India Remembers
The USI-CMHCS community engagement project ‘India Remembers’ which began in 2016 to institutionalise a culture of remembrance in the country has been continuing. Through the course of the project, the Centre collaborated with similar projects in the UK to raise awareness of India’s contribution in the First World War. One of the projects the USI-CMHCS has consistently supported is the Unremembered project in the UK which highlights the oft-forgotten role of the Indian Labour Corps in WW1.
As part of the India Remembers project the USI-CMHCS mooted the proposal that the Marigold flower join the Poppy as an Indian symbol of Remembrance. Through the course of the year, the marigold has been widely used in India-related commemorative events around the world. The Indian Great War Military Memorial that was inaugurated at Villers-Guislain in France on 10 Nov 2018 has a bronze marigold wreath as an integral part of its design.
The USI continues to promote the marigold as an Indian symbol of remembrance and aims for its symbolic significance to be understood at a grass-roots level. The marigold was chosen because it is easily and widely available and also because saffron is often seen as a colour of sacrifice.