Words for Blossoms

The brightest memory of my childhood is listening poetry from my father. He used to recite Hindi poems composed by classical poets such as 'Nirala', 'Maithali Sharan Gupt', 'Shyamnarayan Pandey', 'Subhadra Kumari Chauhan' and many more, along with regional poetries like 'Alha khand', 'Narsi ka Bhaat' etc, as well as some of his own compositions while I was sitting in his lap or head down on his shoulders. I still remember the perfect ups & downs of his pitch according to the emotions of the stanzas.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/0c6d31_357ef0e3516947e2bf957973a207ea89/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Hindi Poetry has a vivid imagery with lots of indigenous words capable of filling the heart of the reciter as well the audience with 'Rasa', 'Alankar' & 'Bhaw' at once. In the era of 'Tick-Tok' we are cursed to hear the toxic words as so called 'lyrics'. The term 'symphony' is becoming instinct like many of our ancient but dead languages.

It is a crucial question that what is the authentic picture of our National Language out of the pages of school text books. We cannot leave behind the roots in process of growing up. Practicing recitation not only improves kid's vocabulary and pronunciation, but also helps in developing imagination.

Reading and reciting poems has a great role in developing language abilities. Also, it is a kind of family fun which never gets outdated! So, just give it a try...this time make your kiddos recite a good poem in your native language/mother tongue and cherish the joyful expressions.