Phir bhi family hai hindustani!

Haven’t updated my blog since so long. Main reason is that whenever I start writing, I get extra conscious about whatever I would be writing about and quit writing. Last time I updated my blog, my sister had told me that I include unnecessary details making it boring for the readers. And since I get easily influenced, whenever I sit to write anything, I feel I might be making a big deal about simple things. And then, I feel inferior when I read good blogs. Makes me feel that I talk rubbish when people write such sensible things. That made me not write anything all this long.

Anyways, one single point that made me write again. I had this post saved as a rough draft for a long time, but because we recently celebrated Independence Day and ethnic day at our college I thought it would be the right time to post about this.
As you might have already guessed, I am going to talk about our country and what makes me proud being an Indian.
Ok. So when I was in Germany, I was often asked questions about India and Indian culture. I many times used to be speechless, because there is nothing which can truly be called a uniform Indian culture. The country is so diverse that making a general statement would not be fair. And neither the speaker nor the audience would have the patience to talk about or listen to, the difference in different parts of the country. Even simple questions like Indian food, Indian language, Indian wedding or Indian attire were too difficult to be answered.
And then one day, a girl questioned our unity too, commenting that how can we call ourselves a secular nation when there are communal riots every other day. Hmm… good point, made me seriously wonder. As far as Germany is concerned, people I met were hardly religious, so others religion hardly made any difference.
Anyways, I realized the most important aspect of Indian culture. According to me it is neither unity nor diversity. Yes, it is indeed amazing how beautifully we all live together despite the difference. But more importantly, I find it incredible how we relate to everybody as our family. Even an autowala or a shop-owner would be called “bhaiya” by everyone. It bonds people in an altogether different level. Yes, other people might argue that the respect level is still the same, it is just that we don’t refer to them as our family members. But according to me it does make a difference by calling somone as our own. I find it wonderful how parents scold their children if they call elder by their names and ask them to add a family-relation-suffix according to their age difference. Bhaiya, didi, uncle, aunty!!! I still have the same habit of using these words even while talking to my immediate seniors in college. And that is why I hate manipal’s trend of using the word “boss” to talk to people unknown. I feel it makes others more distant to us by using “boss” rather than calling them “uncle”. “Uncle or Bhaiya apna apna sa lagta hai!” (the words uncle or Bhaiya sound more familiar, intimate and personal.)