One Hundred Days (from Dharamsala)

One Hundred Days of being sick, of being well, of being scammed, of being compassionately and selflessly helped, of being lost, and of being not found but slightly less lost. The amorphous Indian culture, constantly displaying and withdrawing into itself, provides flashes of brilliance and instills unequivocal disillusionment in its beholder. For transient moments one catches a hint, a slight trace, of its essense, only later to be led astray by the darker aspects of an, at times, fractious cultural heterogeneity. The Brahman, the Buddhist, the Catholic, and the Moslem meet at the confluence of the Ganges and the unidentifiable Indian spirit that defies geopolitical definition. Then, what is the Indian identity? Perhaps it is that constant and everpresent struggle to be both spiritually and economically virtuous against a myriad cultural backdrop that precludes unanimity of opinion and resists social reform. Or, perhaps the true Indian identity resides in that momentary state of intrigue and unity that precedes the inevitable confusion of values. The future of the nation surely involves religious revivals and secular struggles, but one thing is certain: its human form will continue to be fluid, unparalleled, constantly changing yet anchored in tradition, and purely, undeniably Indian -- whatever that presently signifies.Read more