Ek Bharat... Shresht Bharat... #MoreIndianThanYouThink

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Source: travelseizing.com

Introduction

India is one of the most diverse countries in the world and stands for numerous things. When someone is asked to define India, he/she may speak of various points like people, culture, traditions, business, villages, beliefs, technology, poverty, celebrations, intelligence, cricket, and so on. No matter how you look at the country, you are bound to get a strong feeling or opinion about it. I am proud to be an Indian and a lot of my friends from different companies are happy about the fact that they were part this holistic experience called India. In this blog post, I share my experiences that tell us that life is #MoreIndianThanYouThink.

A Melting Pot

In my journey of learning and pursuing a course in social entrepreneurship journey, I had an opportunity to live with people from different parts of the world. All these people had chosen to work in India as a part of their fellowship program, of which, I was a fellow too. They all expressed their love for the immense cultural diversity in India. They loved the rich heritage of our country and were keen to travel and explore more. Amid such a different environment, they were amazed how people still come together and live a complementing life. Interestingly, some of them loved the cultural factor so much that they decided to extend their stay, and a few decided to work longer in the country. I felt really good seeing how much Indianness had caught up with them in just 6 months.

As I was one of the very few localites in the program, they would continually discuss about people, practices, religion, geographies, histories, environment and so on. Each's opinion and view point was different. Some loved to see festive celebrations, some loved the animals on the road, some loved the food on the streets, some loved historical cities like Hampi, Madurai, etc, and some even felt that India is a safer place to live.

Why India?

There could be a hundred reasons. Some wanted to learn about social issues, some wanted to work with the bottom of the pyramid, some wanted to work on women empowerment, some wanted to enable social enterprises work more efficiently and India offered a gamut of opportunities to these people who wanted to think different and do different. Moreover, India is a place where guests are treated like Lords as we believe in "Athithi Devo Bhava". Indianness just gushes into anyone who observes India carefully and it becomes a part of his/her life forever.

Be it people from US, Australia, Russia, Nigeria, Egypt or any place, they all wanted to experience this great country. They all felt that there is so much to do here. Life is more interestingly challenging. It is fun. It is beautiful. In fact, many of them loved the weather in Bangalore. Some instances of involvement prove that they are more Indian than I thought.

1. Some of them not only loved Indian food but insisted to learn the recipe, worked on learning to to cook and expressed desire to cook more often.
2. Many of them expressed desire to extend their stay. Some even took up jobs in India to live here for longer time, after the fellowship.
3. They loved to wear Indian dresses, especially the Sari. Whenever they went for a wedding or Pooja, they always dressed in Indian attire.
4. They visited ISKCON for the Krishna Janmashtami celebrations and were a part of the famous midnight aarati.
5. They didn't mind sitting on the floor, folding their hands to say "Namaste".
6. Seldom did they complain about the food, it being very different from what they are used to eat.

Funny enough, they should complain now for missing all this when they are back to their countries, and that should make them #MoreIndianThanYouThink.

Yoga brings the world closer to India

If there is one field other than IT and Outsourcing that connects India to the world, it is Yoga. Yoga, which is practiced since pre-vedic times in India, came to the attention of western public in the mid 19th century and into my life when I met this girl from Virginia, US. Last year, when I was spending time at the Gym, Arielle told me that we should try Yoga. I thought the results from Yoga will not be effective and Gym was a better alternative. After 2-3 months of persuading me, we discovered a Yoga class and joined together. While I still didn't change my opinion, what I learnt from practicing Yoga was that it was a great way to keep ourselves in great health, active and focused in the long run. Yoga is not just about the body. It is also about the mind, emotions and several other factors. Several practices like this originated from India and unfortunately, while we Indians are discarding them to adapt to western solutions, there is a mass awakening in the western world towards these Indian solutions that prove their mettle in the long run. There's no denying that Yoga is #MoreIndianThanYouThink.

A land of festivals and celebrations

There are so many festivals in India that the Government finds it difficult to announce holidays. So, they come up with a list of restricted or optional holidays. In other larger countries, its mostly a few festivals that rule the calendar. However, in India, there are festivals all through the year and each of these are celebrated by different groups with great pomp and splendor as they appeal to them. Indian festivals make it big with food, decorations, colors, numerous rituals, costumes, fireworks and so on. My friends were so interested in celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi that we booked a trip to my home almost 2 months before the festival (read Ganesh Chaturthi at Namma Hubballi). My parents were amazed at how people from different country came over to be a part of our celebrations and they had the least of differentiation. They wanted to do everything that we were doing and enjoyed the time.

