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| Edited By: Yogesh Pawar |Source: DNA |Updated: Oct 18, 2018, 04:47 PM IST
Apart from official reason this is very important to me personally. With this position I'm re-uniting two very big parts of myself. For the past 20 years one of the biggest passions of my life has been India. I came here on an internship to South India in 1996. The dance and music concerts and rural India made me fall in love with the culture. I learned Hindi, dhrupad singing, Bharatanatyam and yoga. There was this endless hunger for everything Indian. It reached a stage where I had to decide what to do with my life. I knew I could not take these passions up professionally since I couldn't dedicate myself to them like someone in these lineages.
I'd studied Political Science and International Relations so I gave the foreign services exam which is equally competitive like your IFS. There I opted for Hindi and South Asian Civilisation Studies as optionals. When I joined, I came with this specialisation. Slowly the ministry decided to use my strengths and I was deployed in India at the Embassy. The last three years I was a joint secretary for South Asia. I was helping define and drive our policy in the region through the visits of our Presidents Hollande and Macron and during the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit. Since I can bring my passions and core strengths together, in many ways this is the dream job for me.
The Rafale controversy is political. We're aware this is the beginning of a campaign in the run-up to 2019. This is a political battle and we're being careful not to take sides. You know this is not such a big headline issue in France. I don't think the average person on the street is even aware. And I feel its the same in India. Only Indian politicians and the media seem more interested. As far as experts in the know go, they're all looking forward to the aircrafts India badly needs. As someone who has looked at issues like these over the last three years, I can tell you this deal tied up after long negotiations is in the best interest of both India and France. Once the dust on the political campaign settles down I'm sure better sense will prevail as all the facts are seen in context.
We've had a Consul General in Mumbai since 1865. I feel very proud to be the first woman in 153 years to hold this position in a country I consider home. Though I'd never been to the city before when I came there was already a degree of familiarity.
She's France's first woman Consul General in Mumbai in 153 yrs. Trained in Dhrupad singing, Bharatanatyam and yoga @SoniaBarbry also speaks Hindi fluently. My excl interview with her coming up on @dna pic.twitter.com/lrl1TfM0Yz — Yogesh Pawar (@powerofyogesh) October 17, 2018
(Laughs) I can completely understand the rivalry since we have the same between Paris and Marseille. While I've only known Mumbai for a month I realise its very different from Delhi in character. I think being a port city and centre of business for long has brought with it many socio-cultural influences from around the world. People here are more open minded, better travelled and have more exposure than Delhi. The fast life and dynamism is another factor that stands out in Mumbai along with its energy.
It is mindboggling to see how much has changed. When I was here in 1996 there was no internet. Not everyone had cable. There were few airports and relatively fewer flights. I remember taking a flight from Delhi to Chennai in 1999 and I was the only woman aboard. Most flyers were on company-paid official trips. Access to the internet has meant people and their perceptions of the world and foreigners is changing.
That's very difficult to say. How can one tell anyone not to be materialistic, consumerist or aspirational? If their priority is a large screen colour tv or a car over everything else then that's something we have to understand. No one can dictate choices, least of all a white westerner. It is of course a good thing that poverty is palpably reducing at least in urban areas. Millions have moved out of abject poverty and access adequate nutrition and healthcare. And one understands that trying to do what countries like mine have done over 200 years in 20 comes at a huge social and environmental cost. I can see how challenging this is for anyone in power in India.
When I lived in Varanasi not many had landlines. Making a call meant going to the small kiosks with separate phones for local, STD and ISD calls. Many are moving from there directly to the smart phone without even going through the landline. Similarly many are going to large screen colour TVs directly without ever owning a black and white one. This is quite unlike most of the West.
Of course there is the downside. Especially the traffic and pollution in big metros. I regret that this beautiful country is going through this. We'd like to work with India to develop clean energy and help make this journey to development sustainable and environment friendly.
Of course there are resonances! We live in a world where news travels really fast and it is great that the courage of the brave women who came forward is empowering others to speak up. But from the first time I came to India I realised the status of women in India is more complicated than the West. If you compare India with other countries, women have always enjoyed a certain position. Lets not forget you've had a woman PM long before we had a woman head of state and that too only briefly. You've had a Mayawati who was the head of a state bigger than even France in the size of its population. Whether bureaucrats or even in the private sector women have been in positions of power. And it is great to see how their core competence is not questioned like in the West where allusions are made about how she got there. This is not to deny the immense inequality women in rural India face. This can often seem a sharp contrast to urban India. But we have to admit the overall situation of women in India is much better than say North Africa or some Arab countries. The #MeToo movement has made women world over come together and feel empowered. I hope this percolates to rural areas too. Only, while empowering women is fine the movement will have to find ways of working within the framework of justice to ensure it is not abused/manipulated.
I pursued both at the Banaras Hindu University I realised how rigorously demanding both forms were, particularly Bharatnatyam. It can take months to build muscle for the half sitting position. And you know what people don't even see that. They concentrate on the face and hand movements and maybe the footwork. And yet it requires continuous practice. A gap of even two weeks can set you back by months. I realised very early this was no hobby. But I've never stopped loving it. At home I've over 200 CDs of Indian classical music.
And my memories of the concerts I attended in Delhi have stayed with me. One particular Odissi dance concert by Madhavi Mudgal moved me so much with its beauty that I was left in tears. And while I don't practice anymore I look forward to exploring the cultural scene in Mumbai. It will be delightful to facilitate any cultural exchange between artistes here and in France.
LGTBQIA rights is part of the larger human rights movement and France is committed to defending them. We believe both religion and sexuality are private and the state shouldn't interfere. Our engagement will of course continue. And yet I'll underline how relatively speaking if you compare how the community is treated in some parts of the world, in India they've never faced persecution or a threat to their lives. But yes, its great that the state recognises their equal rights.
I can have moderately spicy food but not very spicy. My favourite Indian food item is the humble bhindi (okra). You know we don't find it in France. In Paris I've often travelled 40 minutes to an Indian neighbourhood to buy some. Here I can't seem to have enough. I also love kakori and galouti kebabs a lot.
