नमस्ते India!

Namaste—in Hindi नमस्ते —is a common spoken valediction or salutation originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is a customary greeting when individuals meet, and a valediction upon their parting. A non-contact form of salutation is traditionally preferred in India and Namaste is the most common form.

On Wednesday 25 July the ITER Organization celebrated "Namaste India Day," the second ITER "Member Day."  ITER Member Days are a new initiative that aims to highlight the unique, multicultural work environment of ITER by creating an opportunity for employees to discover each other's culture, music and traditional food.

For "Namaste India," all Indian ITER employees joined forces to put up traditional Indian decorations in and around the ITER Headquarters building entrance. Soft Indian music was playing outside in the hot summer sun as a variety of typical Indian dishes from a local caterer were brought in by Indian colleagues in colourful traditional costumes.

Before the guests were invited to taste this appetizing array, another typical Indian symbolic ceremony, the Lamp Lighting, was performed by ITER Director-General Osamu Motojima.

In the Indian tradition, daily worship starts with the lighting of the lamp. All auspicious functions, religious as well as social, start with the lighting of the lamp —the intellectual and spiritual significance of which runs deep.

The light symbolizes knowledge, which is the greatest wealth in life. Through knowledge, ignorance or darkness is dispelled.  Knowledge also influences our good as well as bad actions. So, the lamp which is kept lit for all auspicious occasions is a witness to our thoughts and actions.

The lighting of an oil lamp, according to Indian tradition, has a further significance because oil symbolizes man's negative tendencies and ego, and as it burns these slowly diminish and eventually perish.

After this short but beautiful ceremony and some words of welcome from Director-General Motojima, Deputy Director-General Dhiraj Bora (from the CODAC, Heating & Diagnostics Directorate), and Shawn Simpson from the Agence Iter France Welcome Office, the ITER colleagues from India served around 500 of their peers from all over the world a tasty sample of traditional Indian cuisine.

Special thanks to AIF, ITER India, the Indian Domestic Agency, the Embassy of India in Paris and all Indian ITER employees for their contributions and efforts in making Namaste India Day such a success.

Pictures of "Namaste India Day" can be viewed here.