My name is Paul Chung and I am 62-years-old - I was born in Kolkata and have lived here all my life but I am Chinese.

The links between China and India will be cemented when Kolkata and a province in China - Shaoxing - are declared twin-cities. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is to put up a statue of the poet Lu Xun, from Shaoxing, at a key site in Kolkata.

Shaoxing is sometimes called 'Little India'. A delegation from China is coming to Calcutta to discuss the twinning plan, and I have been asked by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to liaise with Shaoxing authorities. As a second generation Chinese, it is a very proud moment for me.

I retired as the assistant principal of a leading school in Kolkata some time back. After my retirement, I had a lot of leisure and I could concentrate on community affairs more. It was then that I realized that the Chinese community has a lot to give to Kolkata today.

The Chinese came to this city centuries back and our existence is stamped in many heritage landmarks of Kolkata, like the hand pulled rickshaws.

In the past, the Chinese traders contributed significantly to the commerce of the city. However, with the dwindling of fortunes and migration to other countries, our influence as a community also fell.

Many tanneries, the largest business of the Kolkata Chinese closed down and others were shifted to the outskirts of the city, mostly for environmental reasons. Chinese shoemakers have been replaced by corporate ones. Tangra, the famous China Town of Kolkata, is now just known for its Chinese restaurants.

However, the Chinese community is much more than that and my challenge was not only to make the people of Kolkata realize that but to help the second and third generation Chinese people in the city appreciate it too.

Once I started out I realized our young people have no idea about their culture and traditions. They did not know the language, the music or the sociological nuances of being Chinese. I felt that before I set about making other people aware of the wealth of our community, I need the Chinese people themselves to be proud of their contribution.

With that view in mind, I arranged for a weekend school to teach Mandarin to and I was really surprised with the turnout. The young generation especialy showed so much interest and enthusiasm.

Spread over a year, the course teaches them how to communicate effectively in Mandarin. We have over 40 students in the school now, aged from 19 to 60.

Initially there was a difficulty in sourcing the text books. But now we keep track of whoever’s going to China and make him or her bring back books for us. It was also difficult to convince the community why they need to learn Mandarin as we all spoke the language to some extent at home. I had to make them understand the opportunities that lay in learning to read and write the language. There are so many Chinese businessmen who have been coming to Kolkata for business purposes and they need interpreters. Till now Bengali people who have learned Chinese have been doing the work, so why not us, who speak it as our Mother Tongue?

The other thing that I did to generate interest was to organize colourful events like dragon dance. The youth are always attracted to colour and music and vibrancy. And once they took part in the organization of such events, they felt more involved in the Chinese community and wanted to know more. So today I have young people who in the day time run successful businesses, but in the evening over the weekend they study their language at the school.

By doing what I am doing I am not trying to segregate the community in any way. I want them to know and respect their identities because only when you love your own culture can you love your adopted one too - for Kolkata is our adopted home and we are all Kolkatans at heart.

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My name is Dorothy. I have been a housewife throughout my life but through the Chinese language weekend school, I discovered new skills and a thirst for knowledge at the age of 60.

I was born and brought up in Kolkata and although we speak Cantonese at home, I never really thought it was important to be able to speak Mandarin.

A trip to visit my children, who live in the U.S., changed my perspective. When I went there, I was really ashamed at how well all the Chinese people who had migrated to America were able to speak the language and knew so much about Chinese culture and traditions – much more than the Chinese people in Kolkata where I grew up. I decided to learn about my culture and to read and write the language too.

When I came back I joined the weekend school to learn the language. Everyone thought my decision was ridiculous! People asked why I should need to learn the language when I was 60-years-old? They even told me to my face that I was too old to try something like that. I was very disheartened with all the criticism around me but I decided to go ahead anyway. My husband and children were very supportive of my decision.

The first day at the class was very embarrassing. I was low on confidence and felt like running away. At that moment I was feeling like a foolish old woman who was trying to do things that young people do. All my classmates were the age of my grandchildren and realizing that I felt more shy.

However, they made me feel at ease soon and I forgot my age and started enjoying being in a classroom again.

The early days were really tough and often I felt like giving up. I hadn’t realized that it would be so hard to learn to read and write the language that I speak at home. However, with the help of my classmates and the teacher, I was soon able to grasp the basics.

I am in the last year of my course now and I have also started teaching the beginners in the school. I love to interact with my classmates when I am studying and with the beginners when I am teaching.

More than anything else, I feel so privileged that at the age of 60 I have a career. I was content as a housewife throughout my life but today I am a teacher and however small my job might be, its contribution to my life is immense. It has helped me to build up my confidence, to think positively about life and more than anything else to be proud of myself.

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Paul and Dorothy spoke to Sweeble correspondent Nilanjana Bhattacharya, in Kolkata.