They are kid-friendly, vibrantly coloured, visually attractive, captivatingly illustrated and bilingual. Packed with edutainment, these ring-bound set of four books are the newest tool for learning Varnamālā (Alphabets), ek, do, teen (1, 2, 3), Rang (Colours) and Aakaar (Shapes).
Singapore-based Coonoor Kripalani, who conceptualised and wrote the early-learning series, introduces, “When my daughters (now 26 and 22 years old, both born and raised overseas) were quite small, teaching them Hindi was tough without readily available teachers. Lack of stimulating material didn’t inspire home-learning. Despite having spent over 35 years out of India, I still feel very close to my Indian roots that is why I wish my girls knew Hindi so that they can feel more at home when we visit India.”
Coonoor found Indian kids in urban areas or overseas, tended to go for the better-produced English learning material, thus neglecting Hindi. “We need to raise the bar on this to attract children towards learning Hindi. I wanted the two- to six-year olds, our target market, to remember these as their first fun Hindi books.”
Much of the current Hindi teaching material available for beginners’ level, she finds “are decades old, on poor quality paper, and the 21st century child does not relate to many of the illustrations. My books have a fresh, present-day appeal.”
Affirms Singapore-based Dr. Waheed Khan, “The presentation attracts my 4-year old grandson Iman’s attention, and creates interest in him to learn Hindi. We need more such books."
Adds 34-year old mother Sheila Kapoor who moved to Singapore when she was 2-years-old. “I am learning my basic Hindi while teaching my 5-year old son Arman.”
The 68-pager, oval Varnamālā (Alphabets) – k, kh, g – has multiple illustrations for each alphabet, with the vowels and consonants clubbed in sections. [I learnt a skeleton was called thathari in Hindi!] The book ends with a quote by President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam asking youth to achieve his vision of a developed India.
In Ek, do, teen (1, 2, 3) each number has matching visuals, and ends with a quote on knowledge by President Kalam.
Rang (Colours) is cleverly designed as an artist’s palette with the eleven basic colours visible simultaneously. A Hindi-English glossary and an inspirational doha by Kabir are added.
The butterfly (titli) shaped Aakaar (Shapes) revels a day in a butterfly’s life – flitting in a flower-filled garden and changing into a circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, pentagon, hexagon, octagon or star by simply folding or opening her wings. Easy-to-read text, a Hindi-English glossary and an inspirational quote by Mahatma Gandhi is included.
Romanisation has been provided for the first three books, which will have taught the child the sounds of the Hindi alphabet, and how to read by putting the sounds together. Aakaar builds upon this learning, reinforces it, and teaches additional vocabulary and concepts.
The author of what might sound like ‘child’s play’ has a creditable track record as Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre of Asian Studies (CAS), University of Hong Kong. A student of Indian and Chinese modern history, Coonoor wrote her thesis on a comparison between Gandhi and Mao. Her published works are found in both academic journals and newspapers and she is currently engaged in research and writing on Bollywood films. Coonoor was recently appointed on the board of Singapore’s Asian Civilisations Museum.
Backed by these erudite qualifications, she stresses, “To know one’s national language and/or mother tongue is important for one’s sense of self-identity, to better understand one’s culture, and of course, for one’s national pride. India’s growing economic affluence provides increasing professional opportunities. For Indian children raised overseas, knowledge of Hindi will assist in their assimilation there, should they choose to work in India.”
She continues, “Children are like sponges and learn new languages easily, so the more languages they are exposed to, the better. They have a sixth sense and are able to compartmentalise, and not confuse, different languages.”
The books benefit from the expert editing and advice of Hindi teachers, Sapna Sunder and Dr Anju Sharma, who between them have 50 years of professional expertise. Offering the option of being used as flip charts in classrooms, these books have already found place in the libraries and classrooms of many schools in some Asian countries and India.
Published by: Global Indian Publications Pte Ltd, Singapore © Coonoor Kripalani 2007