After preparing for a couple days before all the students arrived, the South Asian students presented on their cultures for the international students. You can read more here, and see a few student interviews here, beginning with Olga!
Monica
Mohammad
Rohini
Kultwisiso
Shilpi
The day started with a visit to the Swami Narayan Temple which had beautiful carvings and was painted with colors extracted from the vegetables in old days. The temple had the sense of peace and calmness and also the Beautiful architectural design made it unique.
Then we went for a heritage walk in the old city. We saw the pols (which were like the whole community living together sharing common walls), there were many fascinating facts about the pols which made it unique and different from the new city which were
- The Security guard so that the pols can be protected by thieves
- The chabotras (Birdfeeder)
- The architectural design
- Big gate at the entrance
The Chabotras
The Pols
It was quite an interesting and knowledgeable walk to know about the facts about the old city of Ahmedabad. Our last destination of the heritage walk was a mosque which had so much peace and breathtaking.
Later in the evening we had discussions about the heritage walk and how it affected the youth citizenship in earlier days. After that we had a session with Mona G Mehta, a professor from IIT Gandhinagar about “Life of Gandhi” which was interesting. Then we went to Gandhi Ashram and learned about what was the thought of Gandhi ji about his each step and how he started it and what was the result of it. We also wrote postcards to our families. I wrote it to my mother and that too in Gujarati because my mother is a Gujarati so she will definitely understand it. So overall my day was full of knowledge and exciting.
After visiting the Ashram of Gandhi. There was one question in my mind.
Why Gandhi was famous why not the some kings though they have power to decide during British rule over India?
I found the very simple answer myself that Kings wanted to save their territory for their prestige not for peoples´ justice but Ghandi wanted to bring non-Violence without doing any war which is for all the Indians. He could walk miles and miles for the welfare of peoples. He was the example of simple living high thinking people. I learnt how one local Indian can change the whole nation. Though he is not with us but he is in our heart.
So, today we separated. Of course we were all sad & we wished that we had more time together as a whole group, but I trust the leaders know what they are doing & I trust their reasoning. Although we parted ways this morning, we were able to reunite today when we went to a walkway of shops. Between that, my group got personal as we shared our thoughts, opinions, & feelings about yesterday, a.k.a “The Day of Ghandi”. Yesterday was so awesome & I learnt so much. I have some pictures of some things that I saw. 
Today we had some downtime which we wrote in our journals. It was nice to be able to relax & listen to music while I wrote whatever I felt. I think it is important to have times like those where you can be in your own space and do your own thing. Next, we touched on the subjects we will be talking about for the next number of days, & I am so excited. My personal favorite is mental health because I have heard a lot in regard to the subject as well as my very strong interest. The others include inclusiveness, casteism and politics, LGBTQI+, Denotified Tribes, and Minorities in India. Tomorrow we will start with casteism & politics, & how they tie into each other in different areas of India. I cannot wait to see what the next few days bring, as I am already so content with all the new experiences given from the days passed.