Folding their hands, Denis Mostovoy and Anastasia Bognanova almost managed to pronounce ‘namaste’ as their ‘tutors’ wanted them to do. The tutors, students of St. Mary’s Residential Central School, were excited to tell them about the culture and traditions of India.
Denis and Anastasia were part of a nine-member delegation from Russia visiting the State as part of the second anniversary celebrations of the Indo-Russian students’ club, organised by the Russian Cultural Centre in the city. The team, consisting of students from various colleges and schools in Central Russia and Siberia and led by Maria Platonova, visited the school as part of their tour.
The students accorded a warm welcome to them and various cultural programs were organised for them. While the Russian students were impressed by the Mohiniyattom and folk dance performances by the Indian students, the latter had an opportunity to witness some Russian dance moves by Timur Batiraliev and his friends.
A rapid question-answer session followed, where the students from either side put forth questions to each other on various topics.
A common question that came from both sides was about the kind of professions students chose.
While the Indian students chose to go for Engineering and Medical streams, Russian student Denis Mostovoy pointed out that the new generation, unlike the earlier days, were free to choose what they liked.
“Most of us prefer to be lawyers and also want to go into finance. We have separate schools for those who wants to pursue a career in music or dance,” he said.
On a question about the status of crime against women in Russia, Maria Simonova said there was not much crime against women and that they had learnt to fight against such acts.
Ratheesh C. Nair, Director of the Russian Cultural Centre, said such interactions among the young people were important so that they could continue to foster Indo-Russian relationship.
