University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — Public Policy
Applicant overcomes childhood aversion to Hindi after a humbling experience directing a play for underprivileged children. Through failure, she recognizes her elitism and relearns Hindi collaboratively with students, discovering language as a tool for community bridge-building rather than cultural threat.
Personal Statement
I waited with bated breath. With every roll call, I became more jittery. It was my eighth grade’s Hindi class, and I was preparing for my weekly humiliation. We were reading a particularly heart-wrenching story by Prem Chand, the Steinbeck of India. Now it was my turn to read aloud.
“Parho, Aishani,” said Varsha ma’am. Speak up, Aishani. What followed were pronunciation errors, thunderous laughter, and usual chastisement. Unsurprisingly, I dropped Hindi next year.
In fifth grade, my family migrated from Mumbai to Delhi, the nation’s predominantly Hindi-speaking capital. I’d grown up speaking Bengali at home and English at school. Not only was Hindi not necessary; it wasn’t also spoken in my social circles.
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