By IANS
New Delhi : They are one of the most distinctive groups at the ongoing sixth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) here, not just because of their youth, but also because of the rainbow colours they wear – the bright shades of traditional Indian clothes.
The 34 participants of the Know India programme of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs have come from all over the globe. They have two things in common – they are between 18 and 26 years and they are of Indian origin, however remote their ancestry.
The eighth edition of the Know India programme started Dec 26 in Tamil Nadu. The youngsters learnt about grassroots democracy before coming to the capital to attend the PBD.
Sitting in one of the back rows at Vigyan Bhavan’s plenary hall, Shiro Mani from Trinidad and Tobago took copious notes during the session on culture. “I wrote down everything that the lady (culture minister Ambika Soni) spoke about as it is relevant to me,” she said, waving her hand-written pages.
Skipping the culture session, 25-year-old Vinesh Dullum from Britain attended the parallel talk on knowledge economy, which was closer to his interests in the financial markets.
“I learnt about the incentives that have been provided by the government…the government has to take the first step (to attract investment),” he said.
But, while he learnt a lot about the topics (“outsourcing”), Vinesh felt that there could be more interaction at the sessions. “There is hardly any time left for debating the issue,” he said.
This first trip to the place of origin of his ancestors has been an “interesting” experience for 20-year-old Krishneil from Fiji. “For the first day, I was in shock to see the amount of traffic… people don’t have the courtesy to drive,” he said.
Sitting next to him, Patchane-Lacane Aurora (18) and Nazia Adel (24) of the tiny Reunion Islands in the Indian Ocean nodded their heads in unison. “My English is bad,” Adel said before breaking into French.
But, more than the PBD, it was her constant contact with her fellow travellers that gave her the larger idea of a global Indian diaspora.
“See this,” said Shiro Mani, fingering a thread around her wrist. “I have this, then the girl from Fiji has it, then others also wear it. It’s wonderful that our forefathers who came as indentured labourers managed to hand down our culture.”
Gesturing to her green salwar kameez, she said: “I bought this at home. We get all these things there.”