For all those tourists, who have come to this site looking to make a tour plan in India, this is not your destination. I suggest you try http://www.incredibleIndia.org/
For the rest of us, who is still with me, let's enjoy the rest of the journey.
On those grounds where Indus valley civilisation started in 5000 BC, lie today the mystic land of India. I call it mystic because inspite of being an Indian for 29 years, even today i don't completely understand my own culture. It's not a matter to be ashamed of, rather i find it an avenue for profound introspection and analysis.
Mess up with an African Nation, they may declare a war on you;
Mess up with America, they will force Democracy in your country as they did in Iraq and Afghanistan;
Mess up with Pakistan, they will declare proxy war on you;
Mess up with an Islamic Nation, they will impinge damage on you tantamounting to another September 11;
Mess up with India, there will be silent spectators, and some protestors will burn effigies.
Yes, EFFIGIES. Effigies have been the strongest weapon of Indian protestors starting from the days of British Dominance till Richard Gere kissed Shilpa Shetty in public.
DELHI, India, April 17 (UPI) -- Effigies of Bollywood actress Shipla Shetty and Hollywood star Richard Gere were burned around India to protest their kiss during an AIDS awareness function.
Hindu and Muslim groups protested in Varanasi and Kanpur and elsewhere around India, criticizing public kiss as "indecent behavior" by Shetty and Gere and calling their actions "an attack on our cultural ethos," the Hindustan Times said.
-- picked up from http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/74943
What Richard Gere did was merely hug Shilpa and rubs her cheeks. Well, to satiate the needs of media and protestors, let me put it this way; Gere hugged Shilpa tightly and brushed cheeks violently.
Moments later, Indian Media and protestors slandered Gere for his obscene behavior in public. Obscene?? I thought it is a part of Gere's culture. I think, everyone has missed that one important point. What Indian Culture never taught us was to disrespect any other culture, slander any other human being. And we were excatly doing that.
For many of us Indians, it's difficult to admit that the world has gone far from accepting a public kiss. We Indians, cannot deny that everything that we see in the so called West is practised rampantly in our country too, but under cover.
I have noticed that under certain situations, we tend to behave in a much digressed trend than what Indian culture has actually been emanating on that particular topic.
I work for an Indian Multinational Company which has a big branch in Europe with local recruits. It was really nice of the company to provide a well equipped Gymnasium. Till here, everything was ok. Things went awry when someone requested for a masseur in office, who could give head, neck and shoulder massage to the employees. The local HR gave an impression that such kind of thing would never be allowed in Indian Culture.
Indian Culture?? I don't understand. All this while, i thought Indian culture believed in the therapeutic use of Massages. Kerala Tourism, in India is officially promoting Ayurvedic & Herbal Massages and Spas. Ironic, huh??
Think of a few centuries back. Vatsayana, a 4th Century AD Indian Scholar, put together his knowledge on Aphorisms of love in a compilation, which the modern day world popularly knows as KamaSutra. Goodness, is it one Indian who taught the world the art of having sex?? But look at us Indians, we are so scared of it now. Forget Sex, discussions on sex is also a taboo in India. Mindblowing, huh??
These are only a few instances. If we look deep in to our daily lives, we can find out several such hypocricies which we unknowingly project to the world. Little do we understand that if we covet a fear, if imprints firmly on us. We forget that we should be lukewarm about orthodox rituals and traditions. Ritual is to make way for someone's progress, not hinder it.
The whole world today, comes to india to learn spiritualism and art of living. But, if we continue this way without understanding the necessity of living in the modern world, we are bound to forget our own spirit of living.
Your thoughts??
For the rest of us, who is still with me, let's enjoy the rest of the journey.
On those grounds where Indus valley civilisation started in 5000 BC, lie today the mystic land of India. I call it mystic because inspite of being an Indian for 29 years, even today i don't completely understand my own culture. It's not a matter to be ashamed of, rather i find it an avenue for profound introspection and analysis.
Mess up with an African Nation, they may declare a war on you;
Mess up with America, they will force Democracy in your country as they did in Iraq and Afghanistan;
Mess up with Pakistan, they will declare proxy war on you;
Mess up with an Islamic Nation, they will impinge damage on you tantamounting to another September 11;
Mess up with India, there will be silent spectators, and some protestors will burn effigies.
Yes, EFFIGIES. Effigies have been the strongest weapon of Indian protestors starting from the days of British Dominance till Richard Gere kissed Shilpa Shetty in public.
DELHI, India, April 17 (UPI) -- Effigies of Bollywood actress Shipla Shetty and Hollywood star Richard Gere were burned around India to protest their kiss during an AIDS awareness function.
Hindu and Muslim groups protested in Varanasi and Kanpur and elsewhere around India, criticizing public kiss as "indecent behavior" by Shetty and Gere and calling their actions "an attack on our cultural ethos," the Hindustan Times said.
-- picked up from http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/74943
What Richard Gere did was merely hug Shilpa and rubs her cheeks. Well, to satiate the needs of media and protestors, let me put it this way; Gere hugged Shilpa tightly and brushed cheeks violently.
Moments later, Indian Media and protestors slandered Gere for his obscene behavior in public. Obscene?? I thought it is a part of Gere's culture. I think, everyone has missed that one important point. What Indian Culture never taught us was to disrespect any other culture, slander any other human being. And we were excatly doing that.
For many of us Indians, it's difficult to admit that the world has gone far from accepting a public kiss. We Indians, cannot deny that everything that we see in the so called West is practised rampantly in our country too, but under cover.
I have noticed that under certain situations, we tend to behave in a much digressed trend than what Indian culture has actually been emanating on that particular topic.
I work for an Indian Multinational Company which has a big branch in Europe with local recruits. It was really nice of the company to provide a well equipped Gymnasium. Till here, everything was ok. Things went awry when someone requested for a masseur in office, who could give head, neck and shoulder massage to the employees. The local HR gave an impression that such kind of thing would never be allowed in Indian Culture.
Indian Culture?? I don't understand. All this while, i thought Indian culture believed in the therapeutic use of Massages. Kerala Tourism, in India is officially promoting Ayurvedic & Herbal Massages and Spas. Ironic, huh??
Think of a few centuries back. Vatsayana, a 4th Century AD Indian Scholar, put together his knowledge on Aphorisms of love in a compilation, which the modern day world popularly knows as KamaSutra. Goodness, is it one Indian who taught the world the art of having sex?? But look at us Indians, we are so scared of it now. Forget Sex, discussions on sex is also a taboo in India. Mindblowing, huh??
These are only a few instances. If we look deep in to our daily lives, we can find out several such hypocricies which we unknowingly project to the world. Little do we understand that if we covet a fear, if imprints firmly on us. We forget that we should be lukewarm about orthodox rituals and traditions. Ritual is to make way for someone's progress, not hinder it.
The whole world today, comes to india to learn spiritualism and art of living. But, if we continue this way without understanding the necessity of living in the modern world, we are bound to forget our own spirit of living.
Your thoughts??
