Flashback: North & South

On my old blogger blog several years ago I talked about the cultural differences around India, particularly the North/South divide (we have a similar divide in America though it doesn’t extend to different languages). At the time I talked about how getting started in Indian culture could lead you to look like a ridiculous blend of different cultures and traditions like someone wearing both cowboy boots and heavy gold “rapper” chains. I started thinking about how I could minimize that by focusing on one or the other and it made sense to me to focus on North India because I have a better chance of fitting in there or at least not standing out as dramatically.

How foolish of me to think that we get those kind of choices in life! 🙂

Despite my plan, five years later I have ended up with almost no influence of North India at all. Everything in my life is South Indian. The other Hindus I know and hang out with are all South Indian, the dance I studied is South Indian, the temple I go to is South Indian, the bhajan group I go to is South Indian, how I wear my sari is South Indian, my Guru is South Indian, and I’ve only ever been to South India. The only Northern thing in my life is my Hindi practice (and as I said on Monday I’m adding Tamil to my language learning).

Somehow that’s just how life turned out. I suppose it was part of my karma. I love the South Indian culture in my life but it’s just an interesting reflection to realize how little control I had over it in the end. You’d think that someone new to Hinduism without a strong family connection would be able to decide where to best fit in. Life has other plans, though, and brings you where you need to be rather than where you think you need to be!