Gearing up for the WFUNA International Youth Seminar

March 26, 2015: I left for an overseas trip on March 19 (Thursday) and returned to office the following Wednesday (March 25). Kolkata is quite well connected with few of the east Asian countries yet it hasn't developed as a main centre of tourism or industry nor as the much touted “Gateway to the East” like Bangkok or Incheon. 

March end is quite busy as there is the WFUNA International Youth Seminar will from March 29 to April 2, 2015. The World Federation of the United Nations Association (WFUNA) and Jayshree Periwal's Step by Step International School is hosting this Seminar at the school campus in Jaipur, Rajasthan. 

The Seminar will witness a confluence of international participants from various countries such as USA, Bulgaria, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Philippines, Uganda, Syria, Botswana and Azerbaijan among others. Students from all over India will also be participating. I have to be there for the inauguration on March 29 and also brief the international students about the Rajasthan Diwas the next day. 

Rajasthan Diwas which falls on March 30 was initially a 7 to 10 days of gala celebrations planned by the Government of Rajasthan earlier this year. But later it was decided that only one-day celebration will take place on March 30. The Rajasthan government has cut short the Rajasthan Diwas celebrations to one day in view of the heavy losses to the crops due to recent rainfall and hailstorm. 

Quite a few senior artistes of Rajasthan also wrote to the Chief Minister, Smt Vasundhara Raje Scindia, on the same day expressing their feelings thatnot enough credit has been given to the Rajasthani artistes and culture in the Rajasthan Diwas celebrations and that she should look into this. 

Apart from the Rajasthan Diwas and WFUNA Youth Seminar, the coming weekend I am also scheduled to attend another Write Circle event with author Surender Mohan Pathak who is a bestselling Hindi fiction writer based in Delhi. His first story was 57 Saal Purana Admi. A prolific writer, he is the creator of the very successful Sunil and Vimal series. With two hundred and ninety-one books to his credit, he has mastered the genre of pulp fiction in Hindi. His latest novel, Goa Galata is the eighth book of the Jeet Singh series. 

It is the first time a hard-core Hindi novelist is being invited to the Write Circle. 

After this weekend, I may have to go to Delhi for a day. 

ess bee