|
The
list of favourite food items of
an average Indian would go something like
this: Manchow Soup, Manchurian, Italian
Pasta, Pizza, Thai curries, Lobsters and
Mexican desserts, Banarasi Paan.
If it is the clothesline,
then it is the D&G, the DKNY that’s
sported or the Armani that’s flaunted
and the South Indian Kanjeevaram that’s
draped. When it comes to fragrances, it
is the YSL Jazz or Poison that enamours.
Whatever it is, when it comes to marriage,
we have a tendency to become “Phir
bhi dil hain particularly South Hindustani,
North Hindustani”, Hindu, Muslim,
Christian, and many more such divisions.
The otherwise active gut feeling to experiment,
take risk, adapt or adopt turns passive
and is almost absent in issues concerning
marriage. When we can appreciate and even
accept everything else belonging to a different
culture or community, why cannot we make
it our own?
Adam nor Eve had no nationality, community,
religion or a region to call their own.
It is for all of us to see and learn how
many inter-culture marriages have been successful
and how many marriages arranged within a
community have broken down.
Right from the age when we are taught the
difference between whats right and whats
wrong, we also tend to imbibe the same pre-concieved
ideas that our families nurse towards particular
communities and people. This grows, changes,
modifies according to our own experiences
but continues to remain a barrier between
people.
Most people identify or categorise a single
event or reason as to why others "are"
as they are. Our style of dress, the way
we talk, the food we eat or even the music
we listen to are distinctive to our personalities
and identity. What is similar to one’s
own personality becomes ours. What’s
not, becomes other’s. Despite living
in a world that follows multi-culture, accepting
another culture does not come easy.
Each person has his or her own prejudices
and cliched ideas moulded regarding every
other sect of people across the world. The
problem with interacting with people is
rooted in our continued desire to put labels
on people and force them to fit into one
social section.
It is one thing to believe that you accept
people different than you. It is another
thing to live out this truth in the place
where it counts the most. How many of us
can dare to choose a partner for a lifetime
from a community or a nationality not our
own?
|