Inclusion…Ideal, Oh But We are Exclusive!

I had finished my day at the office and ”Bonjour (Hello) India”, the Festival of France in India was happening at Pondicherry. I had time on my hand and the event lined up as part of the festivities that evening sounded interesting. There was going to be a debate of ideas ”Globalisation and cultural diversity”. There was to be a talk by an eminent expert followed by questions from the audience. So with an air of anticipation of an evening of significance, I traced my steps to the Alliance Francaise of Pondicherry.

I entered the venue and was wholly unprepared for the shock. The audience which had turned up for the event was almost entirely French. Were we not talking about ”Bonjour India”? The way I understood, it was to be France building bridges with India via these exchanges. But…where were the Indians? I happened to be among an insignificant minority which could have easily been counted off on the hands and maybe the toes. This for me was disconnect number 1. More was to come.

The eminent speaker held forth on the aspect of globalization and its effect on communication and thereby on culture in very eloquent terms. But the whole presentation was in French! There had been no factoring in of the probable need of a translator if there happened to be a huge Indian audience. Indians were simply not expected to be present! Whither communication?! Disconnect number 2. The banners proclaimed free entry and exhorted all to participate but did not really think/want that such discourses should be available to a wider audience. Weren’t we in ”Bonjour India” after all?

The speaker talked about how today we had at our disposition numerous means/tools of communication but paradoxically how we did not actually communicate. He spoke about how ”Business as Usual (BAU)” had become the operative word in most communication exchanges where nothing about the differences in syntax, semantics and culture of the two protagonists often from two different parts of the world had their place. But I could have told him he was operating in the same mode. His talk was BAU for him and I was wondering if he ever stopped to ask the organisers where the Indian fraternity was represented in the audience. Wasn’t there a communication disconnect here? It would have been truly enriching if there was an Indian audience which also posed its questions from its perspective in the post talk discussion.

What was the speaker trying to achieve by talking to his own kind. I had nothing against the French composition of the audience. Ideally there should have been an equally representative Indian composition too for any meaningful broadening of perspective to happen through the post talk discussion. It should have been an inclusive affair more so when we were talking of France trying to reach out to India. After all it was ”Bonjour India” that we were talking about. At the end , all it turned out to be was a hollow, high-brow intellectual affair – a feather in the cap of the Alliance for conducting a ‘successful’ show, an evening well spent with one of their kind for the French audience and another well received talk for the speaker!

So much for intellectual exchange and ”Bonjour India”! When will real bridges be built and real communication exchanges take place between homo-sapiens with respect for each other’s differences as the corner-stone?