HYDERABAD: Food, music and revelry are essential to the City of Pearls and France and what better day to celebrate all those things than Bastille Day the national day of France (July 14). The Alliance Francaise of Hyderabad has lined up various events for a week-long programme for food, music and fun. Due to the Covid-19, the organisation will stream most of the celebrations online.
“We are trying to highlight the major scenes of interest between Hyderabad and France gastronomy. Hyderabad was also elected by UNESCO as the Creative City of Gastronomy and France famous for its food too,” said Director of Alliance Francaise Samuel Berthet.
On Wednesday, a student of Alliance Francaise, who owns a patisserie, started her online video series on preparing different French cuisines. A DJ from Hyderabad and Bordeaux also played on the occasion. Shanthala Veigas, Coordinator of Culture and Communication at Alliance Francaise, said, “The Heart Beats, a French classical band, held an online concert on Wednesday that was streamed on Facebook and YouTube. We held quizzes for beginners and intermediate students as well. We have launched a new gastronomy series called A Table about French recipes. I also recited an acrostic poem with the environment as the theme.”
The organisation also started a ‘Flaunt Your French’ session where students showcased their French skills. “We also started Club Francaise, which will include 10 sub-clubs that will perform different activities. We are doing everything online and we are doing quite well as there are many people who couldn’t come to the centre. We connected with national and international events too.”
Josua Mario of The Heart Beats says, “This band includes my dad Peter, brother Joachim and me. We played three French classics — J’ai la memoire qui flanche by Jeanne Moreau, C’est si doux by Orlando and Les Chanps Elyees by Joe Dassin. This was a tribute for the French people.”