“Think like an Indian” is the commandment from a coach to his team in the latest TVC of Lufthansa.
But, thinking like an Indian, is that easy? Of course not! The Indian mind is as complex as India itself. Within its labyrinthine network of neurons and dendrites, reside emotions and thoughts conditioned by thousands of years of culture and history.
So anyone trying to decipher the complexities of Indian thought may be forgiven if they give up saying, “dil me aata hai samajh me nahi”!
The cornerstones of Indian thought has always been ARTI which stands for Adaptability, Resilience, Tolerance, and Innovation. When the whole world slept, India awoke to its tryst with destiny and has kept it owing to its resilience. Despite a painful birth, the country has faced a baptism by fire to emerge with flying tricolours. The country adapted to the changing global economic scenario to emerge as an IT superpower, thanks to its adaptability and the “jugaad” mindset, which has a solution even before the problem emerges!
Being a globetrotter and also having traveled every nook and corner of India, I have seen India and Indians from every possible perspective and angle and have come to the conclusion that one word needs to be changed in the Oxford Dictionary, and that is the word UNIQUE, it needs to be replaced by INDIA!
Being the Indian that I am, my Indianness is obviously imprinted on my DNA and all my thoughts, emotions and actions have been dictated by this right from the time I was born.
I remember vaguely walking to the Gateway of India in Mumbai as a kid of 2 years, proudly showing off my newly learned walking skills. My left hand firmly locked in the warm clasp of my father’s hand.
It all happened very suddenly, my tender mind not able to comprehend the sequence of events. A surge in the crowd. My sweaty hand slowly loosening from the grasp of my father’s hand. The figures of my father and mother slowly fading away in the distance. I could only see the legs of men and women all around!
Suddenly, I had lost touch of the familiar and had been pushed into what seemed to my tender mind an alien and unfamiliar environment.
I was lost, though I did not know the term or the meaning then. What I did realize was that my parents were not with me, and I did not know what to do. I had an option of crying, shouting out loud, but that would have been futile given the crowds and the noise that rent the air. I could walk towards where they would have gone and find them, but I did not know where they/we were going!
My little Indian brain cooly and calmly weighed the options before me. I had two choices, one to go in search of them, the second to stay put where I was.
I chose the second option for I reasoned(At that time I did not know that this was a decision tree of a flowchart, the same kind of logic has made India a Software powerhouse) that my parents would definitely miss my presence at some point and come in search for me. The logical place for them to start the search would be from the point that they lost me. My calculations proved right. My parents came back and found me and were amazed at my thinking process and talk about it even today. But I just smiled at them and thought, its all in the DNA! I am more Indian than you think!
The Indianness and Indian thought has ensured that I fight challenges and come out with blazing colours, I smile in the face of adversity. The philosophy of the Bhagvad Gita, which is so close to the Indian psyche irrespective of religion, which urges one to continue doing their Karma without being bogged down by thinking too much about the results stands me in good stead.
However westernized we may try and want to be we all are more Indian than we think.
Life begins with the morning cup of Indian Masala Chai, savoured along with the morning news from, “The Times Of India”. Yoga and Surya Namaskar set the tone for the day and after a hearty breakfast of Idlis or Parathas off you go to work on, “Hamara Bajaj”, which you kick start after tilting it slightly towards yourself. At work, you toil hard and return back home to cheer the Indian team playing for the cricket world cup. On weekends it is time to catch the latest Bollywood blockbusters starring one of the Khans. So life goes on and has for thousands of years.
In between we Indians find time to invent the Zero and the Decimal system, plastic surgery, Ruler, Shampoo and many other things which are taken for granted today. Find that plants have life. Launch a satellite to Mars on an astoundingly lean budget. Get demonetised and monetized again.
This can happen only in India! We are more Indian than you think! #MoreIndianThanYouThink
So are you up to the challenge? Think like an Indian! More Indian!
ARTI is a cool acronym. I think it could be utilized in a lot of different ways, especially with just people in general. We can learn a lot from your post about being calm, cool and collected, diving deeper into our minds and looking for greatest from within. It is wonderful to read how proud you are of your DNA, your heritage and your land.
Very interesting post. I didn’t know any of this and appreciate the information.
The meaning of ARTI is something many could strive to live by. Embodying those principles would make for a better life and a better world. I’m afraid I don’t know very much about the Indian mind or Indian culture but after reading this post we could all learn much from this.
