When I was a child, my grandmother taught me the art of Puja; how to delicately place the offerings before the idol of every single God, how to sing the hymns sung by our ancestors to please the higher power and how to calm our minds through these particular actions.
For nineteen years of my life, I have repeated these actions in such a manner that now my every movement goes smoothly and I know the rituals like the back of my hands.
I belong to a Hindu family from the small country of Nepal. However, my family is not very orthodox. My parents have always taught me to be open to new experiences and beliefs by pointing out that the world is huge and diverse, and these same attributes bring a diversity in opinions and culture.
When I shifted to India, which is also a country with the majority of population following Hinduism, I expected the slight differences in culture that comes with the geographical change, but I was not ready for the brush with the idea that how much these little details matter to people.
This particular incident occurred when I had a discussion with few of my acquaintances about the difference between the food palates of India and Nepal. Now, in our culture, it is very common to consume buffalo meat. Some people avoid it, some people enjoy it but all the same, it is not a taboo. When I stated this fact, it raised a lot of eyebrows since in India it is considered to be a taboo amongst the majority of the population.
This was when I learnt that even if you belong to the same man-made differences such as religion, caste and creed, there will always be a difference in the culture. This made me realise the true essence of diversity and how vast the idea of culture really is. As we navigate through life, we navigate through these differences and our actions towards it shapes us up as a person. One may navigate through diversity sans respect which has its own particular consequences and it ends up making the same person's experience not so great when they brush again and again against cultures of the world.
For nineteen years of my life, I have repeated these actions in such a manner that now my every movement goes smoothly and I know the rituals like the back of my hands.
I belong to a Hindu family from the small country of Nepal. However, my family is not very orthodox. My parents have always taught me to be open to new experiences and beliefs by pointing out that the world is huge and diverse, and these same attributes bring a diversity in opinions and culture.
When I shifted to India, which is also a country with the majority of population following Hinduism, I expected the slight differences in culture that comes with the geographical change, but I was not ready for the brush with the idea that how much these little details matter to people.
This particular incident occurred when I had a discussion with few of my acquaintances about the difference between the food palates of India and Nepal. Now, in our culture, it is very common to consume buffalo meat. Some people avoid it, some people enjoy it but all the same, it is not a taboo. When I stated this fact, it raised a lot of eyebrows since in India it is considered to be a taboo amongst the majority of the population.
This was when I learnt that even if you belong to the same man-made differences such as religion, caste and creed, there will always be a difference in the culture. This made me realise the true essence of diversity and how vast the idea of culture really is. As we navigate through life, we navigate through these differences and our actions towards it shapes us up as a person. One may navigate through diversity sans respect which has its own particular consequences and it ends up making the same person's experience not so great when they brush again and again against cultures of the world.
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