Multiculturalism in ISBR: Where India Meets Indians
I walked into wilderness of Kodai for the very first time on a bright sunny day. I felt like a stranger in an unknown land. Born and brought up in Chennai, a metropolis where you’d spend one hour to travel 25kms in business hours, Kodai was a “shock” in more ways than one. Unlike in Chennai, apparently I could see endless stretches of trees here, in Chennai it would have been already turned into a furniture or dining table!
I arrived in Kodai is to join ISBR. I must admit, however I was little skeptical about the whole set up. There were a host of questions on my mind that I was hopeful would be answered one by one. I was very curious to know how many students were enrolled in my batch. Since the hostel wasn`t constructed completely we were made to stay at Nakshatra Inn. I was the first person to check into one of the rooms.
A few minutes later I heard a knock on the door. Two other students (Harish from New Delhi and Ravi from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh) were waiting to check in. While they are currently my roommates, none of us knew each other before or even shared the regional language. Tongue-tied, we observed the uncomfortable “who-to-start-first” silence for few minutes.
I didn’t really like that silence and started off by saying, “Hey What`s up?”
All I got back was weird looks and a blank faces. Soon after, we left the room for lunch.
My batch consists of 49 students. Would you believe if I said there are only eleven Tamilians in our batch? My parents were surprised to hear this. ISBR Kodai consists of students from all corners of India: we have students from Kashmir, Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamilnadu, and Andaman Nicobar islands. Sounds like geography class isn`t it?
"Unity in Diversity" is not mere rhetoric in ISBR. . One can see more genuine unity in diversity in our cafeteria during lunch hour than on Rajpath in the forced gaiety of the folk dances of the Republic Day parade! Idlis mingle with chole, aapams and pickle, alu parathas with sambhar. Stray Hindi phrases in a Tamil accent. Language has never been a hurdle for us and our cultural unity. If we can`t make do with our regional languages we communicate with the international language English. As a link language, it cemented the already existing geographical, religious and cultural unity of ISBR. It made political unity possible in ISBR Kodai.
In ISBR Kodai we follow a basic communication mantra. Whether it is Hindi or English, Bengali or Marathi, keep it simple, and play it straight. We aren't saying anything that we haven't said before. That’s the secret of our effective communication! Can we then be blamed if we forget to write about language barriers when we write about barriers of communication and lose out marks in Business Communication paper?!
Although I always wanted to learn many languages, I never got a chance to do so. But now, thanks to ISBR, I can speak Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam. Initially it was very tough, not for me but for the native Telugu speakers in ISBR. My Telugu friends would run away when they saw me from a distance because I’d torture them with my rotten Telegu. Nevertheless, they spared me and taught me Telugu. Hence now they can`t swear at me in Telugu because now they know I will swear at them back in Telugu!
I enjoy this multi cultural environment in ISBR. We have never had any problems with one another with regard to our cultural practices and principles. We celebrate all possible festivals here in ISBR Kodai not to break away from classes but to educate ourselves and soak in the happiness of our fellow classmates. No one has ever felt alienated in ISBR Kodai.
The Indian economy is growing but society seems to be on a decline. Bomb blasts in Hyderabad, Riots in Agra, Dalit movements in Haryana, and separatist movements in the North East and elsewhere. The world can`t take us seriously till we get our house in order. India is at a critical junction at this point of time – poised for greatness. It’s time for the people to decide what direction they want to go. Isn’t it time for the people to come together, and the political leadership to rise over the narrow vote-bank mindset and work towards the country’s growth, and not just their prospects of a second term in power?
I`m sure we ISBRians will be role models for this country and people who are soaked in the sea of communalism. We need to understand that all of us have multiple identities like religious, linguistic, cultural, regional and caste. No one can claim single identity. The best way to live in a multicultural environment is not by ignoring or tolerating differences but by embracing it. Is there any other way to understand the meaning of Unity in Diversity (UID) in a better way than being a student of ISBR?