Culture is in your blood

I just started reading Anita Desai's novel "Fasting, Feasting". I just finished her daughter's novel last week, The Inheritance of Loss. I enjoyed that one a lot. While reading the current novel, it suddenly dawned on me that though I have been reading non-Indian authors, both contemporary and classic, I feel closer to Indian authors and the stories they write. Some of the stories written by Indian authors actually have no bearing on my life at all or their themes are completely different than my experiences, but just the people they portray and the stories they tell, both before and after independence, are just closer to my heart.I don't agree with all their thoughts all the time, but I can understand why they write those stories.

Culture is so much in our blood. When I read " In the Convent of Little Flowers" by Indu Sundaresan, I felt as if I know these people. The stories may be fictional but the people she writes about are somewhere to be seen in India. And in her Taj-Mahal trilogy, I could see the Mogul raj and the Kings and Queen of Mogul Raj, as if I have known them all my life. I feel closer to them than Tudors :-) It's just that I have heard these stories all my life. And without even realizing they became a part of my inheritance and cultural identity.

Culture is in our blood and we can't deny it. I love O. Henry and 'Cop and the Anthem' might one of my all time favorite story but still when I read Yayati, I know him much more closely. Wodehouse's Jeeves is out of this world but still Janoba Rege is closer to my heart. It's just that something that one is born and brought up with, one can hardly forget. The people, the stories, the streets and the fights are so relevant to me till this day, that may I read tons of novels, these Indian authors I will always find relevant.

We can not deny our culture and heritage. Even when living in this beautiful country that is a melting pot of all cultures, my heritage is always with me. I don't have to shout it out or say anything about it at all or even celebrate it, I just know it in my heart.

Well, I am closer to writers and novelists, I wonder how others feel it? I know Beethoven's concertos are like God's music but still in the morning I listen to Bhimsen Joshi, by default :-)