Bonjour! St Aloysius hosts ‘Un Jour en France’- an Annual French Event
Bonjour! (Hello/Good Day!)St Aloysius hosts ‘Un Jour en France’ (A Day in France)- as part of ‘Journée de la Francophonie’, an Annual French Event on Feb 17 at Mother Teresa Peace Park in the College campus.
Mangaluru: During the couple of hours when I was at St Aloysius Campus witnessing the “Un Jour en France” (A Day in France” event, I felt like being a France, which also brought back memories of the six hours that I spent in Paris-France in the year 2015, when my Air France flight from Chicago-USA via Paris-Bombay had to make a 10 hour halt at the Airport in Paris. My God, Paris is a big, beautiful, historically and culturally rich, amazing, and a sometimes intimidating city. For those who have never visited the City of Lights, scoring a good deal on airfare to Paris, finding a hotel to stay in and deciding which attractions you just can’t miss are probably the things on the forefront of your mind. Those six hours of fun and frolic spree in Paris were the best memories of my life. The only problem is that if you don’t know French language, then you will have a tough time to communicate with the people there because the majority of them speak only French!
Similarly was the case here at St Aloysius “Un Jour en France” fest, I couldn’t understand a damn thing the students were saying on the stage during the programme- and when the crowd laughed, I laughed after them, during the cultural programme. But it was one heckuva fest full of fun and frolic, which felt like “France” in Kudla? The students and faculty of French, of St Aloysius College (Autonomous), had organized ‘Un Jour en France – A Day in France’ on Saturday, February 17 from 9 am at the Mother Teresa Peace Park at the campus, as part of ‘Journée de la Francophonie, an annual French event held on March 20. This was a day-long event to celebrate the various aspects of living the French life and was aimed at giving the attendees a glimpse of French culture.
The inauguration was held 9.30 am at the venue. Rev. Dr Praveen Martis SJ, Principal, St Aloysius College and patron of the language, was the Chief Guest. In his address, he lauded the students for commemorating the event and spoke at length about France and French. “The very experience of Paris is romantic. This language romanticizes human thought and action”, he said. Dr Alwyn D’Sa, Vice Principal, Admin Block, Ronald Baptist D’Souza, staff convener, and Ancita Gonsalves and Ann Dehnuger, student conveners, were also present.
Partly sponsored by the Franco-German Institute, this event saw eight teams from colleges in and around Mangalore (like St Agnes College, Roshni Nilaya, Sarosh Institute and Manipal University among others) participate in 6 events which incorporate French culture. The events conducted were – spell bee, treasure hunt, cookie art, mock personality and poetry recitation. Roshni Nilaya bagged the overall championship prize.
A cultural program was also organised. A drama, recreating the classic of Cinderella with a modern twist, was also staged by the students. Star Aloysian Nicky Pinto, of ‘Dance Plus’ fame, performed a dance number, while ‘Vocal Rush’, a popular band, entertain the audience with songs. Food stalls which sold cupcakes, macaroons, momos and drinks were put up. ‘Un Jour en France’ was an earnest attempt by the students to depict life in France in an authentic and enjoyable way.
In conclusion, Joy in its entirety is the Parisian way of life, like a butterfly, you intend to grasp all of its demure marvels, revealed as you walk through the streets of Paris, just as the next corner sets your senses alight, it feels as if you have entered the gates of an earlier heaven. There’s no denying it, Paris ranks high as one of the beautiful cities of the world moreover, it lived up to the elaborate expectations I had of it. It’s no wonder Paris is, at present, the most visited city the in the world. And there is no doubt at all that Paris is indeed a little piece of heaven on earth. So until the next French event at St Aloysius College “au revoir!” (Goodbye)