Namaste Ji. Well, it’s not a farmer greeting the village headmaster on the side of a dusty pathway in his Uttar Pradesh village. These two words of greeting come on your telephone receiver in the US — and even when the caller is from any of the country’s 50 states. It’s not mouthed in some mock-respect tone either. For, it’s a call from a band of volunteers at HindiUSA. No fancied English conversations with them, until you forcefully express your inability to follow. A slice of Talibanism? Not at all. Just passionate nationalism. One that has led to introduction of Hindi as an elective language in the curriculum of two high schools in New Jersey — since September 2008.

To snap more suspense, Edison High School and J P Stevens High school NJ have 30 students studying Hindi under a foreign language study programme. New Jersey thus becomes the second US state to have introduced Hindi in its school curriculum. The first such experiment was in 1988 — at Houston’s Bellaire Senior High School. The man behind it, Arun Prakash, a Hindi-loving business consultant, is still part of the mission. “We have over 100 students enrolled for the programme,” he says. “Over 80 per cent of these are non-heritage students,’’ adds Prakash, who also teaches at the school. Two middle schools in Dallas (also in the state of Texas) have also introduced Hindi.”

Prakash anticipates a quick proliferation of Hindi language in the US school curriculum in the coming years. This he relates to the funding of $114 million made available through National Security Language Initiative (NSLI) announced in 2006 by the Bush administration. “Hindi has been identified as a critical language for national security. The NSLI also funds Hindi language education in schools.” In fact, new proposals receive easy hearing now, he adds.

A special committee for development of standards for teaching Hindi has been formed under American Council on Teaching Foreign language (ACTFL) — a Virginia-headquartered membership organisation dedicated to the improvement of foreign language instructions. Prakash, a member of this committee has authored the first released Hindi textbook.

Back in NJ, Devendra Singh’s network of HindiUSA schools strives harder to push Hindi education across states. Singh, a certified industrial hygienist working in the NJ department of health, came to the US in 1976 as a student. All through his stay, he felt knowledge of Hindi alone could teach the children about Indian culture. In 1998, he started HindiUSA as a voluntary non-profit organisation.

Today, HindiUSA runs over 25 schools across the country, offering after-school learning of Hindi language. There are nine levels of structured programme with a concluding exam at the end of each level. The enrolment totals 1,600 students. Over 150 teachers and 50 volunteers make these possible. “Introducing Hindi language to children also helps reduce the generation gap,” says Rachita Singh, a teacher and wife of Devendra. She also writes textbooks and designs worksheets for HindiUSA.

There are some major US universities that offer Hindi classes. But HindiUSA feels it is not an effective way to learn a language, and insists its introduction in public schools.

Take Edison district in New Jersey, for instance. It has a high concentration of people of Indian origin. HindiUSA’s branch school here has as many as 350 students enrolled for its after-school learning programme. Classes are held on Friday evenings at the rented premises of the middle school. ‘‘The rush it witnessed convinced the school district about the need to introduce Hindi as an elective language,” recalls Devendra. Richard Zespucci, spokesperson of New Jersey Department of Education, says introduction of a new language in a school district is always demand-driven. The local school board of each district has elected representatives who take care of the interest of its residents. Once the board is convinced of a demand — one that’s backed by funding too — a new language is added.

Currently in Edison school district, Hindi is being offered to ninth and tenth graders in two separate batches. Next year, the school plans to add four batches and extend it to the 11th and 12th grade. Eventually, the plan is to bring in Hindi from elementary to high-school levels like in case of other foreign languages.

“Usually language studies begin from second grade,” points out Martin Smith, coordinator of foreign language programme at the Edison High School. “Hindi will be the first new language brought into the system after a very long time. Students otherwise study Spanish, French and Latin. This was the first Hindi batch, so there wasn’t much publicity. We expect the Hindi student strength to swell next year.”

Crucially, the Hindi programme receives a three-year federal grant of $8,97,000. A part of the grant is meant to create a viable model for other schools to follow. “A website to host our syllabus, methodologies of language learning is under construction,’’ points out Smith. ‘‘This is to serve as guide for other schools who wish to follow our suit.” Piscataway and Franklin townships in NJ have approved the proposal to introduce Hindi in the next academic year.

Notably, Chinese, yet another critical language, is also finding better academic acceptance. Cheri Quinlan, World Language coordinator of the NJ Department of Education, says 35 school districts in the very state already offer Chinese as an elective language. “Five years ago only three schools offered Chinese.”

The faster proliferation of Chinese is attributed to faster availability of its language-teaching material. With Hindi, much of the preparatory work is happening only of late. Edison school district has entered into a technology partnership with International Education and Resource Network, or iEarn — a global non-profit organisation engaged in cross-country teachings. The New York-based iEARN-USA has online links with iEARN-India through a Pune-based high school, Bal Shikshen Mandir (BSM), to coordinate its projects. “We hold open exchange forums and video chatting,” says BSM principal Sunita Bhagawat, also an iEARN India coordinator. ‘‘They help students to better the diction and learn the culture.’’

Recently, a video conference was held with NJ students. ‘‘Therein, students introduced themselves, talked about their schools, homes, families, and about why they would like to learn Hindi — all this in Hindi,’’ says Dr Bhagawat. ‘‘We even sang the Jana Gana Mana along with the students from NJ.” Similar interactions with students in the Delhi and Bombay public schools have been lined up.

In fact, a batch of 22 language educationists from NJ did make an educational tour to India starting December 22. ‘‘This kind of an exchange, organized by iEARN, is aimed at making Hindi teaching interesting and effective,’’ says Anindita Dutta Roy, who is director of Youth and Media Programmes, iEARN - NY. “iEARN, with its technological capabilities and national presence, has a greater responsibility in pushing Hindi learning in schools beyond NJ. We are certainly working towards Hindi in more US schools,” she adds.

For decades now, the immigrant groups in the US have become more established and politically organised. This has encouraged them to push for teaching their native languages in public schools. French, German, Italian and Spanish thus saw their entry into school curriculum. Today, Hindi has come into deep focus in the scenario. And there has been pressure exerted from various sides — including political circles, business lobbies and social organisations — to promote the language. Even otherwise, the urge to preserve Indian culture is strong among the members of HindiUSA. All these combined, it is clear that Hindi is gaining importance as an international language — and much to our advantage.