Karthik Bharadwaj, 17, from Andhra Pradesh is certain that by the end of the five-day national integration camp, Jagaran Bharat, which began in the city on Wednesday, he would learn a few words in Rajasthani. He seemed confident about teaching his friends from Mizoram some Telugu. Jagaran Bharat saw the coming together of more than 350 youths from various States in the country.
Speaker G. Karthikeyan inaugurated the camp organised by the Kerala State Youth Welfare at the Mar Gregorious Renewal Centre here. For the 13-member team from Jaipur, Rajasthan, this camp is an opportunity to learn more about different cultures and traditions, especially that of Kerala. While the team from Punjab was busy entertaining their friends from Karnataka and teaching them a thing or two about their ‘Punjabi dholak.’ “We may speak different languages but we are the people of one country. This camp will help us to know our friends from other States better. We also get to learn about their customs and traditions,” says Vijay Kumar from Jaipur.
Camp director Jaleesh Peter says the camp promotes the feeling of oneness among the youth of India.
“Students from various States come and interact with one another. Initially, they may have problems in interacting as many as not fluent in English or Hindi. But language is never a barrier for them as they manage to learn other languages and make friends here,” he says.
A national integration walk was also organised from Martyrs’ Column to Gandhi Park at East Fort. The camp will have talks by experts, interaction with celebrities, academic sessions, and personality development classes.
