My India! My Mother Land!! My Pride!!!

India! Bharat!! As Rakesh Sharma said when asked by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, how India looked from space, “Saare Jahaan se Achhaa!”

It is a myriad of cultures, colours, religious…. What not? A co-existence of different cultures, in peace. A truly secular Nation!

A nation that has been termed as one of the oldest civilizations in the world! A nation that is as much known for its Vedas, yoga, etc as for its cuisine, software experts, astronomy, and mathematics! This is the country that gave the world such fantastic things like the Zero, Infinity, Yoga, Ayurveda, Astrology etc.!

Languages: Most of the Indian states were formed on the basis of the language. And coming under the broad spectrum of Aryan & Dravidian languages, almost 28 languages are spoken across the country with as many as 10-15 dialects in each language! In spite of this vast difference, being an “INDIAN” forms a very strong common bond that unites the citizens of the biggest democracy in the world.

Music: Carnatic music has been accepted as one of the most evolved & scientific systems of music in the world. Especially the tala system & the melakartha system has the worlds in awe of the mathematical prowess of the musicians who found the system. Hindustani music, more influenced by the mogul culture is known for its great alaps & range. And the folk music! India is probably the only country where people have specific songs to be sung at birth, during seed-sowing, harvest, weddings, religious festivals, common house hold tasks like grinding grains, cooking, collecting firewood, putting children to sleep, waking up, drawing water from well, irrigation, tilling the soil, fishing and even sorrowful situations like parting, death etc. There are different types of music for different time of the day, different seasons etc too! Music is a part of life for Indians right from pre historic times. Even their war cries & Vedic chanting are musical!

Yoga: One of the greatest gifts of India to the world is Yoga.   The westerners have come to accept that yoga, which is a way of life again, that keeps the mind & body in good health is the most superior form of known fitness regimes.

Ayurveda, a part of Adarvana Veda- one of the 4 Veda that are the pillars of Hinduism is another treasure. Hinduism is actually not a religion.  The Vedas only teach the right way to live& a strong belief in the Supreme. It does not specify any particular God. It is a way of life – how a human being should spend different stages of his/her life. And Ayurveda literally means life science – how to keep you in good health with the help of nature. Almost all the herbs used in the Indian kitchen have curative properties – reiterating that good health is a way of life!

Even acupuncture, acupressure, karate, kung-fu etc – all these Chinese, Korean, Japanese martial arts & healing arts have their origin in the Indian martial art  – Varma Art. This is basically a defense technique that uses some points in the body. These points, when attacked even very lightly, stun the opponent. The same points are used for healing also.

Our unique festivals! Take Dusshera – only in India will you find the vehicles, tools and machinery decorated with flowers and worshipped during Ayuda Puja for helping us in our work. The car festival again – the chariot is decked with flowers & the deity is taken around the town in this. The deity can be St.Mary or Subramanya or Durga – the festival is uniquely Indian. The rituals like fire walking, piercing the tongue with a spear are all what make our India so beautifully unique.

I can keep writing on & on & on….! Our wedding rituals! More than 50 unique ways! Our traditional games like pallanguzhi,  dayam, kabadi, uriyadi, silambattam etc. Our paintings – Tanjore, Mysore, Rajastani, Madhubani, Ajanta cave type paintings etc! What beauty! And the Ajantha cave paintings have stood the test of time like no other in the world. Our handicrafts – again so many, so unique to the respective states! Our costumes! The saree is draped in 28 different ways in different parts of the country. Our jewelry! Our embroidery! Even our beliefs!

No one can actually even try to define our great motherland! Even the moguls & British couldn’t diminish its glory! It is a wonderful country which is first in many things – be it the robotic aircraft (pushpaka vimanam) and the technical brilliance of the bridge (Rama Sethu) mentioned in the great epic Ramayana or the perfect astronomical predictions of the 2^nd or 3^rd century which after years & years of research are being found to be correct by westerners now… What a country!!! I am proud that I was born in this great land. Jai Hind!

– Lochana Ashok Kumar