The Ambassador of India to the United Nations,Syed Akbaruddin, has spoken and interacted with a classroom full of seventh graders, at Castle Hill Middle School 127 in Bronx, New York.
“I’ve been to many schools, public and private, and I’ve never had a welcome like this,” he said.Akbaruddin told the students about his role at the UN and said that he alone represents a “country of one billion people with both sides”, good and bad.
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He said that he is happy to be there as he never gets to interact with young people and mentioned the fact that 65 percent of India’s population is under 30 years old, stating that it is a young country.
He then asked the students: “In one word, tell me what comes to your mind when I say India?”Answers poured in, with words like: dance, tradition, prestigious, Bollywood, colors, music, Yoga, food, movies, jewelry, culture and clothes.
When the ambassador had asked the students what they didn’t like about India, they listed: high poverty rates, air pollution, child marriage and arranged marriage, to which one student showed concern that not enough attention is given to women’s rights as well as men’s rights regarding this topic.
“Every time you think of India, multiply the U.S. by three,” he said, also mentioning that India is like an elephant, “we are slow but we will get there eventually.”
He added: “English is spoken by about say 400 million people in India so there are 800 million or so still who don’t speak English so there are very interesting combinations happening of our Indian languages and English. So naan pizza is one of those combinations where you try to mix a local culture with an international approach,” he said. “Soon you will have words in English which were originated in India and you had never heard of,” he added.
He also acknowledged the fact that everything starts with empathy and that the students should always understand others’ circumstances before they say anything to them.
He explained how he got to where he is today and said that “joining the Foreign Service was unheard of” noting that he came from a small city in India and that he wanted to explain to the world what India is all about.
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The middle school students are part of the NYC Junior Ambassadors Program which allows students to explore the world through the UN.“It basically shows the students that there is a world outside of the five boroughs,” said Aissata Camara, the program director. “It gets everyone out of their comfort zones,” she added.
Akbaruddin said to the students that India has a goal of eliminating poverty by addressing the poorest in the country and they must remain as global citizens and fight “poverty wherever you see it.”
By Premji
