India voor beginners

Literally means “India for beginners”. Zapping past this title I pressed record on the digibox only to forget about it and find it again a few weeks later. I presumed it was another travel or language program but was pleasantly surprised. The concept of this Belgian TV program is really cool!

10 Belgian people travel to India to research what is going on in their field of expertise in 21^st century India. Shabnam Sahi acts as their guide and translator. The topics are religion (Etienne Vermeersch), politics (Kathleen Van Brempt), food culture (Giovani Oosters), music (Roland van Campenhout), man/woman relations (Margot Vanderstraeten), entertainment (Nic Balthazar), science (Lieven Scheire), art (Delphine Boel), nature (Serge de Gheldere) and fashion (Annemie Verbeke).

The people sent to India are specialists in their field in Belgium but absolute beginners in India. The program shows each topic from various angles. While the ignorance is at times dripping off the screen, there is also genuine surprise and admiration. Questions get answered and more questions asked. All in all it gives a pretty real impression of the diversity of India and shows that the topics chosen are hot in both countries. It’s a mix of discovery, complexity and inspiration and a good reflection of the exciting place India is.

The program is in Flemish, but I found a little compilation on youtube: