By Archana SharmaJaipur, April 12 : There is a French Book Corner in Jaipur bringing in interesting stories from other parts of the world to the desert state.
Narrating tales of the India-France connect, this quiet corner has been luring book lovers, speaking highly of the bond existing between two nations and connecting them via stories from art, craft, culture and historical legacy.
While the Pondicherry and France connect is well known, this bond between Jaipur and France is yet to be fully known.
IANS spoke to the IAS Literary Society, Rajasthan (the Literary Society of the IAS Association in Rajasthan) secretary Mugdha Sinha, working as Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Govt of Rajasthan, as she has been putting in efforts to bridge the gap between nations, presently India and France, by holding dialogues on diverse books, topics etc.
Says Mugdha, “We have been organising events online and offline, inviting French authors to speak on contemporary issues, their books and interesting subjects.”
“Recently the IAS Literary Society collaborated with the French Embassy under the Bonjour India Festival event and invited Philippe Claudel to discuss ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Questioning Human Vices in Literature’.Claudel, a French writer and film director, has won the prix Renaudot award in France.He spoke on “Brodeck’s Report” which is a historical novel about a concentration camp survivor and the effect of Nazism.
“It’s contemporary to hold this dialogue during the present time when Ukraine and Russia are at war”, said Mugdha.
Speaking on this French Book Corner, she said, “We are delighted to help create this significant section of French books at JKK, translated into several Indian languages.Book lovers can discover French authors at this “French Book Corner” at Jawahar Kala Kendra – JKK library which has come up with the help of the French Embassy.”
“In fact, the French embassy has been so welcoming that it donated 100+ books translated into Hindi or other languages to Jawahar Kala Kendra which is the centre of cultural events in Jaipur.Now, this place is called a French corner in JKK,” she said and thanked the French embassy and French Institute of India for this gift.
Further, the French Institute of India, which introduces itself as a facilitator of exchanges between French and Indian higher education institutions, has posted the video on their social media wall where Sinha and Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens, Counsellor for Education, Science and Culture, Embassy of France in India shared how the two nations are sharing and establishing a bond through the common expression of Indo-French linguistic, literary and cultural confluence in the great eastern region of India.
Speaking on the IAS Literary Society which has been playing a major role in organising such events, Mugdha said, “The IAS Literary Society is working hard to connect civil servants and civil society.”
“We worked with a lot of hospitals namely Kokilaben hospital-Mumbai, AIIMS and many more during lockdown, invited Wg Cdr Rakesh Sharma (AC) to share his experience on “Mission Space.Padma Vibhushan Dr R.Chidambaram, Former Scientific Advisor to the Govt of India and the scientist involved in the Pokhran tests of India was invited in one of our online sessions”.
Further Ashish Kaul was invited to discuss his book “The Warrior Queen of Kashmir”, which focuses back on lesser known Women of India.
“We have organised sessions with the Haitian poet and French author Louis Phillipe Dalembert on Home and the World- Migration, Identity and Exile”.
Mugdha being the secretary of this society has been taking the lead in organising such events.
She says “Our ancient civilization is based on ‘Vad’, that is dialogue.
In ancient times, ‘Shastraarth’, that is an Indian tradition of sharing multiple perspectives through discussions and debates, were regular affairs.Now, we are trying to follow the same trend and our aim is to connect, communicate and establish comprehension by holding meaningful dialogues and bring civil servants and civil society together in conversations.”
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