Don’t let your limitations define you and this is exactly what six child artists of unprivileged background from Uttarakhand has done. They have represented India in Brave Kids Educational and Cultural Programme held in Ukraine and Poland, which was conducted under the patronage of UNESCO and the Polish Ministry of Culture and Heritage.
About 300 children-44 groups of artists from 20 different countries- participated in the event, this year.
Students from a Dehradun-based school, Nanhi Dunya represented the Indian culture through their performances in the foreign countries. There were beautiful performances from chanting Sanskrit mantras to staging folk dance and singing folk songs from Garhwal, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
The idea was to represent the rich traditional culture of the country. After the students returned, the Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu spoke volume of their performance in the international programme.
While talking to the media persons in Dehradun on Tuesday, July 24, the children said that they were overwhelmed by the rich culture of Georgia. The group leader of the students, Ashu Satvika Goyal, said that “it was a fun experience of sharing cultures of different countries.”
For these students, spending a month in Poland and 10 days in Ukraine was an unforgettable journey. They presented varied delicacies from India and the people relished them. Similarly, the Indian students also got to taste the cuisine of other countries.
“We learned new languages from them and we helped them learn something of ‘Hindi’. The most appreciated performance was the Punjabi dance,” Goyal said. “It took us two years to complete the preparations for taking the children to the foreign countries.”
The school invested 2 years to complete the preparations and making arrangements to take these children to the foreign countries.
Apart from being a wonderful experience for these students, they also learned new languages and many other things. “The give and take of culture would definitely help the children march ahead while nurturing an inclusive culture which proclaims the oneness of humanity,” Goyal said.
“It is a kind of dream come true experience for the children. It is a matter of pride for us that they are from Uttarakhand. Though they are not from the privileged strata of the society, they represented the peerless cultural genius of the country with brilliance,” said the chief promoter of Nanhi Dunya Kiran Ulfat Goyal to Daily Pioneer.
The students are now back with loads of experiences and have made India proud by performing beautifully in the foreign lands.