India is My country

India is my country …………………… AND I am unapologetic-ally proud of it. So, some feel, I go overboard with it, some say I ‘think’ too much. Either ways there is no apologising for loving this country that gave me my identity, education, income and shelter. This post isn’t about patriotism. It’s about the beauty of – India. In school we’d say the pledge and I took one line a little too seriously – ‘I am proud of its rich and varied heritage’. This line slowly grew on me. As I read geography and learnt to connect it with the history [took a very long time] and started travelling to various places, I began to appreciate this rich and varied heritage. BUT, it is my cousin Sweety Rao who pushed and pushed me to write my perspective about various places I ever visited. I was like – what’s the big deal. What I see is my perspective, my understanding and experience. Why is anyone interested in it? But, she is relentless. 

Oh BTW 'Matrubhoomi prem' is an Indian concept. Oh yes it's ours!

Then, a couple years ago another cousin of mine was visiting India after about a decade and she decided to visit a few places. She wanted to split her three week vacation between another country [why name it here] and few places in India. Somehow I thought she was wasting her time and money. I convinced her to spend three weeks in India itself. I hard sold the country to her and convinced her to spend her dollars here ;). This post is a take-off from that set of conversations we had. And nope, I haven’t taken her permission before recording this here. Sorry Vanu.

So essentially my selling points were – India has it all, sand, sea, mountains, snow, dessert, forests, and plains etc. I told her we also have different kinds of mountains the Aravali, the Sahyadri the Malabar etc and each distinct in its looks and the life it offers. We have forts, palaces, towns, entertainment parks, zoos and also malls.

My objection is to all the poverty that gets shown in documentaries and travel diaries. Unfortunately, my co-Indians too subscribe to this scene and fail to see the beauty and bounty India has. It is amongst very few countries to have such a large variety of terrains that look different in different seasons. The sheer food and clothing culture. The style of conversations the large variety of languages and dialects. So much uniqueness and we DO NOT even acknowledge it let alone celebrate it.

I visited one country and the guide very proudly declared that this is the royal palace. One look at it, me and my husband burst out laughing. And then I couldn’t hold back. I had to go up to the guide and say – You must visit my country and see the royal palaces we have. And ofcourse royalty, architecture, royal temples vary from location to location. The terrain decides its design and materials used for constructions. Yea many sign me off as a ‘proud peacock’ and I do not mind it, like I said I am unapologetic!

So folks, this is an introductory post to a series of posts to follow about various location that I have visited in the past or will visit in future. I really hope to keep the frequency up. Writing isn’t the problem, publishing it on blogspot is. So anyone volunteering to help me with posting on blogspot please feel free to connect below.

P.S: I am not averse to visiting another country. I have a long list namely – Niagara falls, the Grand Canyon, the English channel, Greece, Italy, Victoria falls, the jungles of Africa, the Suncity, the Dead sea, the Sydney harbor, the great wall of China, the Sakura  and Macchu picchu [ambitious] to name a few. 

My only submission is DO NOT under sell my country.