Assert your Identity you malleable Indian

I am proud to be a Hindu. However, I am ashamed that I probably know more about other religions than I do about my own. Hinduism, unlike Christianity does not have an aggressive policy of propagating its teachings. Unfortunately, this supposed weakness has been exploited and as a result today we have the world's oldest religion with all its wisdom shelved into obscurity.

Starting with the history school text books that drum the baseless theory of Aryan superiority into our head to the scornful fascination for the fair skin, as a nation we have failed to recognise and acknowledge our rich traditions and customs. We wait for the white man to interpret our Upanishads/ Vedas and believe in the wonderful properties of turmeric only after published research from some Ivy League university. Why do we undermine what we have and yet accept the same from a different source ?

I am not a member of VHP nor am I against other religions. In fact, I am guilty of the some the situations described below. All I hope for is that the youth of India have the right attitude. Is it not true that -

• You think it is barbaric when your father uses the neem twig to brush his teeth and yet is perfectly acceptable to buy a glittering tube of tooth paste marketed by some greedy corporate as "New Paste with NEEM!"
• You prefer the western medicine to the o! so yucky kashayam (which would have cured your stomach ache)
• You prefer fast food from McDonalds to Murugan Idly's healthy steamed fare.
• You know all about Coldplay and stand in line for hours to get a ticket to Bryan Adam's concert (where you get roughed and pretend to enjoy it) but have no clue about Carnatic music and think it is cool not to know about M.S. Subbalakshmi.
  
• You would rather pay 80 Rs for an unimaginative coffee rather than drink delicious coconut water for 10 Rs (which is what you need to keep cool in the extreme heat of our country!)
• You expand your vocabulary to accommodate words like F*** and yet plead ignorance about your mother tongue.
• You think it is more fashionable to wear a wedding band rather than the traditional thali. There have been reactions as extreme as "Who cares about the thali, is so disgusting". Will you ever hear a Westerner dismiss his/her traditions ?
  

If you cannot stop aping the West, atleast incorporate their values of discipline, punctuality and management. As Vivekananda said, "Awake, Arise"!