Culture is a stalker (albeit a sweet one) !!

"Mera Bharat Mahaan !" This was something I just heard every Independence day and in the occasional patriotic movie on TV. But now, I am giving it some serious thought. The practices of my Indian culture seem to be stalking me!

I guess being away from home does that to you. Back home, I would not chant any Sanskrit prayers. My reason, I dont know Sanskrit and I would like to understand what I am saying to God !! I think that is reasonable. What I did wrong was I never tried to understand. I prefered my usual dialogue with God every morning which goes something like this: "Good morning God! I hope you slept well...wait a minute..I hope you did not sleep and were watching over mankind all night. In any case thank you for everything till yesterday and I hope you will give me reasons to thank you again tomorrow morning !". Sounds like a threat? Well anyways this has been my prayer for a long time now.

But now that I am away from home, I crave to listen to the Sanskrit prayers though I still dont understand it. I crave to listen to the devotional songs though I would never sing them for want of a non croaky voice. And hence my latest resolution : I will celebrate, sing and pray during every Indian festival there is. I will make the cloyingly sweet sweets and distribute them and watch my friends' discomfort and convince myself that they actually have a divine expression. I will not let my culture's practices fade with my generation. And of course I will continue to threaten God every morning!