Open Book

 
Hey! There,

I am priya, yet another teenage Indian girl in the grasp of America's sitcoms, soap operas, reality shows, movie stars, fashion, fast food, trends and music. I am on my way to my granny’s place Nehmara, I was born there, but then when I was two years old we moved to the city; it is a small town by the Arabian Sea in Kerala.

Traveling by a bus in Kerala is in itself something that no one can forget. They move at breakneck speeds and could even give Schumacher a run for his money. First sights of nehmara ,the lush green beauty of the acres of paddy fields surrounding pockets of land, which are densely populated and bounded by coconut trees, and banana plantations was really a sight to behold. This was a far cry from the concrete jungles of city.

I reached my granny’s house, I looked down; I looked up again as if I am hypnotized. As she opened her arms, I dive into her arms. I felt the best and most beautiful thing in this world that cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart, I felt her love. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have had a moment to relax, surrender, scream and cry in her arms and realize, what a wonderful thing a family is!. This is one place where you wouldn’t venture out at night too much; night here means 7pm and not 10pm, no discos or pubs. It is a conservative community with strong spiritual and moral values.

With a little help from my granny I wore a sari for the first time in my life. The temple has a strict dress code; women have to wear Sari or the traditional dress. Even chudidars and suits are not allowed, how’s that for tradition??? .It was wide enough for just 2 persons to sit side-by-side and long enough for ten. It was also leaking in a place or two which I noticed after alighting from it on to Odapally beach; I was amazed to find a non- Americanized beach. It was equally beautiful as most others minus the crowd of stall-owners. Resisting the wind of change, maybe it is this aspect of Kerala, which makes us refer to it as ’’Gods own Country’’,the beach was almost deserted but for a man on his cellular phone, a couple of kids dressed in Manchester united colours playing football and a old women in her sari with a couple of goats .

All of a sudden ,an India where past and present blend so easily flashed in front of my eyes, if someone says something about India the exact opposite of that is also true
This journey has opened my eyes; our culture is not some static way of life that has survived thousands of years because of rules laid down by our ancestors. It needs to be an ephemeral way of life, which is constantly evolving. if I have to say, that biting a big Mac, greatest symbol of capitalism or celebrating valentine’s day will damage the Indian culture, then it will be the greatest insult on the traditional liberalization of Indian culture, for centuries, people of different countries have come to India .I am part of a community which has respect for their traditions, culture and family relationships.

I tried to be a person that I am not. By being an Indian at heart but acting differently outside. I became the greatest actress in the world. I lost my identity
“My goal is to not just to survive, but, rather to thrive in the society of the future As long as I remain true to my identity I will thrive in the society of future”.