The celebration of Cranfield’s International day continues
Day 2 of the International week celebrations was here and it was a much awaited day, especially for me. Today we were presenting India amongst other Asian countries.
For almost a month now, I had been actively working on the Indian presentation for the International week. I lost count of how many times I had changed the contents of our presentation. I also lost count of how many hours and days I was investing in the build up to the special day. With ideas galore, it was a tough task picking up the theme for the presentation. I had to ensure that our presentation did not cross the designated 15 minutes. There was so much to tell, so much to share, but so little time.
Nevertheless, after a bit of brainstorming, we closed down on a theme that was distinct. Divya and I had also been working out the plan of Indian taster also. The trouble with being famous is that you lose out on novelty and we were facing similar challenge on which Indian snack to offer. We then were firmed up the option of “bhel puri” – a snack that was unique and not yet experienced at Cranfield MBA.
The evening of Day 2 was buzzing more than Day 1 – students in other courses had also joined in this evening to enjoy the International week celebrations and the Forum was full. Excited voices of students were mixed with the sounds of children running around.
The evening began with the presentation of China, with Kaifeng Zhang playing the anchor’s role to perfection. All the Chinese students – Lily, Lin, Warren, Dennis and Kaifeng were dressed n traditional Chinese attire, which looked so pretty that my guess is they will receive orders for supply from the MBA students soon. With China hogging the limelight in the global arena for its galloping rate of growth, Kaifeng took us through a journey into China with many video clips. Their presentation showcased their culture, cuisines, famous cities and places worth visiting and even included a small quiz on China. The prizes were memento’s that comprised traditional hand made ornamental, designed show pieces. The Chinese presentation ended on a very gracious note with they offering a few traditional gift items in charity – the collections would be sent to support the Tsunami relief work. Soon after their presentation, these gift items were lapped up by the audience.
Our presentation on India was next. We started with a movie clip of a dance sequence from a famous Bollywood movie – the idea was to get the audience hooked up - it worked. Divya took the stage by introducing India and relating it to the dance sequence. She went on to introduce some lesser known wonders of India – Ajanta-Elora caves, Sun Konark Temple, Jantar Mantar, Temples of Khajuraho and Golden Temple. Of course no introduction to India can be complete without the Taj Mahal. Seema took over to introduce the most expensive and luxurious train in the world – Palace on Wheels. Our guess was right – the world (our audience, that is) had never been introduced to these aspects about India. The high point was the introduction to Auroville town-ship in Pondicherry – a place where people from over 35 countries stay together. It is an international town in itself and most Indians are also unaware about it.
Seema then handed over the floor to me and I then disclosed the five passions of India – religion, politics, food, movies and cricket – to the audience. In the back of my mind, I was conscious of the learning’s from our Presentation and Communication Skills (PCS) course. But at the moment as big as this one – I forgot some of my lines and instead, ended up speaking much of extempore content. Luckily, the audience did not notice (I hope). Our presentation ended with music being played from the same dance sequence that we had started with.
Japan was next, but with a difference – Nobuhiro was accompanied by Andrew (British) and Bibhas (Indian). Andrew and Bibhas have spent quite a few years working in Japan and hence were representing Japan. Their presentation also shared much about the cuisines, towns and culture of Japan. Their presentation took an interesting turn when they handed over a newspaper sheet to each one in the audience. Nobu then guided the entire audience through a live step-by-step demonstration of Origami – the traditional art of paper-folding. The audience loved it, as is visible from the picture.
Yandi Irawan and his wife Myra then presented Indonesia. Despite the disaster that their country has faced recently, Yandi did not let such tragedy influence his presentation as he and Myra took us through the traditions and history of their country. They even demonstrated the method of wearing the traditional attire that the bride wears.
Syria and Lebanon were jointly presented by Ammar and his wife Hind and the brother-sister duo on MBA - Rola and Hazem Mikati. Like many others, we were astonished by the beauty of these countries. I mistook the initial video clips to be from some European country. These are amazing countries with beautiful, scenic places and equally beautiful people. It was also a revelation for many to hear about the rich history of Syria and Lebanon.
Peru was accommodated today due to certain administrative reasons and Alex Mita presented his country. He was dressed in very colourful attire and he even gave away some pieces of their traditional wool caps to the audience. We watched a fabulous video that introduced us to the wonderful land that Peru is. The presentation on a country famous for its passion for dance would have been incomplete without the audience being made to dance to Peruvian tunes. Alex also has a reputation for being a fantastic Latino dancer and he got every one to the floor to jig on the selected tunes.
It was a long evening and after the presentations, the crowd thronged to the tasters’. While everyone was relishing the dishes, I wondered – could I have ever, in my lifetime, got to know so much about so many countries? The theme “Connecting cultures” was bringing me closer to many other cultures that I had not experienced before. The learning at Cranfield is not restricted to classroom alone. The international week is a vehicle to one’s learning – so what if it is not management. This dimension of our learning will be remembered and cherished by all of us. Wherever we end up pursuing our careers after Cranfield, these experiences and events will help us relate to our new environments better.
