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Celebration of cultural diversity in the spirit of joyful acceptance enables an individual to grow in knowledge and wisdom. Knowing well the rich benefits offered by the celebration of cultural differences, Vishwa Jyothi Don Bosco College organized a full day of cultural fest on 28th July 2017. For the Inaugural ceremony Rev. Fr Kudiyirippil James Sdb was the chief guest and for the evening’s cultural programme Rev. Fr Pratap Nayak Ofm cap was the chief guest.
The inaugural ceremony commenced with a melodious prayer song invoking the Creator of unique cultures to be present in the festive celebration and also thanking Him for such unique gift. After a few words of introduction by Rev. Fr Garlapati Michael Kishore, the rector of the Vishwa Jyothi Don Bosco College an energetic and lively patriotic song was dedicated by a group of students to create an atmosphere of joyous celebration. In the inaugural speech the chief guest Rev. Fr Kudiyirippil James Sdb defined culture as ‘the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values and knowledge, which constitute the shared bases of social action of a particular civilization’. He then went on to highlight the greatness of Indian Cultural and in this context he mentioned some of the main Indian arts and traditional dresses. Immediately after the inaugural ceremony the students rushed to exhibit the uniqueness of their culture in the allotted area. After the exhibition all the students gathered in the college courtyard for ‘Kabaddi’ match, a friendly match between different cultural groups. A couple of party games was also played and after which a delicious lunch was served for everyone. The different food items was sponsored by different religious communities, the communities to which our students belong.
In the evening at 5:30 p.m. a cultural show was organized in the college auditorium which went up to 9
:30 p.m. What added colours to the cultural fest was the presence of 11 different cultural groups hailing from different parts of the country and also two representatives from Bangladesh. All the students took active part in the presentation of one of the aspects of their culture. The students in the stage were beaming with life and perhaps the secret of their extraordinary energy and enthusiasm was because they were proud to present an aspect of their own life. The chief guest of cultural evening Rev. Fr Pratap Nayak Ofm cap emphasized the need to acknowledge, appreciate and to participate in the culture because it gives us a sense of unique identity, meaning, belonging, and a sense of purpose to life. In our approach to cultures he stressed our need to be both inclusive and exclusive. Inclusive because we have to be open to other cultures, and at the same time we have to be exclusive because we have the duty and responsibility to preserve and protect our own culture. Each culture is unique, full, complete in its own way, it has its own limitations. Hence there is a need to rise beyond our own culture and learn to celebrate the cultural diversity.
