So much more to know...Proud to be Indian

Today I thought I will write on the deep and complex India...the fact that there is so much to know in its 10,000 year history...that there is so little that we know of its past and its greatness.  Over the past 20 years, I have received guests from various countries from across the world.  They have asked me so many questions on India and to the best of my ability and knowledge, I have given them replies.  When I reflect on the answers I gave them, I realise that some of these answers have changed as I have got more and more data over these years.  I am penning down five of the oft repeated questions and my repies to them...

1. Why are there so many Gods in India?

India has many Gods/Goddesses that reflect many aspects of our life – education, wealth, arts, the elements such as fire, wind, water, etc. These are to ensure people respect everything around them.  Eg. We worship Goddess Lakshmi not to get more money but to respect the wealth we possess.

2. Why do Indians wear bright coloured clothing?

There is a general lack of cheer in deserts and dry areas of the country because of the lack of greenery. Bright colours bring in cheer, so you will find people in the Rajasthan area, mainly a desert, wearing bright coloured clothing.

In other parts of the country, where people work in fields, it’s difficult to locate them if they are wearing black, grey, blue or white clothes. So, they wear bright colours like red, orange, pink, etc. These help to identify people and also bring cheer to the work atmosphere

3. Why do Indians celebrate a festival almost every month?

What happens in a country during a festival? There is always a lot of positive attitude, a sense of giving and sharing and generally a willingness to spend more. This spend ensures that wealth is shared across different parts of the society. In my opinion, we have festivals every month so that the positive attitude is retained throughout the year.

4. What is the significance of the rangoli and lamp lighting?

In the past, Rangoli was drawn outside the gate and a lamp was lit and placed in the middle of the rangoli.  Rice flour was the rangoli powder.  The area would be made damp with water and disinfected with cow dung.  The area was made damp so that dust would not go up in to the atmosphere.  Rice flour was used so that ants could eat that, go away and not enter the house - a neat way of avoiding the use of insecticides at home. 

The lamp placed in the middle of the Rangoli served as street lighting. With a rangoli in every house, the whole street was lit up!

5. What does the word ‘Om’ mean?

Om is actually spelt as A-U-M and pronounced as “AA – OO- M” – these are the only three sounds that a person can make without moving the tongue.  These three sounds resonate and vibrate with the body and when chanted correctly, have a therapeutic effect.

There are so many things to note about this country with a history of over 10,000 years - in India, the Pythagoras theorem was written about 1500 years before Pythagoras was born, planets and how they revolved around the sun was also described in our ancient scriptures. Galileo described this in 1610, thousands of years later! The brain and its cell structure was defined in our scriptures over 3500 years ago even when there was no microscope! Ancient Indian gurus were able to use their knowledge to see and explain things that we are unable to do even today.

There is so much more to be proud of this country, but many of us are not aware of the rich cultural heritage. What can we do to preserve the rich heritage of this country? Why have we lost our pride as a nation? Points to ponder… Please feel free to write back to me with your thoughts.