India.
The land of contradictions.
We proudly boast about our diversity. The language, dialect, culture, food, clothing etc changes every 12 miles on an average. There are over 1000 different languages. And still we are one nation - proud of our roots. We have evolved, grown and absorbed outside influences and wear our identities as Indians despite the various differences.
If we go back to our history textbooks and look a bit more carefully, what would we see? Wars, invasions, visitors from other countries doing trade with us.
The Mughals, Chinese, Portuguese, French and majorly British have left their stamp on our own culture. Nobody can deny it. The remnants still exist and the facts are documented. I won't go into detail because the influence is so vast. Be it the Urdu language and shayari, the music, the food, some social customs and manners. Or the bigger things like railway, post, telegraph etc. They might have been started to make life easy for the East India Company. But did the Indians throw these things out when the Brits left India? NO. Why?
We also started relying on these things. How can we throw out progress?
We have absorbed so much and yet we have managed to remain Indians. We have kept our identities and moved ahead with the times.
We started off as an advanced civilization which was famous for its industry, trade, knowledge and art. Think back on the times that we have read about the Nalanda University which used to attract students from all over the world. The Silk Route which is still followed by bohemian back-packers who just want to relive part of a forgotten past. The ancient but advanced knowledge of medicine contained in Ayurveda. The advances of surgery including plastic surgery which were invented by our ancient sages long before they were "officially invented" for the rest of the world. The knowledge of shipping, military, commerce, mathematics. Remember Aryabhatt and Ramanujan? The shrewd politics of Chanakya? The gorilla warfare tactics of Shivaji Maharaj?
Yes, we are the land which invented the ZERO!
So what happened to us now?
Fusion music - destroys Indian culture. Modern clothes - destroy Indian culture (strangely this applies only to women. Men since the time of my grandfather's generation have been wearing trousers and nothing seems to be wrong with the culture). Accepting same sex couples - against Indian culture (have these people been to the Khajuraho temples? They are in for a shock!).Freedom of speech - technically my fundamental right! But dare I raise a voice against true injustice. I might just get bumped off out of the blue. Freedom of expression - this one too is my fundamental right as a citizen! But look at some of the painters, musicians, artistes and how their expressions of art are defaced with black ink and the artiste is paraded on a donkey with a garland of footwear! Where the heck is civilization?
What the hell is wrong with us now?
There is something else which is also diverse, tolerant and ever-evolving, like our country. But, completely and totally free of opinions and prejudices.
A single entity which is truly Free. It doesn't have a language or a region or any religion. Neither does it belong to a country nor to a culture. It originates in one place, gets inculcated in another, moves somewhere else and never settles into any rigid form.
MUSIC
That is my escape. Maybe it has origins in Carnatic Indian classical form, but some sufi became friends with it and they moved towards middle-east. They added a few Arabic notes and accompanied them to western shores. They mingled with jazz and blues and reggae. Some got mixed up with a rebel called Trance. Wherever they went, beauty reigned supreme.
Like a walk on the beach, lashing of the sea-waves, bare feet on fresh green grass, birds chirping at dawn, serenity of twilight, mystique of a moonlit night, the gentle touch of a furry little friend - music just seeps into your Soul and applies a balm of peace and serenity. Just switching off this world and switching on some music makes me calm down and remember that things are changing.
There are so many positive changes, too. We have become much more aware of our rights and our surroundings. We have a handful of good citizens who do make a difference. Everyday heroes like you and me, making each small deed count for someone. Making someone's day, bringing a few smiles, adding a bit of joy.
We as a Nation, are going through a major churning. Another Amrit-Manthan, maybe. The mythological amrit-manthan didn't just produce the Elixir of Life. It also unleashed a few demons and a Pandora's box of negative things. Good and bad came out of it in balance. It looks like we are going through a manthan in reality. Sometimes bad takes over, but at times good also wins.
Yes, we are like a bickering Indian joint family these days. At times, always at each other's throats, not respecting each other's personal space or opinions, getting on each other's nerves. But we stay together. At the end of the day, we are diverse but united. We are all same intrinsically, and we know this. We know that, in the end, we just need to accept the differences and smile because we cannot live without each other.
Like the different genres of music mixing and merging to create magic, absorbing the good notes, modifying the bad notes to become part of the never ending opera of Life.
Posts
