Importance of learning other Cultures

 

I personally believe that learning about different cultures is one of the most interesting and worthy things in life to do. We are often busy in our lives chasing money and success, so we don’t often get time to learn about people from other countries, cultures, foreign cuisines and languages. Believe me, once you start learning about different cultures, you won’t stop after learning one. This will become a part of your life.

People often fear that their culture and history will be affected if they immerse in learning other cultures. But this is foolish to think and baseless to say. You’ve got to agree that no culture is perfect and there are always things that we can borrow from other cultures to improve ours.

People who don’t believe in learning other cultures are afraid of change and always think that their culture is perfect and need no change. They are living in this bubble along with billions of other people. Why are we so afraid of the change? Why don’t we want to adopt good things from other cultures? Why do we feel that our culture will die out? Is our culture and value system so weak that it will diminish? And even if it diminishes, will the rotation of Earth stop? Is our culture keeping this solar system alive or it is the nature that is more important than any culture? These are some questions that we don’t ask ourselves often.

One of my friends was arguing with me on this topic and said, “our culture, food, people, rituals, clothing is the best as it respects others as well as the nature.” To which I politely disagreed and asked him, “which culture?” He said,” our culture, our very own Indian culture.” Then I reminded him of some of the facts that he was not aware about.

The fact that there is no such thing as Indian culture. I live in Punjab, I follow Punjabi culture that will have its own set of values, cuisines, food, rituals and many other things. On the other hand, a person living in Himachal, Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Gujrat and Sikkim will have his own set of values, cultures, cuisines, clothing, dance forms and many other aspects of life.

There’s so much to learn from other cultures. And when we talk about ‘our culture’ and ‘other culture’ then we are distinguishing between something that is ours and something that belongs to only others. This attitude doesn’t let you learn and pick up good things from other cultures. And if you go back to history and see that ‘our culture’ is actually and totally not ours. It is something that has been borrowed from different cultures. Over the years we have included those habits in our culture and believed that it is something that we are doing from inception.

Even our clothing habits, cuisines and many other rituals of today are a result of past invasions on our land and culture. For example, China gave tea to the whole world, British popularized it in India and now we Indians are addicted to it. Tea wasn’t always a part of our culture; it was brought to us by the British. The language seen throughout India is also something that is borrowed from Britishers. You go to the remotest village in India, you will see most sign boards and business hoardings in English. When Mughals ruled this part of the world, they brought their style of cooking with them and most of the north Indian cuisines served today are a proof of that. Ladies wearing Salwar Kameez is also an evidence of Mughal influence on today’s India.

So, this clearly suggests that we have always adopted things from other cultures and there is no shame in doing that. If you figure out that something in other culture is much better than yours then you must always be ready to adopt it and replace it with yours. Learning different cultures bring a lot of benefits. The biggest one is that you connect with more people in life. You make more friends and you understand people from different regions of the world better.

I have adopted many things from other cultures and have successfully included it in my lifestyle whether it is drinking black tea with food or using fork and knife to cut my food. When you learn from different cultures, you respect their history and literature. Your admiration towards other countries, cultures and people also increase.

One has so much time in life if he/she plans their day in an efficient way. You can utilize that extra time to learn about people from other countries, their habits, food, clothing, mindset, rituals and languages. This activity will make you more accessible as a person and will also widen your horizon and perception of the world. Try learning about different cultures, you will not regret the effort.

Love and power to you

Darshan