India's Diversity

I was having lunch with some of my colleagues a a year back. I was working at that time for Persistent Systems and was based out of Pune, the cultural capital of the undoubtedly rich Maharastrian heritage. Group of people with whom I had lunch consisted of people from various states of India. It was the month of March most probably and a holiday fell in the middle of the week. It was GUDI PARWA - the maharastrian new year..my need to know about the people and its culture, I asked a maharastrian friend..what exactly do they do for the day! She said, this day marks the homecoming of Rama from exile! I looked back at her, thinking there is something wrong...hello Lord Ram comes back from exile during Diwali and that falls in the month of Oct - Nov. She confidently replied..no Ram comes back in March! Other North Indians in the group went..why is Diwali celebrated..she goes it is because Krishna came back to dwaraka with sixteen thousand women, whom he freed after defeating the demon king Narakasur. This was a shock, I didnot believe her or any of the maharastrian friends endorsing her statements. I had mugged up for my essay on "Deepawali" since I was Class I, "amavasya ke raat, bhagwaan ram ayodhya wapas aye the, unki wapas aane ki khushi mei ayodhya wasiyo ne ghee ke diye jalaye the etc etc" and I got full marks for that too. I checked on the net, and yeah some sites did endorse this statement! If you are in Bombay or in any city in Maharastra during Diwali, get ready to be jolted out of your bed by the ear deafening crackers at 4 am in the mrng on the diwali day, yes diwali in traditional maharastrian families is celebrated bang in the mrng! I heard Chennai also celebrates it in the mrng! And on the same day, if you are in Delhi, rest assured you will get sleep only after 2am at night, as Diwali in Northern India is celebrated at night! Same in Kolkata, and irony is all Indians are celebrating the most important Hindu festival - Deepawali!!! THIS IS INDIA...my land, my people, my country!...yes its MINE, though every 10 kms I go, there is a different culture, a different language, a different cusine, a different attire...Diversity thy name is India! I have just moved to Bangalore, said to be a cosmopolitan, but moment you get out of those malls and big brand shops, come down to roads, you realize you do not know the language, the food is strangely different, the people look so different, their attire (esp. the half lungis as my mom says) makes you ask...are you in India? I felt the same, when I moved from Delhi to Pune some six years back...is this my country? As our history says..life north of vindyachal and life south to vindyachal was never the same from times immemorial..there was and there is a distinct difference between the North and South of India..one of my keralite ex-colleagues used to describe me as some one from the top floor (N.India :D). Its very difficult to adjust to different cities in india, esp. when you are on the move after every three to four years, you are moving within the same country but still you feel you are a stranger...Every city in this world has its own character, but in India every city has its own history, own language, own food, own attire! Perhaps North and South can never meet, they are poles apart..but still they together join hands to form my motherland INDIA! But yeah I cannot omit change in accent in calling out my name, in Allahabad it was slow but insistent Ritu, in Delhi it was rude and curt Ritu, in Pune it drastically changed to Rutu and now in blr I am Ruthu! the "T" has to go with a "H" for proper nouns in Rajnikanth's land!! :))