\u092e\u093e\u0923 hub. Migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar attracted by the non-mill work came to Mumbai to work bringing in the various Hindi dialects.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the lack of housing \u0906\u0935\u093e\u0938 and better opportunities \u0905\u0935\u0938\u0930 outside Mumbai pushed the native \u0926\u0947\u0936\u0940 speaking Marathi population out. This led to an increase \u0935\u0943\u0926\u094d\u0927\u093f in the Hindi speaking population of Mumbai. However, this Hindi is not the purest \u0936\u0941\u0926\u094d\u0927 form of Hindi. Hindi has lost its Sanskrit origins \u092e\u0942\u0932 resulting in an impure \u0905\u0936\u0941\u0926\u094d\u0927 language tainted with other languages. The educated \u0936\u093f\u0915\u094d\u0937\u093f\u0924, English speaking individual \u0935\u094d\u092f\u0915\u094d\u0924\u093f rarely if ever remember common Hindi words such as \u0935\u093e\u0939\u0928 for transportation. They use the words taxi, car, bus, or railway. Words such as \u0935\u093e\u0939\u0928, \u0917\u093e\u0926\u0940, \u0930\u0947\u0932 \u0917\u093e\u0926\u0940 are becoming obsolete.<\/p>\n

Political intentions<\/h2>\n

A few years ago, the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah<\/a> declared \u0918\u094b\u0937\u093f\u0924, \u201cit is absolutely essential \u0906\u0935\u0936\u094d\u092f\u0915 that the entire country has one language,\u00a0 the most spoken language of Hindi\u201d. What is interesting to note is that this declaration had little effect \u0925\u094b\u0921\u093c\u093e \u092a\u094d\u0930\u092d\u093e\u0935 on the language spoken in Mumbai. This, despite the fact that Hindi was on the rise. People in Mumbai still default to the dialects of their native state \u092e\u0942\u0932 \u0930\u093e\u091c\u094d\u092f \u00a0mixed with Hindi and a spattering of English.<\/p>\n

What Mr. Shah did not realize that it is the very diversity \u0935\u093f\u0935\u093f\u0927\u0924\u093e that brings in unity. Mumbai\u2019s languages are a microcosm \u0905\u0923\u0941 \u0935\u093f\u0936\u094d\u200d\u0935 of India. Each state linguistically diverse, each individual in Mumbai linguistically diverse. Asking for a one language state is not realistic. Hindi will continue to rise but in its fluid form absorbing other languages and dialects.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"Autorickshaw

Mumbai is one of India\u2019s most diverse \u0935\u093f\u0935\u093f\u0927 cities. People from linguistically \u092d\u093e\u0937\u093e\u0908 \u0930\u0942\u092a \u0938\u0947 separated states converge \u0905\u092d\u093f\u0938\u0930\u093f\u0924 \u0939\u094b\u0928\u093e on Mumbai to work and live. They bring \u0932\u093e\u0928\u093e their language, culture, and unique \u0905\u0926\u094d\u0935\u093f\u0924\u0940\u092f flavor to this great city. This convergence leads \u091c\u093e\u0924\u093e to colorful speech \u092d\u093e\u0937\u0923 with sentences a mix of Hindi, Urdu…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":9371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3792,3839],"tags":[556307,5523,255656,556308],"class_list":["post-9370","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hindi-language","category-hinglish","tag-dialect","tag-hindi","tag-mumbai","tag-rise"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9370"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9373,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9370\/revisions\/9373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}