IIT Gandhinagar celebrates international mother language day

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) celebrated the international mother language day with a language carnival on February 21, 2023. Over 250 students, faculty and staff members from different language backgrounds participated in the event.

The aim of the event was to raise awareness in importance of languages and celebrate linguistic diversity and cultural landscape at the IITGN campus. The leadership development (LDI) at IITGN hosted the carnival with interactive stalls showcasing languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Kumaoni, Urdu, Odia, Mishmi Kaman, Gujarati, and Korean.

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The visitors participated in games write their names in different languages, and even have their names written in their favourite language using mehndi. The event also included the karaoke segment where singers performed in their respective languages.

Sharing his thoughts, IITGN, chemical engineering, PhD student, Bidhan Kumar Sahu, said: “It was a matter of pride representing my mother tongue Odia in the language carnival. It was a pleasure to make people aware of the simple day-to-day phrases and the scripts of the Odia language. Lovely vibe and atmosphere. Thanks a lot team LDI for giving us this opportunity.”

On organising the event, IITGN, teaching associate, Nivid Desai said: “The Language Carnival, organised by the Leadership Development Initiative, was a transformative experience for me. I discovered a unique camaraderie between languages from across the world. It helped me appreciate the finer nuances and beauty of the languages that flourish around us on campus. I congratulate the LDI team for a marvellous arrangement!”