Bahraini youth impress India delegation

A delegation from India, who came to Bahrain as part of a youth exchange programme, was left impressed by the Bahraini youth.

The first Indian delegation to come to Bahrain after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for ‘Cooperation in the fields of Youth and Sports’ between Bahrain and India last year, said that they were excited to reap the rewards of the agreement. 

Eighteen youngsters, accompanied by Mohinder Gupta, joint director of  Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan under the Indian Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports; and Subhash Chand, joint director of National Service Scheme under the ministry, came to Bahrain earlier this week. They said that the youngsters had been interacting with Bahraini youth in the past few days. 

“The primary objective of this progamme is for the youth to learn the culture and lifestyle of each country as well as to share experiences and knowledge. When they come together they have the opportunity to share their experiences and to come out with different ideas,” Gupta said.

Subhash Chand explained that the youth were given different tasks as part of the programme. 

“During their interactions, they had different tasks through which they learned that they should replicate each other’s best practices. The young Bahrainis are very keen on knowing the different cultures, they are also keen on learning the languages of India. 

This programme is also beneficial for the Indian youth. They can learn how Bahrainis adjust their life to the hot weather, how Bahrain society functions, how living standards here have been increased etc,” he said. 

The duo said they were extremely impressed by Bahraini youngsters. “Before I came here, I was under the impression that this would be a very conservative society. We thought that the Arabian world would have a lot more restrictions than in India and the girls would not interact with the boys at all. 

“But here I found that this was not the case, there is no gender bias, girls are educated and we have been very impressed. 

“More importantly, they are honest. For instance, one of the boys from our delegation lost his wallet and we doubted whether we would get it back, but we got it back thanks to their honesty,” Gupta said.