Cultural exchange: Punjabi students learn Telugu, bond with Andhra counterparts over food, music, dance
Even as several government school teachers in Punjab have raised concerns over the Centre’s ‘Bhasha Seekho’ programme, which involves initiatives including making children learn 100 sentences in Telugu language and organising competitions like poster-making on the culture, sports and dances of Andhra Pradesh, some students have shared memorable experiences under the initiative.
As many as 22 government school students from Punjab recently visited Andhra Pradesh under an exchange programme. “They learnt many Telugu words and sentences and even managed to teach some Punjabi to the students in Andhra Pradesh. Languages break all barriers and learning is always a matter of joy,” said Dr Meenakshi Verma, a political science teacher at Government Senior Secondary School, Shekhupura, Patiala district.
Verma accompanied the students, of which 16 were boys, to Andhra Pradesh. Amritjit Singh, English teacher at the Government Senior Secondary School in Bhedwal village, Patiala, also accompanied the students. A total of 25 students of Lovely Professional University (LPU) had also gone to Andhra Pradesh along with them in the higher education category, Singh said.
“This programme was organised under the ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ initiative of the Union government .As Andhra Pradesh has been paired with Punjab, students went to that state for cultural, idea exchange. Next month, students from Andhra Pradesh will be coming to Punjab,” Singh added.
“It was for the first time that government school students had gone by air. Though cultural exchange with Andhra Pradesh has been going on for more than three years, the students went for the first time due to Covid-related curbs. Now, competitions at the school, cluster, block and district-level on Andhra culture, dance etc are at the next level,” added Singh. Though these competitions are to be held in July and August, some schools in Punjab are hesitant when it comes to promoting another language. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh too has been organising programmes in which students learn a few words of Punjabi.
The batch of 24, including 22 students and two teachers, stayed at Lendi institute of engineering and technology in Vizianagaram from July 5-10. Students aged between 12 and 18 years were eligible and one all-rounder from each district in Punjab was chosen, Dr Verma said.
Among the students, Jitish Sharma (15), a class 9 student of Government Senior Secondary School, Pheelkhana, Patiala, is the most fluent in Telugu, Dr Verma said. “Ella unaru (How are you?) Na peru Jitish (My name is Jitish),” Sharma said, speaking to The Indian Express in Telugu. “Andhra volunteers on duty also learnt Punjabi from us… whenever we go somewhere, we need to explore new things and learn as much as we can,” he added.
Jashandeep Singh, a student of a government school in Barnala, said, “We said ‘namaskaram’, while they greeted us with ‘Sat Sri Akal’ and Singh quickly pointed out, “It is ‘dhanyawadalu’ for thank you and ‘dhanvad’ in Punjabi.”
“We found that Telugu has a touch of Sanskrit and Hindi language,” Dr Verma said. Apart from learning the language, the students also visited the ancient fort of Vizianagaram, ancient temples, played the rural sport kabaddi as well as beach volleyball. They also exchanged information about the food habits of Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, besides music and dance.
“We enjoyed eating sambar-rice, dosa-idli, vada, nariyal pani and many other dishes. Veg pulav, chicken biryani were our favourites,” said Shivraj, a Class 10 student from Chehrata, Amritsar. Shivraj is a popular singer who has appeared on reality shows on Punjabi television channels. Likewise, Harjas Singh from Rupnagar was an excellent speaker in Punjabi, Hindi as well as English, Singh said. Anju Kaur from Fazilka was another singer in their midst.
Dr Verma added, “Many students take a keen interest in knowledge sharing and we have a few Punjabi girls who are very good Kuchipudi dancers in our government schools. Over 2-3 years of this knowledge-sharing programme with a paired state, students have learnt many things about Andhra Pradesh.
“My mother tongue is Punjabi, but I can speak a little bit of Telugu too… learning new languages give you wider experience to communicate with people, I am keen to learn more languages,” Sharma said.
Raghav Bhardwaj, a class 12 student of Government senior secondary school Manwal in Pathankot had stunned everyone when he spoke a thanks you note in Telgu on the closing ceremony at Lendi institute.
