US consul general meets Kolkata students – Times of India

Kolkata: A handful of university students — from minority backgrounds, some with an experience of mental health issues and others from the LGBTQI+ community — talked about their thoughts on inclusion and diversity to US consul general Melinda Pavek during the inauguration of the US pavilion at the book fair on Tuesday.
Among others, the group of 14 UG students included Krittika Seth who talked about how bipolar disorder and self-harm led to exclusion by her peers, Aishi Saha who talked about the challenges of discussing her sexuality openly with her family, Nafissa Islam who expressed a regular fear of persecution for her religion and Medha Ganguly who shared her experience of body-shaming in school.
A common thread running through the dialogue was of overcoming negative self-beliefs, prejudice and social alienation by finding a like minded community and engaging with alternate media and literature. Despite negative cultural stereotypes that made him increasingly estranged from his cultural heritage, Malayali born Gokul Nair said: “I was teased a lot and that made me shun my own culture. Cinema helped me overcome my bias against my culture and feel proud of how beautiful and diverse it is,” he said.
The informal adda between Pavek and the students was in keeping with the US pavilion’s theme this year — DEIA (diversity, equality, inclusion, accessibility) — that coincided with the beginning of Black History Month in the US. Talking about the race struggles in the US that precipitated this dialogue, she said: “We have had race challenges for more than 400 years. We ask ourselves: how do we relearn history through the perspective of equality?”