While everyone has celebrated the return to in-person classes at Duke this fall, the use of Zoom still holds a very important place in Kusum ji’s elementary Hindi course. Every Friday, students look forward to turning on their cameras and microphones to meet with members of the local and international Hindi-speaking community. Activities this semester have ranged from Bollywood Dance lessons to improv sessions, meetings with NGOs, and, most recently, a session with poet Jagdish Vyom.
Born and raised in Delhi, India, Jagdish Vyom is an Indian author, poet, and novelist who specializes in creating content for students of the Hindi language. Vyom ji has written stories and poems since his childhood and firmly believes that writing poetry allows one to explore their own world and, as a result, become a better person. This was the message he carried forward into his session with our class.
With most of the students having a mere three months of Hindi education under their belts, I was initially a bit skeptical about the types of poetry that we could produce. Nonetheless, as is always true of Kusum ji’s classroom, we entered a very welcoming and enjoyable virtual poetry sharing forum. As each of the students read their poem, I couldn’t help but feel proud of how far we have come as language learners in such a short time. This session reminded us that while we may get caught up in grammar and spelling, language is also flexible and is ultimately a form of self-expression. Talking about family, friends, and growth at Duke, each poem was well-received by Vyom ji, who encouraged us to keep exploring our worlds by writing. At the end of the session, we were able to ask Vyom ji questions about his experience with poetry and story writing and more generally about life in India. As the last guest of the fall semester, I know Vyom ji’s advice will continue to inspire us to keep learning and engage with Hindi whenever and however we can.
Select the link below to view poems by Duke Hindi students.
*This workshop was supported by Asian & Middle Eastern Studies and Duke Service-learning.
