Journée de la Francophonie

BOOK LAUCH & PAINTING EXHIBITION

BOOK LAUCH “Les Mangues de Tara” by Vithal Rajan

“Tara’s mangoes and other stories”

2011, published in French in Quebec by Lesheuresbleues

INTRODUCTION
by Mrs. Rama Melkote, co-founder of AFHREADING
in French by Mrs. Nirupama Rastogi
in English by Mrs. Daphne de Rebello

by Laxman Aelay, famous Hyderabadi painter

“Even as a boy, living in the wilds of India, I knew I wanted to write. But you sail with the tides of life, and you go where its winds blow you. That boyhood dream remained a dream for decades. A chance meeting with a Canadian diplomat brought me to Montreal five decades ago, in the halcyon days of the sixties. The Vietnam War swept me off to Europe to join the Peace Movement, and beached me in Belfast as a mediator on behalf of the Church. The Declaration of Internal Emergency by Indira Gandhi, somewhat similar to our War Measures Act, shipped me back to India in a hurry, and I started working with very poor communities – I thought, only for two years, before I returned home to Canada, but those years have now stretched to thirty. Am I sorry I never resettled in Montreal, though my happiest years were spent in that city? Not really, for working with poor people taught me many hard lessons of life. One lesson which I learned was that doing one’s duty gives greater contentment than any life of pleasure. And my friends created strong links with Canada, which sustained me, and one day I was surprised to hear from the Governor-General that I had been made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Indians were astonished that I should be remembered, but, I said, Canada is as kind as nursery school, no one goes home without a present.” Vithal Rajan

IN PRESENCE OF THE WRITER & THE PAINTER

Meet them at Alliance Française

ALL ARE WELCOME