Indian, Russian students compare traditions of Maslenitsa and Holi festivals during TV BRICS teleconference

New Delhi [India], March 11 : TV BRICS and the global outreach initiative "Modern Russian" convened a teleconference with Jawaharlal Nehru University's Center of Russian Studies in New Delhi for the third time on Monday.
The teleconference compared the traditions of the Russian folk festival Maslenitsa and the Indian festival of Holi. The teleconference included presentations, interactive games, poetry recitation, and song singing.
The conference, which honoured 'Maslenitsa', made it possible to discover points of agreement between Indian springtime customs and Russian winter solstice celebrations, according to an official press release.
Comparing Holi and Maslenitsa, they concluded that the holidays and moral and cultural values of the two peoples are similar.
Students conversed with one another about Indian and Russian hospitality customs at the second. Alexandra Burman, head of foreign programs at TV BRICS, and Tamara Skok, head of the Modern Russian project, held the third teleconference.
"The event was preceded by very serious preparation. We had to choose an interesting topic, collect relevant linguo-country studies material, prepare interactive tasks, organise vocabulary work, find and edit videos. During the meeting we tried to organise lively communication, encouraged the Indian students to talk more, answer questions, practice pronunciation. We had to make the Russian grammar exercises look like a game and not cause stress. I think, judging by the reactions of Indian colleagues and students, we have fulfilled our task," said Tamara Skok.
Meanwhile, Bachelor's and Master's students of the Centre of Russian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University prepared creative performances in Russian for practice purposes. They recited several poems, sang a song, and spoke about the traditions of welcoming spring in India.
Over forty undergraduate and graduate students participated in the event in total. They concluded that the two peoples' holidays, as well as their moral and cultural values, are similar by comparing Holi and Maslenitsa, the release stated.
Professor Richa Sawant, who is in charge of the Center of Russian Studies, mentioned how eager university staff and students are to have these video conferences.
"The topic announced this year has aroused great interest among our students. We listened to you, trying not to miss a single word. Thank you for the wonderful video lesson!" she thanked the organisers.
The international outreach project "Modern Russian" and TV BRICS maintain a long-term relationship with the Centre of Russian Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, based in New Delhi.
Last year, the TV BRICS lecture "Peculiarities and Identity of Russian Regions" was held in New Delhi in a face-to-face format, which was attended by bachelors, masters and postgraduate students of the Department of Russian Studies.
The international project "Modern Russian" was established in 2007. It is designed to raise the level of speech culture of the population of 638 cities, of which 366 are constituent entities of the Russian Federation and 272 are near and far abroad.