Culture, Religion, Food
Culture is not a narrow process but a wide ranging character. The culture was not something tied to a period but it always gets enriched by the world around and develops itself. Culture is never tied to religion, it is beyond religion.
However, it should not be allowed by the society to nurture negative overtures. Any culture can sustain itself only if remains tolerant and enjoys the diversity. It must respect the thought process of others. The politics and culture do affect each other. When politics is motivated by negativities, that affects the culture negatively. Conversely, if the culture does not remain strong enough to influence the politics, the politics becomes weak. Narrow politics and narrow culture outlook, both are dangerous for the country and society.
Literature and Culture are not bound by individuals, castes, religions. They are bound by the expanse of our mind. Let us allow our minds to open up, be understanding, tolerant, respecting, and grow positively. It is necessary to be strong, but it is not necessary to kill someone to establish the strength.
The cultures which are expanding themselves violently must recognise that they are forcing others also to react with the same fervour. Culture is dynamic, religion is also dynamic. Even the religions based on books have had several branches, especially both Christians and Muslims and that is sufficient evidence of the statement that religion is dynamic. Refusal of different factions of Islam to accept others leads to further violence, and it is useless.
With time, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains have all accepted to coexist with different factions. Islam and others will also learn, the sooner the better.
Religion cannot and should not be allowed to affect local culture with a sword. Neither the politics should. Culture is the dominant character which gets diluted by politics and religion.
Let is hold on to our culture, and respect others too.
Food is dominant part of culture. We find an entire region non-vegetarian or vegetarian depending on resources which they has access to. For example, area where every house has a pond or there is abundance of river water through tributaries, people become fish eater. Area with scanty local vegetables are dominantly meat eaters and area with abundant supply of vegetables are vegetarian. This has been affected certainly by other factors but does not provide reason of conflict or forcing others to follow you.
A vegetarian does not have the rights to say he hates non-vegetarian. He may say he is vegetarian due to his love for animal rights, but does he always maintains the compassion towards his own servant? Not necessarily.
We all know that a vegetarian is not necessarily a peaceful person, and a non-vegetarian is not necessarily an aggressive person.
Let us not hate others due to their caste, community or culture. Let us allow the world to be a better place.
Good thought
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