Thursday, December 3, 2015

Engngane Irikkunnu, Haryana!! (How are you, Haryana!!)





Our PM, while speaking in Parliament, gave a very cohesive vision of India. I wonder why the media houses and other states have not picked up the vision. He imagined a India where diversity meets the unity. He advised that each state should celebrate one chosen state every year. For example, Haryana celebrates Kerala for a particular year. One culture meets another culture. One religion understands another religion.
Frankly, I am not a Modi fan but intellections like this make me proud of our PM. He did not ask to make this programme an event and a annual bazaar but rather an experience. The students should learn basic linguistic skills to interact with people of different languages. The local mela (fairs) should focus on the delicacies and cuisines of the states. Music and dance festivals of that particular state could arouse cultural curiosity. This can also be a medium of entertainment which is live and real rather than virtual means of entertainment prevalent in the present society.
“Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny...” And I believe we will truly achieve our destiny when the vision of our current PM will come true.
Let us contemplate what we can achieve!!
As a country we know very little of our country. We cannot even name the 29 States of our country; forego the culture of the region. This ignorance has taken the form of stereotypes and prejudices.  All South Indians are Tamilians for us; Biharis are not welcomed in Maharashtra; We need special laws for protection of people from North-East; Delhi is the rape Capital; and as many examples as number of people living in India.  We all have some bad experiences and some good experiences about a city but these isolated incidents cannot define the city. I strongly oppose calling Delhi as the rape capital of the country.
Socially, the knowledge about different cultures will help us abandon such stereotypes. It will build an assimilatory society which is progressive and peaceful. Economically, it will boost our domestic tourism. Politically, it will deepen the democracy and increase awareness about the political culture of the nation.
I would like to end this article by taking a little from the ‘I have a dream’ speech by Martin Luther King and modifying it to the following:
  
I have a dream that one day children of Haryana will greet children of Kerala in Malayalam-Engngane Irikkunnu.
I have a dream that one day the hills of eastern Himalayas will be connected by roads and people with the people of Thar.
I have a dream that one day a Tamilian will dance in a Punjabi marriage.
I have a dream that the present of the nation lives in a nation where they will not be judged by the region they come from but by the content of their character!!


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