Dr Meeta Ghosh conferred Palmes Académiques

Dear Dr Ghosh,

Dear Committee Members of Alliance Française de Lucknow

Dear Director,

Dear friends,

For more than 30 years, Dr Ghosh, you have tirelessly put your passion and energy to serve French language in Lucknow, the capital of a state as important as Uttar Pradesh.

As a matter of fact, this passion is not newly found. It dates back to 1982, the year when you discovered French as a student, first at Alliance Française de Bombay, then at the University of Lucknow, where you received an advance diploma in 1985.

In 1988, you received a scholarship to undergo French language training in Vichy. There, created ties with a French family to whom you send a friendship band every year on the occasion of Rakhi, the Indian festival for brothers and sisters. Your son was born on 14th July, which you see as another sign of the unwavering connection you have with France.

You started your research very early and are still continuing it, which has garnered the admiration of all those well-versed enough in literature to follow it. In 1992, you had your first success when the University of Lucknow approved your remarkable study on the Existentialist views of Jean-Paul Sartre in Harold Pinter’s plays.

The greatest passion of your life – teaching the French language – took off simultaneously. Many institutions, both schools and universities, learnt from your extensive knowledge of the subject, which also included teaching specialized French courses in tourism and management. You have thus demonstrated, dear Dr Ghosh, to what an extent French serves as a key to other areas of knowledge and better careers, and you transmit this with undeniable flair.

Always at the forefront of promoting French in Lucknow for many years, you assumed the de facto role of an ambassador of our language, and sometimes of our country. I cannot enumerate all the delegations that have had the chance to receive your smiling and efficient support, especially in these establishments whose reputation of excellence need no introduction and which are close to our heart since they were founded by a Frenchman, - Martinière "Boys" or La Martinière "Girls", sister and brother of La Martinière in Lyon. But I must mention the Director of the Senegal UNESCO in the year 2000 and also, in 2006, the two judges of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. This speaks volumes on your talent, which surpasses borders and limits.

In 2010, came another turning point in your life: you worked to promote the French language in Lucknow, convinced by the potential of this city for the promotion of French in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India. This contact was promising, since three years later you agreed to become the coordinator for DELF-DALF exams in Lucknow.

It was then that it seemed possible to make your dream of seeing an Alliance Française opened in Lucknow, become a reality. You worked on this tirelessly, always confident, always persuasive, always helping. And with good reason, since in 2016 you managed to bring together eminent personalities, whom I warmly greet, and you persuaded them to create the founding committee of an Alliance whose inauguration, in October 2016, remains one of my fondest memories.

You accomplished all this – I wonder how you find the time, dear Dr. Ghosh – all this did not stop you from continuing your work, which was crowned with the supreme accolade of a Doctorate in French awarded in July 2018 by the prestigious Delhi University.

Tonight, it is over thirty years of your fidelity to our language and the values of openness and excellence that it bears, that I hail, as much with friendship as admiration. It was only natural that the French Government should recognize and honor your devotion.

And now, as required by protocol, I will proceed in French:

Madame Meeta Ghosh, au nom du ministre de l’éducation nationale, je vous fais Chevalier dans l’ordre des Palmes académiques.