French Join in Diwali Celebrations, by Ankur Mathur
Toulouse is located in the south west of France. Not many people are aware of this aerospace capital of Europe. Many Indians visit this city individually or in small groups albeit for a short span of couple of weeks, mostly related to the aerospace business.
It is in this city that a small group of Hindus (precisely 15) decided to have a Diwali Sammelan and invited their French, Columbian, Romanian and Moroccan colleagues. A few Pakistanis studying in different universities in Toulouse were also invited. All of them were eager to know about the Indian Festival of Lights and its importance in the Hindu culture. It was for the first time that I had the opportunity to showcase India and its customs to people from different parts of the world. It was a very satisfactory feeling to see that this small group of Indians living in a city with hardly any Indian resources managed to improvise with the available resources and organized this event with flair while maintaining the Indian traditions. For example, the diyas were replaced by candles and the kheer was obtained by the combination of spaghetti and milk.
It would give me immense pleasure if everyone who attended took a piece of Bharat in a corner of their hearts, which I am sure they did. It was also satisfying to see the level of interest and the curiosity about Bharat and its rich culture among foreigners.
Ankit Mathur is a scientist at the European Space Agency in Toulouse. You can reach him at Ankit.Raj.Mathur@esa.int.
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