Cultural exchange of grandparents’ tales
Students of St. Pauls School witnessed history in the making as they interacted with the students from Pakistan in a rare initiative by Routes 2 Roots, which hosted “Students Exchange for Change—An Oral Histories Recordings session”.
In a 16-month programme, students of both the countries interacted with each other through letters and forged friendship.
The oral histories recording session involved listening to the recordings made by students in Pakistan speaking to their grandparents about histories, culture, traditions etc. In short, children here learnt about the similarity in lives their grandparents lived.
Talking about the project, Anushree Gupta of Routes 2 Roots said, “This project was designed to make students from varied backgrounds understand that there is little or no difference between their lives and the lives of those across the border.”
An excited Class 8 student Divya Kain said, “We first heard our recordings followed by the recordings sent from Pakistan. There were many differences as shared by grandparents from Pakistan and India, but there were similarities too. A Class 8 boy’s grandmother from Pakistan said she wasn’t allowed to go for movies, unlike in India where women enjoy equal rights. Another similarity was lack of facilities in both the countries. I am happy to know that both countries shared a similar past, our thinking is more open as compared to Pakistan, but there are facets that bind us even today. This is a great initiative to clear the misunderstandings between the two nations.”
For many, the event was an eye-opener in many ways. Dhriti Bisht, a student, revealed, “I earlier believed that people in Pakistan are aggressive, it’s certainly not true. Since we have become friends with students from Pakistan, we know they have similar thought process as us. We are friends now, and I hope next time, we get to see them face-to-face and if possible would love to meet them personally.”
Post new comment