One day, it so happened that we were taking an evening walk. As we neared Raghavendra Swamy temple, my friend Yana insisted that she wanted to check in. I thought they wouldn't like it and moreover, it was some special occasion, and was crowded, and told them the same. We came home. The next day, both Yana and Arielle dressed up in Salwar/Dupatta and visited the temple. When they came back in the evening with kumkum (vermilion) on their foreheads and flowers on their head, I was totally surprised. The way they described their experience, I could see that they couldn't contain their excitement. "Yana and Arielle, you guys are definitely more Indian that I ever thought.", I said.

Weddings - The other big festivities of India

Everyone had heard about Indian weddings and they all wanted to ensure they attend one such wedding before the fellowship ends. Arielle and I had the opportunity to visit Madurai for my friend Shanta's wedding. At wedding, the most memorable moment for me is when Arielle asked for the seat allocation. I was puzzled. She was astonished to see more than a thousand people at the wedding. It was a Tamil wedding and she loved the experience of eating on a banana leaf. I got to learn about how the seats are reserved by name at wedding overseas. I felt it was so different. While in India, we all find some relation and get into anybody's wedding and in other countries, you have to be invited for a wedding. It had been on her tick list to attend such a wedding and I was glad that it happened. We also wandered around the city of Madurai, visiting temples and other places of historical importance. It was an incredible journey, indeed (read An excursion to the land of temples).

As we speak of temples, I was surprised when I heard from Lakshmidi, who lives in US, that there are temples, much bigger and cleaner than in India, in the US. It surprised me to listen at the way they welcomed other cultures and religions, providing them all the freedom to celebrate their festivals. Definitely, the United States is #MoreIndianThanYouThink.

Jeevan Vidya - Teaching Simple Living and Understanding Life

The world knows Indians as people who believe in simple living and high thinking. However, with the changes happening in our economy, things have been different. In such a time, there are people who are trying to help us move on the right path in life by teaching us the same age old principles that our ancestors followed. The interesting point here is that some of these teachers are foreigners. More than a year ago, I had the opportunity to sit in Vinish Gupta's class. His wife, Karuna, hails from the US and they live in Sirsi, along with their kid, and practice a long list of things that are unique to Indians. They have immense knowledge of our culture, language, practices, etc. There are many others like Karuna who have come to India for various reasons and have fallen absolutely in love with one or the other factor, and have decided to live here. India has a magnetic power and people who visit this country, just fall in love with it.

Indian Music, Winning Hearts of the Westerners

Indian music has always been known for its soothing effects. The world is a becoming a smaller place these days and all kinds of musics are now accessible to everyone. India has a large variety of music and musical instruments, but so very less number of people continuing to play them. Our music is dying a slow death. Veena, Sitar, Tamboor, Harmonium, Flute, etc have almost made an exit from the stage. It is the age of electronic and jazz music with funk, retro, rock modes, and Indians are ready to rap. However, there is another side to this. When I was on the Jagriti Yatra 2012 (read Jagriti Yatra 2012 experiences), I visited the Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya (KSV) in Dharwad. Mathieu Fortier from Quebec city (Canada), has built this wonderful institution to preserve the Indianness of our country. He has studied Indian languages (Hindi, Bengali, and Kannada), Indian Classical Music, and Hatha Yoga. He now resides half the year with his wife and children at KSV.

From KSV's Annual Report 2012-13

What was even surprising was that, Mathieu's wife, Agathe (from Paris) lived with him along with their 4 daughters. She has spent over six years in India. Agathe has also studied Bengali at the Vishwa Bharati University at Shanti Niketan in West Bengal and Hindi at Varanasi. I was left dumbstruck to learn about someone from such a developed country coming in to preserve our music and culture, which may be, we didn't think much about. Agathe has learnt Kannada and I even saw her making the kids sleep in her lap by singing a song. A simple khadi salwar with the red bindi on the forehead, I just couldn't believe what I saw. I felt blessed to learn that such a heaven existed in my own native. While she's an inspiration being a founder and strategic decision maker at KVS, she's more Indian that any Indian could have thought her to be.

In the end, perhaps, India is #MoreIndianThanYouThink

"If there is one country in this world where you are welcomed with open arms, broad smile and good thoughts in mind, it is India", said some famous personality who has lived his life traveling around the world. Perhaps, the ones who don't understand the significance of the our country are we, ourselves. We often turn frowned faces to a lot of things that can actually be seen as an opportunity. Times are changing. Fortunately, with a credible leader and a patriot of action like Narendra Modi leading the nation, we have again started focusing on our country. His dream to create "Ek Bharat, Shresht Bharat" (One India, Excellent India) is a harbinger of a new revolution in our lives. It is a appeal to make ourselves more efficient, competitive and take an active part in the growth and progress of our country. I wouldn't be wrong to conclude by saying that today, we are living in times, when every Indian is more Indian than he was and the World is #MoreIndianThanYouThink.