The Centre for Advanced Studies (CAS) school welcomed Adiraj Singh, Shreyan Goyal, Somesh Gupta, Tejasvi Mahajan, Muhammad Daniyal and Rohan Nawal from Ajmer’s Mayo College for Boys on December 3. The boys are in the city for a week on a student exchange programme through the Nelson Mandela Peace Fellowship.
Their hosts in the city, Zain Asad, Hasan Halai, Kamil Abbas, Zurain Munshi, Khizar Dara and Yousuf Adnan Farooqui, welcomed them at the airport along with their parents and teachers. Half-way through the trip, the hosts are excited for the upcoming learning-modules sessions, and trips around the city.
Mayo College is a boarding school and these boys only get to meet their parents once or twice a year. “Perhaps that is why we are not feeling too homesick,” said Adiraj, who hails from Gurgaon in Haryana.
“It is just like India,” said Tejasvi, in a manner that truly reflected his boarding school demeanour. For him, the rivalry between the two countries was not an issue that concerns the general population. “Nothing can be achieved with wars, though few [officials] at both sides of the border stretch their imagination to this end,” he said, adding that “we can sort out more by exchanging views and love with each other”.
The visiting boys found Karachi less crowded and polluted compared to Delhi and other Indian cities, but that is perhaps because they have hardly ventured out of Defence Housing Authority. They have, nevertheless, managed to make their hosts excited about visiting Mayo College’s campus. “After hearing about all the sports facilities, including the shooting range and football grounds, I really can’t wait to be there,” said Zain Asad.
Mayo College housemaster Vijendra Singh Kanwar also accompanied the students. He admitted that he had security concerns till the last minute but the warm welcome that they received made him comfortable. “I strongly believe that the rivalry is only between our politicians and diplomats,” he said. “This [rivalry] is not my issue, and this is not an issue for a common Indian or a Pakistani.”
Kanwar was grateful to the high commissions of both, India and Pakistan, for this opportunity. “I request to them on my personal behalf to please allow the kids to come and go freely.”
On Friday, CAS principal Sami Mustafa also presented fellowship certificates to the visiting students. The students also received a pile of books, including the school yearbook from 2011. The programme began in September, 2011, when nine students of the CAS school visited Mayo College for the first time. They are planning their second trip to Ajmer in 2013.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2012.
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I'm really glad the peace process is going ahead. Hope to visit Taj Mahal as a Pakistani without any threat.
Yay. I'm half mentioned here (last September 9 students visited Mayo College)