By Tarun Basu, IANS
Beijing : When the Indian Ocean rock band played at the Get Lucky Bar and Nightclub in the Chinese capital’s entertainment district Lucky Street, people packed the capacious restaurant and spilled over into the streets. It was yet another indicator of the growing interest in Indian culture and lifestyle among the Chinese revolving around its three principal calling cards – music, dance and yoga.
It was a revelation for Indian diplomats and cultural impresarios back home. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is now gearing itself to send more dance troupes, musicians, both of the classical and popular variety, and yoga teachers to this country as part of a major drive by both countries to build up what visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called “more people to people contacts to remove misconceptions and prejudices”.
A framework agreement was signed for the first time between ICCR and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries on Cooperation in Culture Monday by ICCR director-general Pavan Varma and his counterpart here “to add momentum to the growing cultural relations between the peoples of the two countries”.
Varma told IANS that the agreement will be an enabler for more cultural troupes and yoga teachers – yoga is getting more and more popular among young Chinese – to come to this country in the coming months. He also plans to get popular Chinese bands to play in India so that the younger generation back home gets to know about the lifestyle idiom of their Chinese counterparts.
Jin Shanshan, who had studied Hindi at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, runs for instance a twice a week dance class at an Indian restaurant whose Chinese owner is one of her students.
A student of Bharatanatyam dancer Leela Samson, Jin said she learnt Indian dancing after “people kept saying that I had dark complexion and big eyes and looked like characters in old Indian movies”.
In a rare spotlight on India occasioned by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit, the English language China Daily Tuesday carried a report on how “India’s rich cultural traditions have found their way into the hearts of the Chinese – through their stomachs”.
There are more than 20 restaurants catering to Indian cuisine in Beijing and more and more Chinese are willing to experiment with Indian food in these restaurants that were once frequented only by tourists and expats.
Indian Kitchen, founded by Antony Munuswamy in Macao, has now 16 outlets across China. Bheemarao Satish, manger of the Beijing outlet of the chain, was quoted as saying: “We are serving as a sort of cultural bridge, promoting our food and culture to the Chinese people.”
Chen Jian, owner of the Raj Indian restaurant and bar in Beijing, said the fact that the majority of his clientele were Chinese showed that the “ordinary Chinese want to know more about their Indian neighbours, and they think gastronomy is a good start”.
And then Chen offered to the paper a very interesting insight into the Chinese gastronomical perspective.
“Indian food differs a lot from the Chinese cuisine. For example, fish are served as fillets in Indian restaurants, while the Chinese will keep the bones and head, which is thought to be the most nutritious part.
“Many Chinese customers wonder why they should pay so much for curried fish since they have no head.”