DKU BLOGS: DOWN A TRAIL OF TRANSFORMATION

By Pranav Sridhar

Photo courtesy of the author

When I visited China in August 2014, I was blown away. The massive scale of the infrastructure, the country’s unique way of life, and most importantly the warmth of the Chinese people captured my imagination. My immersion in a culture with so long a history and so broad in its diversity has broadened my perspectives on life and learning. In order to best illustrate this journey, I wish to recount three symbolic events that took place during my semester in China and the lessons they have taught me.

As I walk down memory lane, I cannot help but recall my first day at Duke Kunshan University (DKU). As new students, we were required to carry out the mundane task of getting our computers configured to the local internet network. As I began this usually annoying process, I had the pleasure of meeting John Straffin, one of the IT champs from Duke University. In a couple of minutes, we struck off a great conversation. On his part, he shared how this first trip overseas was proving to be challenging and rewarding at the same time. For my part, I was telling him all about India and how I was ecstatic to be at DKU. We even met a couple of times over the course of the next week and had a blast each time. Similar interactions with others from around the world only fueled my desire to be a well-rounded global citizen. Having reflected on such encounters, I have come to believe that at its core, inter-cultural competency is an attitude. Whether or not one has traveled the world and visited numerous countries need not come to bear on one’s curiosity and passion for an intimate understanding of cultures different from one’s own.

My second takeaway pertains to a theme that is central to the founding of DKU: educating pioneers to be agents of positive change. Every aspect of my DKU experience only reinforced the importance of this vision. Taking classes with expert faculty like Brian Hare, Vicki Russell, and William Pan, engaging with passionate students who have ambitious dreams for themselves and their societies, and working with administrative staff who would not relent until our challenges were resolved was a constant source of motivation, inspiration, and guidance. My experiences at India’s Shiv Nadar University have kindled in me a passion to create economically sustainable educational models that can have a large-scale impact. But my experiences at DKU have led me to dream bigger and brighter. Challenges I earlier assumed too difficult are now dreams I seek to achieve. People I imagined to be larger than life are now an inspiration to gain more from every moment. In its essence, DKU has helped me appreciate the possibilities in any idea, however outrageous it may seem.

The final anecdote I wish to share has everything to do with warmth and love in fostering relationships. A friend and I had the unique opportunity to visit a recording studio to sing a Chinese song. We were welcomed by Li Laoshi, an anchor for a Kunshan television network. His warmth and concern was overwhelming. On our way to the studio, he kept helping us practice our Chinese and taught us a whole lot about Chinese culture. And then we said something about being foreigners in China, and he immediately stopped us and said, “你们不是外国人，你们是新昆山人” （You are not foreigners; you are now new members of our Kunshan community）. Those words remain etched in my mind while similar experiences at a local Chinese school and at the home of a local family have reaffirmed my belief that a genuine attempt at building lasting relationships can go a long way in bridging gaps and in creating an inclusive society. One cannot deny that national and international relations are mired by complex challenges, intricate histories and unexplained misunderstandings. But after several months in China and a whole lot of reflection, I cannot help but see the power in citizen-level, cross-cultural exchange: People are what societies are made of, and in my opinion, active engagement between the building blocks of our world community is the best place to start in doing away with the myriad prejudices that plague our society.

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Pranav is a senior at Shiv Nadar University, India. He enjoys interacting with different kinds of people, is passionate about innovative educational ideas and thoroughly enjoys conversations over cups of hot tea.