bengaluru excitement and disbelief caught tryphine a student from zimbabwe living in bengaluru for the last two years when she learned that she received a scholarship to study in the city but over the course of time not only has she learnt that its not rosy for african students in the city its also important that they are outspokenin africa the education is great but coming to india was my chance to gain exposure and learn more in movies they show the country as very peaceful and so are the people but several experiences have caused this inevitable paranoia that grips me said tryphine a member of the federation of international students association bangalore i have learned that lack of education enhances racismset against the background of two incidents against african students in the city amnesty international india conducted a panel discussion on friday here tryphine was joined by david amum of the association of african students in india bangalore and darshana mitra of the alternative law forum in a conversation about being african and studying in indiathe problem is that the government still looks at african students population as a law and order issue unfortunately even the foreign regional registration office frro doesnt factor in many unjust cases that these students go through in their colleges as well said mitrasix students from a hennur college couldnt get their visa or residence permit extended because the college was holding on to their original documents like passports this is illegal but the college told these students to pay a sum to get their documents meanwhile with time running out of their hands 5 of them were given exit visas while one was detained and continues to wait for bail she addedwhile it is imperative for the government to maintain records of the students coming in from other countries mitra questioned the apathy of cops observed many times when a fir has to be lodged for a minor theft the police is generally up in arms waiting to write the fir but when we take cases of students being harassed by money from colleges there is least interest in acting on it said darshanamixing with the crowd is importantliving in the city for the last 5 years david amum has had his share of mixed experiences all along but if there is one thing he has learnt it is that no community can be isolated in this day and age we all need to learn to speak logically with the other be it international students or locals the ice can break when we understand our cultural differences and accept it its necessary for both sides he said further added we come here as students because we are told how multicultural and diverse this city is apart from the wonderful climate and the it hub but the unwillingness to mingle with the foreign crowd can further increase the divide