Hindi For Heart

‘Hindi for Heart’ by Gulzar

जंगल जंगल बात चली है

जल्दी से बरसात बुलाओ

जुगनू की दम में आग लगी

Instead of teaching children the varnmaala like a parrot how about introducing phonetics through poetry? Imagine how the mind of the child will open up to language and how the heart will begin to love it. In today’s time when Hindi is becoming extinct from the world of children and poetry limited to academic learning, this book may revive some dormant instincts.

We are fortunate to have books like ‘hindi for heart’ penned down by Gulzar Saab himself where he introduces and reinforces vowels and consonants through his witty three liners. There are illustrations by Rina Singh to support each poem and she has made a great attempt to make every abstract thought concrete through her drawings.

It gives immense pleasure to recall the book I wrote five years back ‘Jiggly Wiggly Rhymes’. Even though English is not a phonetic based language, it was an attempt to introduce sounds through some imaginative poems.

There is no age limit for this book. As Gulzar saab says even adults may benefit.