Russians regret Indians mistake their flag with that of France and Dutch NEW DELHI: On the eve of the Russian Year in India, Moscow is opening an information centre in Delhi to facilitate information exchange between the two countries even as Russians expressed concern that Indians are ignorant of even their flag.
The Russian Information Centre (RIC) will be inaugurated on February 12 during the visit of Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov essentially to bridge information gap between the two countries.
The Indians often mistake the Russian flag for the French or Dutch according to an opinion poll recently conducted in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi, Anzhelika Zhukova, CEO of IMA Dialogue and one of the organisers of the Russian Year in India, who is currently in Delhi, said.
“Indians remember the red Soviet flag far better. They also know Moscow. Vladimir Putin is a household name. As for Alexander Pushkin, Russia’s greatest poet, only 2% of respondents mentioned him,” Zhukova said.
The organising committee has approved a logo — a white stork against the background of the two countries’ flags — for the year. It will appear in all programme events throughout next year and well into 2009.
Many nations consider the stork a lucky bird. In the Russian bestiary, it symbolises piety, chastity, circumspection, reverence and resurrection, she said.
“Storks spend the winter in India to fly to Russia for the warm season. These birds of passage build air bridges between the two countries,” said Anzhelika.
As president Putin said after recent talks with Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, the Year of Russia in India would include 150 events. “Such a large-scale public action as this will certainly help to bring the two nations closer together,” said a RIC release quoting Putin.
RIC is a discussion club. Its main role is to present to Indian public various personalities and attending numerous events of the Russian Year.
“We are in progress of drafting the initial schedule, in which we intend to include the prominent Russian figures in the fields of religion, publishing and literature, military (attending the Defense Expo), business, tourism and many others,” the release said.
k_benedict@dnaindia.net
