A conglomeration of different cultures

Students from more than 30 countries came dressed in their traditional dress, specially designed and bought for the programme.

There were as many as 30 groups who participated in several programmes. There were song, dance and a few teams put together a documentary about their country, its history and culture. They were more than excited to show off their costume and a slice of their culture in the form of dance and music.

A group of girls from Tanzania, all dressed up in a white shirt and black trousers, complete with a red tie chose to call themselves ‘Galaxy high fives’. They performed a few numbers from their hometown and sang their traditional songs as well. Another team from Sri Lanka comprising Chattari Dissanayake and Nishantha put together a documentary about the history, culture and landscape of their country.

“It’s an attempt to showcase how rich and varied our country is. We’ve added a lot of videos to make the presentation educative as well. This is also a learning process for us,” said Chattari and added, “we’re wearing our traditional dress called Osariya, which is worn by women, and ‘national’ for men.”

Kinley, Tshering and Monbdr from Bhutan were wearing their traditional outfit called Gho, a wrap around and Kera. “It looks complicated and almost like a skirt but it’s the most comfortable garment. It takes less than five minutes to wrap it around,” said Kinley. The group strung together a set of five songs. “We’ve chosen to explore the theme of love in its different forms. Love between a man and a woman, parents and their children and people and God. Love can change things, that’s the message,” he added.

The audience largely comprised parents and the faculty of the college. They said that the programmes were a peep into the culture of various communities. “It’s not always that we get a glimpse into the culture of another country. The students have done well to portray it through dance and music,” said Sujatha Nath, a parent.

Sreeraj K S, vice principal of the Academy said, “This is one of the most colourful events in the college. The large presence of international community has helped this programme get bigger by the year. And the students prepare well in advance and practice really hard for their events,” he said.