Maya Nandakumar

2023 WISLI Hindi Student

Why did you choose to study at WISLI? What motivated you to choose our program?

I had heard about WISLI through the Committee on Southern Asian Studies (COSAS) at the University of Chicago. I had reached a stage in my research where I needed a working knowledge of Hindi, so the South Asia Summer Language Institute (SASLI) was recommended to me. I knew the program would be rigorous and fast-paced, which was ideal for me as a Ph.D. student with limited years of funding.

How has learning a less commonly taught languages enriched your personal and professional life?

At the moment, I am a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the University of Chicago. My research is interested in the Hindu nationalist movement, which has always been committed to the promotion of the Hindi language across India. In recent years, many of their communications – pamphlets, speeches, books, etc. – have been published in Hindi without being translated to English, which is still viewed as the “colonizer’s tongue” despite being a lingua franca across the subcontinent. As a result, to support my research, I had to gain competency in Hindi, so that I could draw from untranslated source material.

I have enjoyed learning Hindi for personal reasons as well: my entire family, including my parents, grew up in India and learned Hindi in school. However, I never gained any facility with the language in my childhood. Since finishing SASLI, I’ve enjoyed speaking to family members in Hindi, which has been tremendous for my language learning process as well. I also grew up listening to Bollywood music with my parents and, as I’ve discovered new vocabulary and grammatical structures, I’ve been able to return to some of my favorite songs with the ability to actually understand what they’re saying!

What about WISLI/UW-Madison stands out to you?

UW-Madison is a fantastic place to be during the summer! The campus is gorgeous; every day I walked along Lake Mendota in the quiet early morning for class. By the afternoon, the shore was full of people enjoying the scenery. We also had access to all the great sporting and outdoor facilities that the university offers, so my classmates and I would play tennis, beach volleyball, and basketball after finishing our homework in the evenings. We would also rock climb at the gym or kayak on the lake! The city of Madison is adorable as well; the farmer’s market is unrivaled and not to be missed!

How do you plan to apply proficiency of your target language and cultural skills to your personal/professional journey?

SASLI covered a year of Hindi in eight weeks, so I plan to return to the University of Chicago and start the intermediate sequence in the fall. I would like to conduct fieldwork in India in the next few years to support my research. In the meantime, I’m revising a paper, which is already benefitting from increased access to Hindi language material.

What were some of the highlights of your program? What events did you particularly enjoy?

People in my class had a wide range of reasons for studying Hindi. There were a few other PhD students with focused research interests, some Boren scholars heading off to India, some recent college graduates engaging with South Asia for the first time, etc. I loved getting to know the other people in my course, and I plan to stay in touch with many of them. The in-class environment was so supportive; the instructors were wonderful as well. Our teacher, Syed Ekhteyar Ali, and our TA, Courtney Averkamp, were so patient and helpful. During office hours, they were so willing to go above and beyond to practice speaking, or to help me translate something outside of the class curriculum.

What role did the WISLI Tuition Scholarship play when you were making decisions? How would you encourage other students who might be interested in the scholarship to apply?

I am so grateful for the WISLI Tuition Scholarship, without which I would not have been able to participate in SASLI. Funding is always helpful and, in addition, I was grateful to learn that there was strong interest in and support for my research. I would advise people to take a chance and apply! I had such a wonderful summer, and I am so grateful to the WISLI Tuition Scholarship, the SASLI Tuition Scholarship, and funding from my home institution for making this program possible for me!

What advice would you give to students who want to study the same language as you?

One of the most phenomenal resources for Hindi learners is Bollywood films. For me, the music has been integral to my language study. I’ve mapped new grammar structures onto familiar songs, which has allowed me to memorize and use complex sentences in conversations. My professor over the summer, Ekhteyarji, also did a wonderful job of sharing authentic material from Bollywood with us in class. For instance, to learn how to use the “पड़ना” (paŗhna) structure, which expresses compulsion, we listened to the Hindi classic “जो वादा किया वो निभाना पड़ेगा” (jo wada kiya wo nibhāna paṛhega), or “the promise that was made must be fulfilled.” I now think of that track everytime I need to use “पड़ना” in a sentence.

What is your favorite expression in the language you studied this summer?

This is a bit of a funny one! Because most people in India speak English in addition to Hindi, a common grammatical structure is an English word plus the Hindi word “करना” (karna) meaning “to do.” For instance, “to phone” is “फ़ोन करना” (phone karna). In our class, there was a huge age range (from 18 – 40+), but the environment was so supportive. The Gen Z students liked to say the phrase “slay!” whenever someone answered a question correctly or demonstrated strong knowledge of a grammatical structure. One day someone asked if there was an equivalent idiom in Hindi for “slay” and someone else joked that we could say “स्ले कीजिए” (slay keejiye), “slay” plus the imperative form of करना (so, literally, “do a slay!”). The phrase became a feature of our class, as people started congratulating each other by saying, “स्ले कीजिए!” Perhaps it’s not my “favorite phrase,” but it does capture the summer for me!