Students apparently now want to learn something about the east, after travelling to the west for centuries for education and exploration purposes.

Nine students - Bishnu Rabari (Gujarat Vidyapith), Dewang Makwana, Nitin Parmar Bhavesh Patel (MSU, Vadodara), Jagruti Patel (Neema Girls Arts College, Mehsana), Nikunj Gevariya (MBA from SP University), Ajay Tandel (Government College, Daman), Sunayana Pawar (ex-NSS awardee) and Yesha Patel from HK Arts College will travel to China for a Youth Delegation programme through the National Social Scheme.

Two others, Nilakshi Moirangthem and Ananya Roy from St Xavier's College will go to Japan on a Gujarat University programme.

An IFS aspirant and a second year BA Economics student, Nilakshi has always been interested in studying Japanese culture and people. She said, "For years I have seen close ties between Manipur and Japan as many pay homage to their forefathers who sacrificed their lives in the Second World War. Hence I have always wanted to visit Japan and know more about their culture, trade practices and the like."

Ananya Rao who is visiting Japan under the GU's students exchange programme, intends to learn how the Japanese people get their strength. She said, "Despite major obstacles coming their way, Japanese are a very strong community. With the third largest GDP in the world, Japan is definitely a country to explore and know more about."

Known to be an all-rounder in her college, Yesha will visit China to present Gujarat's socio-cultural scenario. "NSS volunteers of Gujarat will attend the International Youth Exchange Programme to China from September 19 to 29 under the aegis of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India. We have been selected after a thorough screening. A total of 500 youth from all across India will attend this programme."

According to Bishnu, "We have had our differences on various occasions with China. My plan is to study the nation and understand what it is that is coming in our way of maintaining good relations with them."