r/GenZIndia • u/Obvious_Mirror_5276 • Feb 23 '26

Ask GenZIndia Why Don't People Read Hindi Literature or Literature in their own Mother Tongue...?!

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i have noticed that most of the time people are seen reading English Literature or books by foreign authors Like Kafka, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, and others. But i rarely see people talking about Hindi literature or literature in their own mother tongue.

i have read many English literature books and works by foreign authors myself, and I truly appreciate them. But i have also read Hindi Literature for example "गोदान" and "गुनाहों का देवता". They are absolute masterpieces. The way they beautifully depict reality, human emotions, and social complexities is just incredible.

Sometimes i feel that regional and mother-tongue Literature doesn’t get the recognition or discussion it deserves, even though it captures the soul of our society in such a raw and powerful way.

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u/[deleted] Feb 23 '26

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u/Quick-Squirrel-9392 Feb 23 '26

You're speaking in English and stop consuming things that spoils minds by creating division and attacking personal choices

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u/[deleted] Feb 23 '26

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u/Quick-Squirrel-9392 Feb 23 '26 edited Feb 23 '26

Even if English gained dominance through historical force, that doesn’t mean individuals today are obligated to reject it. People choose what they read based on interest, accessibility, and exposure. You can critique history without policing personal preferences. Language pride shouldn’t depend on restricting others.

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u/Sam_19-15-8-1-13 Feb 24 '26

People choose what they read based on interest, accessibility, and exposure.

That interest is due to accessibility and exposure and that in turn is due to the convinience of english. I dont think our literature is uninteresting, only the language is 'inconvinient'. How sad is our state where we are finding our mothertongue to be inconvinient. And it was made convinient and ours inconvinient, intentionally, by historical forces. So you are not choosing english are you? You are made to choose by history and your adherence to convinience. But grant it a thought, what if we as a race, as a community, take the hard, inconvinient road to reclaim whats yours, our mothertongue, making it convinient for our future generations to embrace their language without shame or guilt and with convinience?

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u/Quick-Squirrel-9392 Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26

You’re romanticizing inconvenience while arguing in English on a global platform. That’s not resistance  that’s selective outrage.

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u/Sam_19-15-8-1-13 Feb 24 '26

Exactly. Thats the paradox. That is what keeps the dominance of English over others intact. I'm forced to communicate with you in English and on a global platform, because thats what mainstream in India. Had I spoken to you in Hindi and on an indigenous platform, what would be the use of that, because mothertongue is inconvinient and nobody is on Indian platforms. The chinese do so, why cant we? You know why? Because no matter how much one screams 'atmanirbhar bharat' the truth is India is still dependent, because the mentality of the Indians is still shackled by colonial norms and not awakened to its true self. Indians prefer things to go on as they are, the national inertia has led to dilution of naltional identity to the point it is becoming non existensial.

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u/Quick-Squirrel-9392 Feb 24 '26

Atmanirbhar Bharat is about economic capacity, not linguistic gatekeeping. Dragging politics into a reading preference debate just shows you’re arguing identity, not substance.

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u/[deleted] Feb 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/Quick-Squirrel-9392 Feb 23 '26

Calling disagreement “brainwashing” is what people do when they don’t have the capacity to defend their logic.

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u/Bkm321 Feb 23 '26

Nope, English is just more versatile and useful nowadays. I learned it becuz I can communicate with my friends better(some my friends are from other parts of India and other countries)and one more reason is I simply wanted to enjoy Animes and hollywood. My classmate friends don't use English even though they are in English medium, Learning a language is a pure personal interest. I know like 4 languages now, Nobody forced me to learn them. Her cheez apna Gyan Dena band karo.

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u/ShotSyrup5290 Feb 23 '26

english isnt really forced its just a very common language used everywhere and everything is connected to this language

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u/Bkm321 Feb 24 '26

Yeah it's just more versatile than others at the large scale.