This is the story of a girl. The girl who lives in a country where there are numerous religions, castes, cultures, traditions and festivals. In her country, languages, dressing style and food habits change from region to region. Despite all these diversities, her country still remains the world’s largest democracy.
She was the single child of her family. Obviously, overprotected and pampered by all her family members. After her school was over, her parents decided to let her experience life- to make her independent and responsible. Thus, she was admitted to VIT- a college which provides one of the best cosmopolitan atmospheres in India.
The very first day she entered into the campus, she was shocked. All around, she could see different people. She could hear different languages. She was apprehensive about how she is going to adjust to this new environment. But she decided to give it a chance. She entered her four bed hostel room. The first roommate she met was a Bengali. English was the only language of communication between them. That day evening, the other roommates arrived- a Telugu and a Tamil girl. She was relieved that she had two other south Indians in her room. But life was not going to be that easy. All three of her roomies knew Hindi. She felt like the odd one out there. But she remembered her father’s words, “Take this as a chance to learn new things- especially languages.” Slowly, she started learning their language.
Not just Hindi! She learnt to say ‘theekache’ in Bengali and ‘cheppu’ in Telugu. She started loving dosa and paratha equally. She started celebrating all festivals together with her friends- Pongal, Durga Puja, Sankranthi, Onam, Christmas and Ramzan. Playing with colours in Holi was a new experience for her. Watching movies in all languages (with and without subtitles) was also a bonus point of her hostel life. Yeah, it was difficult initially. But then, when she explored the other cultures, she started finding her culture even more beautiful.
The rice and sambar which she used to discard earlier started becoming tastier on her short visits to home. The trains passing through the middle of her campus became the messengers of hope. But despite all this home sickness, by understanding and respecting the other cultures and accepting the good in everyone and discarding the bad, she grew up to be a better individual- a girl who is more adaptable and flexible.
This year, her college organized a cultural parade ‘Aikya’ as a part of their cultural fest. Standing there representing her state, she realized how fortunate she was to be born into such a colourful country. More than that, how lucky she was to be there experiencing the oneness in their difference.
Acceptance and tolerance towards other cultures are the virtues which the young generation needs to adopt. Campuses providing a cosmopolitan atmosphere play a huge role in imparting these values to the coming generations. And, as the heroine of this story, I consider myself to be lucky in this aspect.