For almost a month now, I had been actively working on the Indian presentation for the International week. I lost count of how many times I had changed the contents of our presentation. I also lost count of how many hours and days I was investing in the build up to the special day. With ideas galore, it was a tough task picking up the theme for the presentation. I had to ensure that our presentation did not cross the designated 15 minutes. There was so much to tell, so much to share, but so little time.
Nevertheless, after a bit of brainstorming, we closed down on a theme that was distinct. Divya and I had also been working out the plan of Indian taster also. The trouble with being famous is that you lose out on novelty and we were facing similar challenge on which Indian snack to offer. We then were firmed up the option of “bhel puri” – a snack that was unique and not yet experienced at Cranfield MBA.
The evening of Day 2 was buzzing more than Day 1 – students in other courses had also joined in this evening to enjoy the International week celebrations and the Forum was full. Excited voices of students were mixed with the sounds of children running around.
The evening began with the presentation of China, with Kaifeng Zhang playing the anchor’s role to perfection. All the Chinese students – Lily, Lin, Warren, Dennis and Kaifeng were dressed n traditional Chinese attire, which looked so pretty that my guess is they will receive orders for supply from the MBA students soon. With China hogging the limelight in the global arena for its galloping rate of growth, Kaifeng took us through a journey into China with many video clips. Their presentation showcased their culture, cuisines, famous cities and places worth visiting and even included a small quiz on China. The prizes were memento’s that comprised traditional hand made ornamental, designed show pieces. The Chinese presentation ended on a very gracious note with they offering a few traditional gift items in charity – the collections would be sent to support the Tsunami relief work. Soon after their presentation, these gift items were lapped up by the audience.
Our presentation on India was next. We started with a movie clip of a dance sequence from a famous Bollywood movie – the idea was to get the audience hooked up - it worked. Divya took the stage by introducing India and relating it to the dance sequence. She went on to introduce some lesser known wonders of India – Ajanta-Elora caves, Sun Konark Temple, Jantar Mantar, Temples of Khajuraho and Golden Temple. Of course no introduction to India can be complete without the Taj Mahal. Seema took over to introduce the most expensive and luxurious train in the world – Palace on Wheels. Our guess was right – the world (our audience, that is) had never been introduced to these aspects about India. The high point was the introduction to Auroville town-ship in Pondicherry – a place where people from over 35 countries stay together. It is an international town in itself and most Indians are also unaware about it.
Seema then handed over the floor to me and I then disclosed the five passions of India – religion, politics, food, movies and cricket – to the audience. In the back of my mind, I was conscious of the learning’s from our Presentation and Communication Skills (PCS) course. But at the moment as big as this one – I forgot some of my lines and instead, ended up speaking much of extempore content. Luckily, the audience did not notice (I hope). Our presentation ended with music being played from the same dance sequence that we had started with.
Japan was next, but with a difference – Nobuhiro was accompanied by Andrew (British) and Bibhas (Indian). Andrew and Bibhas have spent quite a few years working in Japan and hence were representing Japan. Their presentation also shared much about the cuisines, towns and culture of Japan. Their presentation took an interesting turn when they handed over a newspaper sheet to each one in the audience. Nobu then guided the entire audience through a live step-by-step demonstration of Origami – the traditional art of paper-folding. The audience loved it, as is visible from the picture.
Yandi Irawan and his wife Myra then presented Indonesia. Despite the disaster that their country has faced recently, Yandi did not let such tragedy influence his presentation as he and Myra took us through the traditions and history of their country. They even demonstrated the method of wearing the traditional attire that the bride wears.
Syria and Lebanon were jointly presented by Ammar and his wife Hind and the brother-sister duo on MBA - Rola and Hazem Mikati. Like many others, we were astonished by the beauty of these countries. I mistook the initial video clips to be from some European country. These are amazing countries with beautiful, scenic places and equally beautiful people. It was also a revelation for many to hear about the rich history of Syria and Lebanon.
Peru was accommodated today due to certain administrative reasons and Alex Mita presented his country. He was dressed in very colourful attire and he even gave away some pieces of their traditional wool caps to the audience. We watched a fabulous video that introduced us to the wonderful land that Peru is. The presentation on a country famous for its passion for dance would have been incomplete without the audience being made to dance to Peruvian tunes. Alex also has a reputation for being a fantastic Latino dancer and he got every one to the floor to jig on the selected tunes.
It was a long evening and after the presentations, the crowd thronged to the tasters’. While everyone was relishing the dishes, I wondered – could I have ever, in my lifetime, got to know so much about so many countries? The theme “Connecting cultures” was bringing me closer to many other cultures that I had not experienced before. The learning at Cranfield is not restricted to classroom alone. The international week is a vehicle to one’s learning – so what if it is not management. This dimension of our learning will be remembered and cherished by all of us. Wherever we end up pursuing our careers after Cranfield, these experiences and events will help us relate to our new environments better.
posted by Sandeep Gupta at
8:20 pm
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