L'institut Shastri

Shastri News - October 2009

Shastri fellow and language pioneer to receive France’s highest honor

When Dr. Asha Pande first moved to Rajasthan in 1977, not a single academic institution was teaching French. “Initially,” she told the Times of India, “the scene here was very depressing as people were not very enthusiastic about the language.” Today, however, over 25 schools and eight colleges are teaching French in Rajasthan thanks to Dr. Pande’s pioneering efforts.

On October 14, 2009, Dr. Pande received a letter indicating that the President of the Republic of France had recently signed a decree nominating her to be knighted in the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the highest decoration in France. Soon she will join the ranks of a select few foreign nationals to receive this distinction; a group including presidents, war heroes, artists and philanthropists.

“I was thrilled, absolutely on cloud nine,” Dr. Pande explained in another interview with the Times. French embassy officials in India had called to collect her biographic information around eleven months ago, but the letter in her mailbox duringthat Diwali week was beyond any of her wildest dreams.

Dr. Asha Pande was in the first graduating class to complete a Master’s in French Language, Literature and Civilization at Jawaharlal Nehru University back in 1976. The following year she moved to Jaipur where her husband had been posted. She initially taught at a public school and later joined the faculty at the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur (UoR) where she now heads the dramatics department as well as the centre for French and Francophone studies. Her Legion decoration recognizes both her contribution to academic and cultural fields, the expansion of French in Rajasthan and her overarching contribution to the relationship between India and France.

More recently, in 2007, Dr. Pande travelled to Canada through a Shastri Institute Faculty Enrichment Fellowship, to make connections and gather resources on French-Canadian literature.

“My experience in Canada was very enriching. I regularly visited McGill, UQAM and CRILCQ and my interactions with academicians from all these Institutes, professional as well as personal, gave me an insight into the Canadian Educational system and the warm, informal and very hospitable culture of the country. It was a pleasure discovering Canada’s great authors like Anne Hebert and Gabrielle Roy and poets like Emile Nelligan.” ~ Dr. Asha Pande

Since her return to UoR, Dr. Pande has been inviting many Canadian scholars and authors to visit Rajasthan. The latest in the list of authors/poets was Monique Juteau who conducted a creative writing workshop at the University of Rajasthan.

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