18 languages of India including Nepali beautified the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development marked at the House of Lords recently. Organised by the charity Sanskruti Centre for Cultural Excellence in association with the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Modern Languages and Chartered Institute of Linguists, the event had diverse members of the diaspora presenting their expressions.
Parliamentary host Rt. Hon. Baroness Garden of Frognal spoke on the significance of languages and complimented the organisers for the meaningful initiative of bringing multiple languages on one platform- now 7 years old. Poems, mostly self-authored, were presented in Sanskrit, Assamese, Bengali, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Odiya, Punjabi, Sindhi, Telugu and Nepali. Rare scripts such as Takri, Sharda, and Mithilakshar were highlighted. Founder of Sanskruti Centre Ragasudha Vinjamuri, besides presenting her own poem in Telugu, spoke about endangered languages, the declining Tai Khamti language of Arunachal Pradesh, and the work of NGOs such as Tai Khamti Heritage and Literature Society on language preservation. An age-old rhyme Koh-aui-Koh translated into English by Chow Kalingna Mannoi, and a Meitei poem by Leina Moirangthem were also included in the booklet Ramaneeyam- The Beauty of Expression brought out on the occasion.
Dr. Nandita Sahu, Attache (Hindi and Culture) from the High Commission of India has given concluding remarks. In attendance were Prof. Terry Lamb (Professor of Languages at the University of Westminster) and Philip Harding-Esch (Secretariat, APPG- Modern Languages), Chandru Gidoomal, and Dr Nishebita Das, besides other dignitaries. Tribute to Gurus in the form of a song was presented by Atmadeep, while poems were presented by Gitanjali Cox, Sayoni Batabyal, Lalit Sharma, Mukesh Karelia, Tithi Dani, Radhika Joshi, Dr. Shafalica Bhan Kotwal, Dr. Bernadette Pereira, Cllr Sharad Kumar Jha, Cllr Dr. Ganga Sivakumar, Rupali Shilankar, Anushree Pattnaik, Captain Munish Chauhan, Renu Gidoomal, Sushil Rapatwar, and Acharya Durga Prasad Pokhrel.
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Very nice the rich diversity of languages culture and people of India aptly celebrated in House of Lords
It is good to recognise the different languages but it is more important to remember there has to be a language which must be taught to every one to understand such as a Hindi in India and English in whole world.