Kaustav Ghosh
“The cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most constructive materials in the history of men are treasured up in India only”
-Mark Twain1
India, not just a country or a nation state. It is the emotion-not because of I am an Indian, not because of Indian civilisation is more than some thousand years old; It is because its big heart to accept every people irrespective of its religion, caste, color, creed, nationality. India is the land of diversity and hospitality.
If you look into her history, you will find how many invasion it has faced- from Indo-Aryan migration and any hostility relating to it to European invasion, she had faced wave of attack for decades after decades, she is facing it till today. But still she is standing strong and she will. Swami Vivekananda this is why said-
“Shall India die? Then from the world all spirituality will be extinct, all moral perfection will be extinct, all sweet-souled sympathy for religion will be extinct, all ideality will be extinct; and in its place will reign the duality of lust and luxury as the male and female deities, with money as its priest, fraud, force, and competition its ceremonies, and the human soul its sacrifice. Such a thing can never be.”2
Now why I am writing this. By the way Good noon, it is 10.49 a.m here and I am late to wish you a very good morning. While getting up from bed, I felt today is the day when we will celebrate Poush sankranti, from today every bengali household will have pitha, payes and so many other delicious foods. Today is the last day of Poush, a month as per bengali calendar. But do you know today is celebrated differently across India-
Like poush parbon in among bengalis(bengali community celebrate this around the world irrespective of where they are, Magh bihu or Bhogali bihu amongst the north eastern people, Kicheri among Uttar Pradesh, Makar Sankranti in Bihar,Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Kerala, Pedda Panduga in Andhra pradesh and telengana, Pana Sankranti or Maha Vishub Sankranti in Odisha, Lohri in Punjab, Thai Pongal amongst the Tamil people, Shishur Saenkraat in Kashmir, Suggi Habba among Kannadigas( Karnataka), Uttarayan in Gujarat. This list will be bigger and to mention all of this will need at least 1000 pages+ and 3 hour video.
It is just a one instance- one celebration is celebrated differently by different names in India. There are so many languages in India by which people expresses its emotion. Even new year is known by different names amongst the communities of India. Even after so many differences we stand together, fight together, breathe together, live together for many thousand years. If people of India could understand that this unity coming from only respecting differences and diversities for so long; not by a one religion, language- they will not impose anything upon others. Then India will not bleed internally like today over caste, creed, language and religion issues. I hope me along with the youth of India can unearth the heaven on earth and its capital will be India. For me India is itself a religion, For me India is, was, will be always-
DIFFRENTLY UNIQUE, UNIQUELY DIFFERENT
HAPPY SANKRANTI
————————————————–
Leave a Reply