Sydney’s IABBV Hindi School (Indo-Aust Bal Bharathi Vidyalaya Hindi School) recently celebrated 36 years along with upcoming Hindi Diwas. The event was attended by current and former students of the School, their parents, extended family, along with several dignitaries.
The programme included many cultural performances and showcased the next generation of Indian origin kids carrying on Hindi’s linguistic legacy in Australia.
Several current and former students spoke to us about why they are learning Hindi and indeed spoke to us in Hindi!
Anjali, Bianca, Ananya and Sanvi speaking in Hindi
Arya Wadhwani who is an alumnus of IABBV shared his feelings with us
The blockbuster celebrations included students showcasing their various talents.
Kids grooving on Oscar winning ‘Naatu Naatu’
And it was not just the kids, Aussie politicians were also grooving ‘bollywood style’ at the event.
Mala Mehta OAM is the President/Honorary Founder of the school. She told The Australia Today that she started this journey because she wanted Indian origin kids to be take pride in their heritage and stay connected with their roots.
Mala Mehta OAM
Ms Mehta mentioned that they started with 36 students 36 years ago. The numbers grew to 200 students each year. Currently there are 230 children enrolled in their school to learn Hindi.
The dignitaries who attended included former Treasurer Of NSW Matt Kean, NSW MP for Liverpool Charishma Kaliyanda, NSW MP for Davidson Matt Cross, councillors Raj Dutta and Usha Dommaraju and outgoing Consul General of India in Sydney Manish Gupta.
Charishma Kaliyanda is the first India born MP to be elected to the NSW Legislative Assembly. Congratulating IABBV for completing 36 years she spoke about the importance of learning Indian languages in Australia for continuity of cultural values.
Charishma Kaliyanda
Councillor Raj Dutta told The Australia Today why learning Hindi was important especially given the strong friendship and growing ties between Australia and India.
Raj Dutta
The passion of the students was evident from the fact that some of them even wrote poetry in Hindi and recited it.
Ananya Singla reciting her poetry
Not to be left behind Ananya’s kid sister also penned her own lines and shared them with us.
And we had Sanvi Parashar too sharing her poem with us.
Sanvi Parashar reciting her poetry
The IABBV celebrations were supported by Consulate General of India and Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre in Sydney.
Hindi is among the top five languages spoken in the world. Hindi Diwas is celebrated in India and around the world on 14th September.