When I was in Rome amidst the 3000 year old roman ruins and artifacts , I couldn't help wondering if there is any other culture that is as old as ours but is still alive and kicking in a society that is as evolved as ours. The belief system, culture and traditions of all the important ancient civilizations except our Indian is in history books , museums and for tour guides to spin stories from.
Commendable job by India !
On a related note , I love my country but I do not understand the concept of borders and excessive patriotism . I guess having a border is just a legal thing that makes the job of governing easier . People who aren't in the borders wouldn't understand this but people in the border areas , weather state or country , would understand that drawing a line in between doesn't remove the cultural and linguistic similarities that they share with their brethren across the border.
In my recent trip to Ladakh it was plain simple that Ladakhis have more in common with Chinese and Tibetians than mainstream Indians. Their food , language , clothing , looks is nothing what anyone would associate with India . Nobody will say that Momos is part of Indian cuisine or that a slant eyed person has 'Indian looks' when in fact it is as much Indian as the region of Ladakh is.
Same with Tamilians down south . I guess their sympathies lie with LTTE for the reason that they share so much in common with them than say a Kashmiri.
The Punjabi dress ,language and food is similar to western Pakistani regions than anywhere else in India.
So let us not impose language , culture on someone just because they belong to a particular country or state because the country and state is man made. Its never existed naturally in the first place. I am sure south Indians would learn Hindi more willingly than they do now if it was not imposed on them and if they didn't have to hear lectures from everybody on how adamant they are.
Happy Independence Day folks !
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