“The festival was good as we lit a lot of crackers. My new buddy's parents were very friendly and we had lots of fun,” said an excited Emma.
For Emma, Deepavali and the experience of interacting with an Indian family was something that she would always cherish.
Exchanging views
Emma is one among the 15 students from Ecole Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel School, France, who are on a 15-day visit to the State as a part of the exchange programme with Trivandrum International School, Thiruvananthapuram, to study globalisation trends in the State. They were enjoying a home stay with the students at their houses for Deepavali and attending school sessions and cultural meet at the school where they were stationed for a cultural exchange with the students.
“The school also had organised a debate on the subject of globalisation where the students interacted with our students and also had class room sessions,” said Gayathri Rani, co-ordinator of the programme at the school.
For Leone and his school friends, the experience of Kerala went beyond the spicy food and the hot climate. Seeing a common man read a newspaper in front of the tea shop excited him.
The fact that “people here could name the ministers” of the Kerala Government and “talk at length about the political movements” took him by surprise. But he seemed yet to come to a decision as to how, even when there is a huge projected growth in the country, people seem to adjust with the various unorganised systems in the State and accept it as “part of the culture”.
For these students everything from the visit to the Kudumbashree Unit to celebrating Deepavali with their Indian counterparts — “the buddies” — at their houses seemed to give them real insights into what they had read in their textbooks. Their teachers Barry D'Souza and Marie Claude who are accompanying them in this trip agreed.
“They read about India in their text books every week. They wanted to visit India and experience this country,” said Marie. According to Barry, these interactions will help them to learn through experience and was a well thought plan to choose Kerala because of the impressive track records of the literacy rate and various people's movements.
The students would learn from their experience to appreciate the differences and gain perspectives of “this country whose people have a desire to move forward”.
Cultural perspectives
Lea Fuyduan giggles as she narrates her experience of being asked not to wear shorts by her buddy's mom. She is even more surprised about the restrictions on travelling for women in the State.
“I was told that girls cannot walk outside after 6.00 in the night because of security issues. I cannot think about the same happening in Paris,” added Lea. Her buddy's explanation about the bribes and corruption among the police officials was equally worrying for her.
However, the students were unanimous in their view that though the State is making progress, there is still wide gap between the rich and the poor.
