Hindi....

Hindi is the main language of India.  It is quite close to Gujarati, which is the language that we grew up speaking.

Now since being here, we all have been working on improving our Hindi.  Mostly because it is the main way to communicate with many of the shop owners and drivers, as they do not speak English.  In most cases, my Hindi is enough to get by.....

For the kids, they both had language options, and I picked Hindi for them.  Yes, I forced (maybe coerced is a better word) them into taking Hindi.  Now this did not go off without any resistance.  There were weeks after weeks that I was fielding the complaints.  'I don't like it!'  'I hate it'  'It is too hard'  'I want to take Spanish'.....  my response....  'Too bad....  Suck it up... You will thank me later'....  OK, maybe not verbaitim....  but essentially that is what I told them....  I am certain that they will infact thank me later when they are able to reference back to what they have learned.  I suppose, the challenge will be to keep the learning going when we come home!!

Already I am seeing the fruits of their labor.....  Mira is actually reading Hindi.... very well!!  I was really impressed.  She is a little shy when speaking it....  I suppose that is b/c she is 10 now!!  Milan on the other hand is learning not progressing in the reading, but he is definitely more confident in speaking it (unfortunately it is not that well).  He can turn on his Hindi with the full on Indian accent, coupled with the head bobble.  And when he does not know the Hindi word, he adds in the English word and makes it work.

Some funny phrases by Milan (Mostly when he is talking to Manjula)

'Manjula, humko tv eating he'  Translated:  Manjula, I am eating in front of the TV.
'Manjula, humko outside going he'  Translated:  Manjula, I am going outside.

It is really cute!!  Milan and Manjula have a really special bond.  She gets the kids off the bus, and with Milan, she will take off his socks, massages his feet, pull/crack his toes (yes, Milan like this), rubs his back....  Milan will miss Manjula's pampering when we come home!!