Appreciation of culture: Travel and otherwise
“Travel early and travel often. Live abroad, if you can. Understand cultures other than your own. As your understanding of other cultures increases, your understanding of yourself and your own culture will increase exponentially.”
– Tom Freston
These words by Tom Freston came alive today when i went for my little baby’s International Day at his nursery. Although we were just about 6-7 country stalls, it gave me a peek into some amazing cultures all over the world. Importance of Indian culture and tradition also dawned on me with the fact that India is a large world in itself with so much about its culture and traditions that I would definitely want my children to know and appreciate.
5 revelations from my day today:
- Food is a common thread. It is in some sense a window to a culture. Tasting food from a country or a place creates a special window of opportunity between 2 people (the creator and consumer) when they are willing to share and know more about eachother’s lives and traditions. Sports could also do something similar but usually sports is looked at in a competitive light while food in a more collaborative one.
Importance of Indian culture and tradition also comes alive in food, as we have food from so many different parts of the country specially made during festivals.
Talking to people about their culture is the best way to know what touches their hearts. Today when i was speaking to the lady at the Irish country pavillion, she was so excited to tell me about the Irish books being in Gaelic script and not English as probably a lot of people assume. The want to be seen as an independent community and culture was so evident. And may be thats why homestays are one of the best ways to know lot more about a country and it’s people.
More cultures children are exposed to, the more appreciative and accepting will they be. All the way from babies to toddlers, looked around at the colourful and varied displays in rapt attention. Children also found their own ways of using some of the displayed objects (like Dandiya sticks from our pavillion).
Knowing about other cultures is like seeing a mirror: As I went around seeing what other participants were projecting about their countries and their cultures, a lot about the importance of Indian culture and tradition kept coming to mind: its art forms, literature, performing arts, ethnic diversity, biodiversity, dresses, festivals, seasons and I can go on and on. I realized there are so many aspects about each country and that travel for me is exploring some of those. I feel exposure to different places, countries and cultures brings about a different sense of openness and acceptance, which transcends into our everyday life as well.
As with charity, exploration and appreciation begins at home: When my children (specially the elder one) saw my involvement with the Indian pavilion, she was more keen to know about India too. It piqued her interest in the different kind of paintings in India, as she saw me take objects with Madhubani paintings for display. One of our very old brass vases, which I don’t think she ever thought much about became an object of art for her. Dressing up comes naturally to her and ethnic really appeals to her too. She was quite interested in the traditional dresses of other places along with the adornment and ornaments. Sometimes a simple effort from our end can really spark interest in our children about the world around them making them more curious and us more humble.
