Fiji Hindi - Writers

Writers

• Rodney F. Moag, who had lived in India before joining the University of the South Pacific as a lecturer. He analysed Fijian Hindi and concluded that it was a unique language with its own distinct grammar, rather than "broken Hindi", as it had been previously referred to. Moag documented his findings and wrote lessons using the Fijian Hindi dialect in the book, Fiji Hindi: a basic course and reference grammar (1977).
• Jeff Siegel, in his thesis on Plantation languages in Fiji (1985), has written a detailed account of the development of Fijian Hindi and its different forms as used by Indo-Fijians and Indigenous Fijians. Earlier, Siegel had written a quick reference guide called Say it in Fiji Hindi (1976).
• Subramani, professor in literature at the University of the South Pacific, who wrote the first Fijian Hindi novel, Duaka Puraan (2001), which is the story of Fiji Lal (an old villager) as told by him to a visiting scholar to his village. The book is written in the style of the Puraans but in a humorous way (Puraan being a sacred text also known as Purana; 18 Puraans have come out of India). He received a Government of India award for his contribution to Hindi language and literature for this novel. In June 2003, in Suriname at the Seventh World Hindi Conference, Professor Subramani was presented with a special award for this novel.
• Raymond C. Pillai wrote the story for the first Fijian Hindi movie, Adhura Sapna (Incomplete Dream), produced in 2007.
• Urmila Prasad, who helped translate the Biblical Gospels of Mark, Luke, Matthew and John into Fijian Hindi, written using Roman script, known as Susamaachaar Aur Romiyo (2002)