august 2014

Point
Out
COVER STORY
CHANGING FACE OF INDIA
WE HAVE MUCH TO LOOK FORWARD
Apart from excellence in knowledge and skill, the human
values in our culture are a treasure by themselves.
The ideals of service, sacrifice, loyalty and friendship
depicted in historical texts and folk stories point to a very
refined way of life.
»»
Sri Sri Ravishankar
Through several millenia, India
has seen the ever flowing current
of time take many turns in its
history. In the ancient times,
India was referred to as the 'Golden Bird'.
In fact, the time when spirituality was at
its peak here, prosperity was also at its
zenith. Spirituality was very much tied
with sciences - both academic and social.
We find treatises written on a diverse
array of subjects, from mathematics,
astronomy, medicine and even politics
and economics by ancient rishis. Even
till the medieval ages, India had a major
share of the world's exports. The quality
of fabric, ornaments, spices and other
materials coming from India was what
attracted invasions from the Middle East
and later the European colonialists.
Apart from excellence in knowledge and
skill, the human values in our culture are
a treasure by themselves. The ideals of
service, sacrifice, loyalty and friendship
depicted in historical texts and folk
stories point to a very refined way of life.
So rich is our heritage that a thousand
years of invasions and slavery could not
completely erase it. Even in the struggle
for independence, it was a movement
based on non-violence that united the
whole nation.
Going forward, we must embrace both
the ancient and the new; broaden the
vision and deepen the roots. There are
seven areas that India can be proud
of and if paid attention to, can work
wonders for our economy as well.
1. Tourism:
The variety of geographical landscape
that we have is not available anywhere
else in one country. Apart from scenic
destinations, we have sites all over
with rich ancient history associated
with them. We can do a lot more to
develop all these as international
tourist destinations.
2. Food:
A few years ago, we had a vegetarian
food festival and our volunteers
prepared 5600 food items - seven
tons of different types of food! And
this variety was just from Gujarat.
Likewise, every state has hundreds
of dishes. Indian restaurants are a big
hit in several countries. While pizza
and burger joints are present in every
city today, we have not done enough
to showcase the variety in our food
preparations.
3. Music and dance:
In India traditional music and dance
20
August 2014