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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline AUGUST 30, 2024 | The Indian Eye 28

YHS-NYU Partnership wins 2024

Fulbright-Hays Project

ASHOK OJHA
Edison, NJ

or the third consecutive time Yuva Hindi
Sansthan, a NJ-based not-for-profit educa-
Ftional organization, in partnership with New
York University, has received the Fulbright-Hays
GPA award. The architects of the project are Ashok
Ojha, an Edison based journalist and teacher and
Prof Gabriela Nik Ilieva, a senior professor of Hindi
at New York University. Professor Gabriela serves
as the academic director of the program while Ojha
is the project director. The theme of the project is:
“Narrative of Diversity Performed through Storytell-
ing and Encoded in Historical Architectural Sites in
India”. Under this program a dozen US based lan-
guage instructors and college students will travel to
India on a Study tour in the Spring 2025.
Yuva Hindi Sansthan and New York Universi-
ty Hindi language program partnership developed
this proposal. Previously the US Department of Ed-
ucation International Foreign Language Education
wing granted this award to the partnership of Yuva
Hindi Sansthan and New York University Hindi
program in 2022 and 2023.
The project focuses on improving language
and cultural proficiency of US based instructors
and students. It will be completed in three phases.
The orientation is the first phase while the study
tour takes place in the second phase after which
participants will develop topic-based teaching ma-
terials for K-12 learners in the third phase of the
program. In the second phase study tour will take
place in Spring 2025. The participants will visit the based Art historian Prof. Tamara Sears of Rutgers hand rickshaw pullers and taxi drivers.
architectural structures in Ajanta-Ellora, Sanchi, University, New Jersey, who will also lecture during The final destination of 2023 program study
Delhi, Khajuraho, and Varanasi-Sarnath where the first phase of the program. tour was Madhubani, Bihar, where participants ex-
they will explore folk figurative and performing arts, In 2022 a month-long tour to India with focus perienced art as an expression of the understand-
(e.g. dastangoi, puppetry, qawwali, jatra, pandavani, on marginalized communities and their traditional ing of the laws of the universe and human life. The
phad or kaawad) through hands-on workshops and holistic interrelation with nature was organized. It township of Madhubani is also home of half a dozen
demonstrations. On their return to the USA they was part of our first Fulbright-Hays project. women artistes who have been honored with India’s
will develop thematic teaching material based on The second YHS-NYU Fulbright-Hays project greatest civilian award, the Padma awards, for their
their experiences in India. (2023) was based upon the tradition of ‘content- artistic expressions in paintings. Here the artistic
A host of Hindi Language and Area Studies ac- ment’ in the Indian society. The West, especially the expressions by women were displayed through
ademic experts from partnering institutions in the U.S. has embraced yoga and meditation practices artistic paintings with vivid colors. From the walls
USA and India will guide and advise program par- which have also originated in India. Yet, although of Madhubani Railway Station to people’s homes,
ticipants. Besides the close collaboration with NYU, the Indian philosophical traditions about mindful paintings are integral part of the lives of people. Art
partnering institutions in the USA are: University of living and their practical implications leading to made a daily ritual for local people. The art is an ex-
Texas-Austin (UTA), McMillan Center, Yale Uni- well-being are recognized and valued globally, both pression of local understanding of how the universe
versity, and Michigan State University (MSU). In in the Western and the Eastern world, they are not was created and exists in balance and harmony. Ex-
India: RN Tagore University, Bhopal, Banaras Hin- consistently studied and explored throughout the amining these paintings and discussing their topics
du University, Vasant College for Women, Varanasi, Hindi curricula. with the local artists shed light on their understand-
Indira Gandhi Center for the Arts, Delhi, and RN During a weeklong stay in Kolkata, the group ing of wellness and mindfulness.
Tagore University, Bhopal. explored several socio-cultural factors which helped The participants of previous programs docu-
Expert academicians led by Prof Gabriela Nik unpack mindful living. The participants explored mented their experience and shared it at various
Ilieva, NYU, will taught participants of the pro- the literary traditions of the Nobel Laureate Rabin- fora. The same process will continue but focus will
gram. They will guide participants how to decode dra Nath Tagore at Thakur Bari, the birthplace of be on a new theme.
the images on ancient structures. Part of the pro- Rabindranath Tagore and learned Tagore’s ideas of Ashok Ojha is the program director, 2024YHS-
gram theme is inspired by ‘Worldly Gurus and Spir- global vs. national harmony while interacting with NYU FULBRIGHT-HAYS GPA PROJECT and
itual Kings’, a research project by the New Jersey the Hindi speaking migrant workers, the legendary president of Yuva Hindi Sansthan.

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