Turkmen students perform Hindi songs for Sushma Swaraj

Ashgabat, April 8: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was on Wednesday enthralled by Hindi-speaking Turkmen students who sang Hindi songs for her from 'Mera joota hai Japani' to the bhajan 'Itni Shakti humein dena data'.

Swaraj, who arrived on Tuesday for a three-day visit to co-chair the fifth India-Turkmenistan Inter-Governmental Joint Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation, interacted with students of Hindi Chair of the Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages at Yyldyz hotel where she is staying.

The Chair, which was established in 2010, has 50 Turkmen students studying Hindi with the assistance of ICCR.

The students presented a cultural programme, singing Hindi songs.

On hearing the song 'Mera joota hai Japani' from Shri 420, Swaraj said, "Raj Kapoor is hugely popular in this region. When you go to other places people say you have come from the land of Gandhi, from the land of Buddha but here people also say you have come from the land of Raj Kapoor."

Students in chorus sang the bhajan 'Itni Shakti humein dena data' from movie Ankush.

She said, "It is amazing to hear her favourite bhajan 'Itni Shakti humein dena data'. It is prayer I chant daily in the morning. In times of violence across the globe, it gives the message of peace."

Swaraj asked a student if anybody speaks Hindi in her house to which the girl, who was in the second year of her five-year Hindi course, said no and pointed out that her good Hindi was due to her keen following of Bollywood films.

The Minister also asked a student name her favourite Bollywood actor to which the student replied, "Shahrukh Khan."

One of the students also song the patriotic Hindi song, "Mera mulk, mera desh, mera ye watan".

The students told Swaraj that "they were in love with India."

PTI