DIFFERENT STROKES -Cultural Identity

We need to get drenched in the waves of change that time has brought and refresh our thinking. On one hand it is important to respect our own community and culture while on the other hand it is equally necessary to be accepting and tolerant of cultures alien to us as well.


At some point it becomes absolutely essential to cross the threshold of our age old beliefs and customs to overcome our limitations in outlook…That’s when one embarks on a real journey to transcend cultures to make a big difference in the world and to bridge the gap between people alien to each other. Cross-cultural interaction is called for in this respect. The more people we meet the more our thinking, reaction and response to them undergo a metamorphosis. Then the dark night of intolerance gives way to a new dawn of acceptance and understanding.


Doubts about each other creep with lack of knowledge of each other which steals our reasoning and ability to think. That’s when we in feel over protective and defensive about our own community and without reason adopt hostile and rigid attitudes towards the opposite. Sooner or later false thinking brings wrong conduct. There is a strong need according to me to go beyond beliefs and norms of our cultures to cross over the barriers of rigidity. On this challenging path of transcending cultures and embracing each other, we have to meet at least half way if not entirely to be on the same wavelength. We must try to accept each other with our differences and different identities.


We in India are blessed with myriad of different rich cultures and over the centuries India has welcomed and assimilated different cultures and religions. Tolerance is therefore a rich historical legacy of the Indian people which enable them to transcend different cultures. In my own personal case, I’m the offspring of two different cultures with my parents being from different religions. Yet this difference in cultures never created doubts and conflicts in my upbringing or identity. With this as part of my upbringing , I found ready acceptance and being accepted during my exposures to Japanese, Spanish, Scottish, American, Afro American and many other cultures. According to me all should focus on strong bonding between various communities and not on the weaknesses and differences that may separate them at times. We all should be willing to learn to appreciate each other.


Therefore I would welcome the widest participation from people all over the world to share their experiences and views as to how cultures can be transcended harmoniously. One needs both the similarities and differences in cultures to retain the true flavour and original identity of each culture. Yet all can still flow with each other and confluence together…


Different strokes by different people from different cultures can help in creating a richer piece of art with richness of cultures from all over the world… One picture is more than a thousand words…We can weave a carpet of mutual understanding through acknowledging each other with our different cultural identities and cultural thoughts.