IASH for the second time celebrated the International Mother Language Day on 21st February, 2021. International Mother Language Day is celebrated to promote the awareness of language and cultural diversity all across the world. As India has a very diverse culture and plethora of languages, this celebration suits well to Indian diaspora. The performances for this event showcased the unity in diversity of India – encouraging everyone in the diaspora to practice their true culture and roots. The event garnered love, and heart-felt affection.

The guests for the event are the Honorable Consulate General Mr. John H. Roulngul, our partners, Mr. Stefan Kaps, Head of Culture from Volkshochschule (VHS), Hannover, Mr.  Abayomi Bankole and Ms. Prova Noorjahan from IIK and Prof. Umarani Pappuswamy, Deputy Director, Central Institute of Indian Languages. 

The event started with a welcoming speech from Arjun Roy, Vice-President, IASH. This was followed by a speech from the honourable guest of the event, the Consulate General of India Mr. John H. Roulngul which focused on highlighting the reason and importance of the celebration of the day. Immediately following this was a speech from Prova Noorjahan, who originates from Bangladesh, and represented Initiative für internationalen Kulturaustausch e. V. Hannover (IIK). In the event we also had a speech from Mr. Stefan Kaps, Head of Culture from Volkshochschule (VHS) and a keynote talk from the guest speaker of the event Prof. Umarani Pappuswamy, Deputy Director,  Central Institute of Indian Languages.

The diverse performances of the day consisted of a presentation from our student member Mr. Pravesh Tamang on North Indian Languages, a live-quiz competition in fit to the essence of the event conducted by our member Mr. Harleen singh Makhija, an Urdhu Sayeri recitation by our member Mr. Munnazzar Ahmed, as well as multiple performances from kids group members along the theme, unity in diversity, co-ordinated by Ms. Priya Jadhav. 

This year we also had some guest performances from participants outside the association, namely, Mr. Bhaskar Sarma from India presenting on Assamese languages, Mr. Roland Balzer from Germany presenting on German literature, Mr. Quy Le Tai from Vietnam playing Vietnamese music instrument Dan Tranh, and Ms. Esha Dutta from India playing Indian music instrument Sitar.

IASH took this opportunity also to acknowledge the support and works of the volunteers for the year 2020, and the kid-performers who have been the heart of many IASH events last year. IASH expressed gratitude to their contribution with certificates and gift vouchers. 

IASH thanks the Consulate General of India, Hamburg, VHS Hannover, ADV Nord, IIK who supported us through the event.