During my conversations with many north Indians on politics or our country, they tell me – ‘You don’t know anything about Hindu, Hindustani culture and history’. When I ask them to enlighten me, they say, ‘India was once a sone ki chidiya (bird of gold). We were all Hindus. It was a golden time. Sanskrit is the mother of all languages’. Then, they go on to say, “What we are doing to save it? Are you doing anything? Our Hindutva culture is dying, Hindi should be compulsory all over India.” They go on and don’t allow you to speak.
If you do get chance to speak, they don’t understand. How can they? After all, they are so busy looking for answers to reply with. Most times, it turns into vivaad (debate) instead of samvaad (dialogue). Vivaad is when you just try to prove yourself to be correct. Samvaad is when you strive hard to expand your mind through discussion. This is our culture indeed.
Unfortunately, we are still aping western culture by believing in monism. Ram is the only God, there is only one language, one culture, etc. We keep forgetting that this country has a polytheistic background. Hinduism itself has many gods. But people like fighting and killing each other. Once, Buddhism – spread by Ashoka the Great – was followed in this country. Then, Brahmans to into power and they killed millions of Buddhists and uprooted their monasteries. Then, there was a fight between Shiv bhakts and Vishnu bhakts. And then, Muslims came in and destroyed Hindu temples.
Unfortunately, these people don’t read world history. If they did, they would realise that the destruction and rebuilding of civilisation has happened all over the world. No one can claim that their culture is the purest. If they do, they do it only for political purposes. Beware of that. Hitler was enough.
At last, I appeal to people to expand their mind. Engage in samvaad, not vivaad. Don’t blindly trust any media outlet. Go find books that can help you expand your mind. There are many good books written by great writers that can show you the true picture. Visit South India and the Northeast. Get to know the people. Get to know their pride too. Tamil is the oldest language of India, did you know? Visit the oldest Buddhist monasteries. Visit Kashmir to understand their issues. Visit Bengal to understand feminism. It’s time that we get out of the well we have created. Don’t carry this baggage till your grave.