ARTI, I love it. I am not familiar with your culture but I can say that most of the Indians I’ve met are determined to reach their goal but also be kind to others.
I love how loyal you are to your country and culture. That’sone of the traits of an Indian. The love that you have to your country is beautiful. If we all had the same kind of love, the world would have less hatred.
that’s very awesome! I am very interested to visit India and to know more about Indian!
I once had a friend who was Indian. He is from Chennai. He is like you, so proud of his culture and heritage. I am amazed at how learned he is about computers and stuff. He is a software engineer and when I asked him about motherboards, he started talking like there was no tomorrow. All I could blurt out was, “Can you write that down please?” I think your patriotism should be emulated!
I am not familiar with the Indian culture. That being said I love the vibrant colors of your clothing. I live in Queens, NY and there is a hub of Indian and other nationalities. The rich food, clothes and especially jewelry is amazing.
This made me smile so big this morning 🙂 I was born and raised in the US, but my parents are from India – moved here after they got married. Even though they left India, we go back to visit often and they made sure to instill all the Indian values and language and traditions into us. <3
Very interesting. It is fascinating how deeply our cultures affect us and shape the people we become. I can’t believe how mature you were when you got separated from your parents! Very smart kid.
There is certainly nothing wrong with embracing your culture and heritage. Even if you no longer live there!
I have a lot of Indian friends but I have never learned more about India than from you! What a great reminder to embrace our ethnicity wherever in the world we may be. And hey, thanks for the shampoo 🙂
My college roommate was a student from India. He was also a man. We had to have a conversation about being roommates because he thought I was going to cook and clean for him. lol It ended up, he did most of the cooking, yum!
In India you’ll find different culture in every 100kms and thus is the people. India is country with huge heritage, acronym art and beautiful culture. One you’ll see visit India, you’ll feel it in India. <3
what a beautiful place to visit. It looks like I need to add this to my list.
Your post brought a smile on my face as I got reading how wonderfully you have described us Indians – I find it hard to answer some questions that I get when I travel, about India and its culture – That’s when I realise we are more complex than we think and are a different breed. Well written! 🙂
Thank you for this very interesting post! I think the Indian culture is such an interesting one, and there is a lot to be learned from it!
Lovely post. 🙂 I find that I too have retained many of my ethnicity’s and nationality’s characteristics, no matter how long I have lived abroad. It’s just a part of who I am and I cannot change it or remove it.
I love reading this post. It is true that culture is ingrained in our very being that even if we get plucked out of our mother country and reside somewhere else, it cannot change who we really are.
Thank you for sharing such awesome pictures. The architecture and that tiger what more can be said but WOW!!!!
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I think that rule applies to all of us immigrants. I am Mexican and have been living in the USA last 15 years. Despite I am not in Mexico anymore because I made my life here due to getting married to an American I will alwasy have my culture and traditions with me. Excellent post and pics. Want to visit India soon!
I think it’s amazing that your memory bank goes back so far. My sister has memories from being about the age of 2 as well.
I’m glad that I got to know more about India through your blog. It would be awesome if I could see the Gateway of India in person, too. 🙂
India is such a fascinating place it appears. I’d love to visit it one day soon.
Nationality and culture are different but the same in so many ways. Where you come from truly is embedded into you no matter where you travel or live. I love your passion in your writing about your homeland and where it fits in your heart.
Who you are is so influenced on where and how you were raised. It becomes your culture and influences you so much. I love how proud you are of your heritage and how it effects you daily, you can tell in your writings passion.
India is a country that is rich in history and culture. I would love to visit someday since it has some of the most beautiful destinations in the world.
I love this post. It is true, there is a trait that is unique to every culture, that no matter where you choose to live or migrate to, these traits are ingrained in our very being. I love how you showed how proud you are of your heritage.
I don’t have an Indian friend, but I did work with some Indians before and there is one common trait that I noticed from them, and that is their unbelievable dedication with work. I even thought they are very exaggerating, that they do not know how to have fun anymore. This is just an impression though, I mean what do I know. Maybe Indians are generally just hard working people. Reading your story when you got lost as a young kid, I found myself nodding. I do think you guys would think first before doing anything and maintain a cool head instead of panicking (which is most probably what people of race would do lol).