Vishwa Hindi Divas celebrated in Springfield

Under the Azadi Ka AmritMahotsav celebrations, High Commission of India, Canberra, in association with Federation of Indian Communities of Queensland (FICQ), celebrated the Vishwa Hindi Diwas on January 8 at Vedanta Centre, Springfield, Queensland.

The event, hosted by FICQ President Mr Shyam Das, was organised by the Honorary Consul of India in Queensland, Mrs Archana Singh. Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding was the chief guest.

Among the prominent people who attended the event were Dr Ashutosh Misra, CEO, Institute for Australia India Engagement (IAIE); Ms Sweta Misra, Senior Academic and Student Administrator, University of Queensland; Garima Shekhawat; and Hindi poetess Mrs Madhu Khanna, who also did the oral recitation of her Hindi poems.

With prayers by Swami Atmashanand of the Vedanta Centre, the event started, and the Hindi students of the Vedanta Centre as well as the students from the Bal Seva Kendra of Vishwa Hindu parishad read Hindi poems and shlokas in their sweet voices and mesmerised the audience.

Also, little Ayeshi recited Vande Matram and historian and academic Prof Sarvadaman Singh, OAM impressed all with his Hindi speech. Josh, a Hindi student from the Vedanta Centre, recounted the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi in Hindi as well as read a Hindi poem.

Drama Bhediya aur Gadaria by Irani, Suyati, Aviyukta and Ishan entertained those present at the hall, and a question and answers session by Sampada impressed all as well.

World Hindi Day or Vishwa Hindi Diwas is celebrated every year on January 10, with an aim to promote the use of the Hindi language worldwide. January 10 marks the first World Hindi Conference that took place in 1975, in Nagpur, Maharashtra. In 2006, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared January 10 as the World Hindi Day. Another objective of the occasion is to present Hindi as an international language.