Thursday, September 24, 2009

Back to Basics

Last week when I was sorting the garbage for the pick-up, I noticed that I had to distribute the garbage in to 4 categories before I set it out.
(Note: Friends in India, in North America, the city comes to pickup the garbage on a designated day in a week. They started doing this in Bangalore as well)

One for recyclables, one for kitchen waste, one for yard waste (like grass, plants etc), one for garbage. (Not to mention the monthly disposal of furniture etc).
This made me wonder and go back in time, to my grand mom’s kitchen, to her parent’s world.
I was reminiscing about this with my husband also as to how we used to go to ‘market’ in olden days (say more than a decade ago). And we recalled how we used to carry a bag along with us to the Sunday markets. We didn’t have any plastic bags to separate the veggies nor did we have to pay extra 5 cents to get a bag, if need be.

Hubby also reminded me the olden way of eating in a banana leaf. It’s fresh, pure and most of all cows in a backyard would feast on the leaves after you finish your dinner! And I don’t have to worry about me dropping it down like I do now with my fine china.
No waste and no excess…my tummy is happy and so is my cow!

Also didn’t we used to get new utensils if we sell recyclables? Jeee, we have everything in India since a long time. We just didn’t name it. And not to forget the kitchen waste like onion skins, egg shells being used as manure!!! We were organic all along!!!!

Now after all these years these Western countries have started this funda in a full swing! Lol!!! And we in India try and imitate their culture, as if it were the way to go.

The Western countries, after all these years, started embracing yoga, Aurveda, The Gita and the Indian way of so many things. And yet, we tend to feel little intimidated by the same people. What are we missing?

6 comments:

  1. What we are missing is the " I BELIEVE FACTOR".We have to believe in ourselves.I may sound negative,but as a nation we are never together and that is the reason we are all complexed highlighted by nil support from the state.

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  2. True Mr. Chowla. Decades of being ruled by British didn't help either. I really do wish that the school curriculum's in India include some lessons about personality and the real life lessons which are applicable and compatible with current generation thoughts (while still maintaining the balance with the age old beliefs).

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  3. Indian ethos and culture are centuries old and each and every habit taught to us by our elders had some meaning. Only the meaning is lost somewhere on the way to chase modernity. The jaggery, the makke ki roti, the neem kee datun, the earthen pots, even the earthen fire place have all dissappeared. But will come back via western world whom we copy blindly.

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  4. Yes Balvinder, I agree...and then we embrace OUR culture giving it THEIR name.

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  5. This has become a circle now..whatever we had we derided and left it for west and now when west is saying go organic..we are adopting all those things under a new name..organic and shelling out more money for that.

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  6. I read this post again..its really good one..and so true also:)

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