We were lucky enough to join the Durga Puja celebrations in Puducherry! This is a festival where the Hindus honor the many-armed goddess Durga and her defeat over the demon named Maishasura. The festival lasts for 9 or 10 days (depending on where it’s celebrated and by whom). During these days there are loads of
It was kind of obvious that long weekend was for travel. Scandinavian batch mates were excited to see India and Indian batch mates were excited to see South India. Some went to Andaman Islands, some to Munaar and some to Madurai. Rest except me went to Aurovill. I was alone in the three floor building.
We have now lived in White Town, Puducherry for a little while and I thought I would write about some of the first impressions and things that are happening in this faraway place. A great way of experiencing White Town as a newcomer is simply to walk around the town. It is really the tale
I reached Chennai after thirty five hours of train journey form central eastern part of India passing across all the eastern coastal regions of Indian peninsula. It was pre-dawn around 0130hrs. Though it was midnight I got a bus to Pondicherry. I felt lucky. It took around 4hrs to reach and I rushed to Maison
So, as I sit here with my Norwegian roommate and Norwegian classmate asking me to embrace my inner Norwegian identity, I am amazed at the progression of events in my life. As an Indian, I was never taught to give much thought to Scandinavia; Europe mostly only meant Western Europe. And now here I am,
Perhaps, the entire world sees Holi as a festival that is full of colours, that looks so bright sunshine could fade out. Holi is all of that and more. Before the day the festival of Holi is celebrated with colours, there is a ritual where a fire is lit and ceremonial things are burnt. This
As a South Asian student doing this program, my experience was different from the other Scandinavians. This difference does not diminish my experience but it simply means, that I got an experience I would never get otherwise. The most ironic consequence of studying with people belonging to another culture in the place of your own
Just one more addition to the perks that you get upon doing this course, is cultural evenings. One cultural evening we had a chaat party. I suppose there is no perfect translation for chaat into English but I also suppose that eating some snack in the evening might be present in many cultures. In India,
The students of Peace and Conflict Studies for this semester got a unique opportunity on 23rd February 2017 when the ambassadors of the Nordic countries to India decided to visit us. It was very much a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. For them to come down from Delhi and meet us was a
Peace and Conflict Studies as a discipline itself becomes significant today. We live in a world where conflicts are changing and increasing. There is no World War going on, but there are wars all the same. Peace and Conflict Studies, is important, as a discipline due to its very belief in peace, in its hope
