The outsider will perceive a great diversity of languages, customs, climates and people in this land, but what the people of India have in common far outweighs these differences. Just like Europe, India is also a union of many states. Broadly speaking, the states of the Indian union fall within four categories – the states of the Indo Gangetic Plain, the southern states (the states of the Deccan Plateau), the tribal states and the hill (or the Himalayan) states. What these states lack in terms of sovereignty, they more than make up in cultural, linguistic and religious diversity.
India is a land of pilgrimage. The places of pilgrimage are great melting pots, where people from all walks of life and all the regions of the country come together. It is here that the common identity, the “Indian-ness” has been forged. While change has characterized India, the kernel (the “Indian-ness”) has remained intact.
On the face of it, the Mahabharata is a tale of conflict between two princely houses, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. But it is also the repository of our customs and traditions, myths and legends. Characters from the Mahabharata form important role models for our people even today…
Mahatma Gandhi is often referred to as the “Father of the Nation”. Of course, what is meant by that is that he is the father of modern India – of post colonial India. Outsiders sometimes wonder why Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals were abandoned by his followers after his death. Mahatma Gandhi was both a political leader and social reformer. As political leader he fought for India’s freedom, and as social reformer he worked for the uplift of the downtrodden. After his death, these two strands got separated, and they have remained separated since then.
Roads are the economic lifeline of India. They are needed for trucks to run on, for along with the railways, trucks form the backbone of our economy. The road network needs to be integrated with the rail network so that they can complement each other, instead of competing with each other along the high traffic routes alone. The roads that are needed are the roads that will link the villages to the nation. Rural India (Bharat), where some three-fourths of our people reside, needs means of transport that will integrate the rural economy with the rest of the nation, and put Rural India on the map.