One thing
that stands apart about the English is that they respect their culture. They
follow their culture not for the sake of following but they actually love it.
They feel proud of their rich culture and heritage. The city has very well
maintained its old monuments and respected the emotions behind each one of
them.
As I walk
down the street in Central London I can witness how beautifully the 16th
century city has embraced the modernity of 21st century. One side I see the Big Ben, watch the city
and on the other side of mighty river Thames I see the modern London Eye which
keeps a close watch on cities movement. Both are equally important and
beautiful and attract hundreds of tourists like me every day.
If I go back
to my country India, I see a strong contrast. We want to become like the
western people but are far away when it comes of respecting the space we live
in. We don't even relate why they do, what they do or why their lifestyle is like this? What we do is that, we just try to imitate it without any logic. For example the logic behind wearing a coat throughout the year, is that here it is really cold and the wind in the evenings is really chilly, whereas in our country it is so hot in summers but we still put on a coat to go to offices. There are many such thing that I can relate back to my country now and it is astounding to see what we do in India.
As we move forward we need to understand the context before just applying things as they are. We have our own great things and we need to keep them safe and cherish them.The more we love our culture, the more we will feel proud of it. But this doesn't mean that we should be anti-west, use what is good for us and discard the things that are old rotten in our culture. Gandhi seems a very good example here, he was very smart in analyzing things and choosing the best for him and our country.
Will keep you posted on more learning !!!
