A three-month long Russian language, literature and science festival commenced in Kerala’s beautiful capital city of Thiruvanathapuram (Trivandrum). The festival is welcoming Russian studies experts from five cities across India. It is organized by the Pushkin Russian Language Center in Thiruvanathapuram and the Russkiy Mir Foundation with support from the office of Rossotrudnichestvo in India.
The festival opened with a traditional award ceremony for Russian language teachers with work experience of more than 30 years. One of the most well-known awardees was Neelakshi Suryanarayan, a professor from the Delhi University, who has been teaching the Russian language and literature since 1982. She is also the author of many textbooks on these subjects.
“The number of people learning Russian in India is constantly growing, and so is the number of educational institutions, where Russian is taught,” Perova said. “Today there are more than fifty institutions, schools, colleges and universities all around India, where one can learn Russian. Often schools without Russian programs ask us to carry out various cultural-social activities devoted to Russia.”
Russian language Olympiads and contests will be held in Thiruvanathapuram for students and scholars to take part in and to test their knowledge. In November, students will be able to attend lectures devoted to Russian literature. The festival will end in December when an international literature prize named after the famous poet Sergei Yesenin will be awarded to a southern Indian poet-translator of Russian literature.
Several books of Lev Tolstoy, Anton Chekov, Fyodor Dostoevsky and other Russian author have been translated into Malayalam and other south Indian languages. Alexander Pushkin's and Maxim Gorky's poems have also been translated into Tamil.
“The desire to learn a foreign language often evolves when you are interested in the culture of another country,” Perova said. “During such events, as the Russian language, literature and science Festival many students start learning about Russia, they fall in love with our country and begin learning the Russian language.”
Discussions and seminars have traditionally been an essential part of the festival. They are usually dedicated to spreading the Russian language and Russian textbooks in India and to popularizing the language by means of studying Russian literature.
In southern India, the Russian language can be studied in Russian Centers of Science and Culture in Thiruvanathapuram and Chennai. It is also possible to do so in several educational institutions in Thiruvanathapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode in Kerala, Chennai and Madurai in the Tamil Nadu and Mysore in Karnataka.
/ ITAR-TASS /
