India: A Unique, Individual Country of Variety and Warmth

chillibreeze writer — Vaibhav Tiwari

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“Nothing in India is identifiable; the mere asking of a question causes it to disappear or merge into something else.”
That is how E.M. Forster prescribed his views of India. It aptly surmises the very nature of the country – her unavailability to prying eyes trying to decipher her codes and mark her rank on the modern scales of economy and other indices; like an intellectual loner, she puts off such mediocrity. This indefinite psyche of India renders her an unparalleled singularity, and finds manifestation in her religious tolerance and spiritual idealism.

The understanding of India, if she were noticed casually, would be incomplete, misdirected, and even wrong. India cannot be understood unless you follow her and submit to her with a students’ quest, and it is then that she lets you see beyond the obvious, into the deep wells of her mystic realm. Like her women, the country too is exotic; she will welcome you warmly, but not let the veil of obscurity off her face. But to those who come to her as her own, she offers such abundance and availability as no culture knows.

An essay on her singularity could well begin with a most plural thought – her populace. As God’s original script would have had it, like a fecund woman she breeds in abundance. And her children, saddened by the mediocre, mortal pleasures of wealth and comfort available on her land, know yet a simpler, truer happiness that they seek through their silent, smiling countenances. No other culture over the ages, after such brutal attempts to dilute it into a non-entity could preserve its essence and further give sufficiently to the tyrant to have him submit in awe and dissolve in its greatness, like the Violet that leaves fragrance on the feet that crush it. She never was a ravished queen, may be a bruised mother that chose not to just forgive the errant child but also lift his senses into greatness!

Obviously then, India is a melting pot of several races – the flamboyant Aryan descendants of her North, the sage-like intellectuals of her South, the beautiful peoples of her North-East and further mixes and combinations that proudly lace her broad spread – all of whom are separated more by geography and perceptions than by their innateness. So do not be surprised to find a little Zoroastrian community in some part of the country living, no, thriving in resources – cultural and worldly - and such people coexisting, giving and seeking from each other in small or big measure.

Yes, there are troubles and violence, largely over religion, but a family of several races may have to fight a little at times. Remove the turmoil of politics and the fraternity is restored. And so you see millions in sync, with remarkable poise, standing for their rights - rich and poor, elitists and downtrodden, the royals and the commoners, Communists and Capitalists - all huddled together in a democratic bind. It is much like an unsolvable equation of several variables that yet has many possible answers.

Her Gods too, like her population, run into millions, and cater to every occasion and please every sub-culture and tribe with their personalized manifestations. Talking of Gods, it is in India that Gods are made to feel like Gods – revered in ways as in no other country or culture. While the West could go no beyond than carving magnificent sculptures and crafting folklores, it is in India that religion delves into lifestyles so definitely and passionately that it sometimes amounts to friction and intolerance of a bad order. Barring excesses, the maintaining of such diverse portfolio of Gods and religions is commendable of her society and the liveliest example of her Secularism. Let her many shortcomings be forgiven for the upliftment it provides. Her shady politics, her weak infrastructure, her plagued bureaucracy are blemishes that do more harm than being just bad advertisements. And yet, she holds her own in all fields of progress, from Arts to Science and from particle to wave. Yes, for all her glorious capacity, India has underachieved, but like an aspirant of spiritual stimulation, seemingly stays away from the successful West, whose modern ways are beginning to seek end into the soulful mysticism that India offers – something that her saints had codified in sacred books ages before others were to begin defining their timelines.

And thus, if life is seen as an experience that one were to record and read aloud to God at a later point, India would offer immense vision and myriad observations to derive from. Through the simplistic achievements of her societies and her children, she offers a convincing mental landscape that the picturesque Europe or the tall America fail to furnish.

What India can offer is not located in her mountains or limited by her form; for the uninhibited youth, it is like a true beloved who tells you things about you that you yourselves are unaware of; to the old and learned, she is like an unassuming teacher who helps you see with your spirit beyond where your eyes let.

India, among other ideas, is an experience.

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—About our writer:

Vaibhav says,"My pen wrote better than it knew; as it wrote, its consciousness grew."
I am an observant kind, given to pondering that also brings a slowness of method in my doings. I live in dreams. I am an adept storyteller. As would generously suit an incurable romantic, I have a remarkable facility with the language. I regret my inability to dance or to play the piano. Professionally, I'm a mechanical engineer (yes!) and stay at Bangalore."

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