INDIA NEEDS TO BE EXPLAINED

It is an ancient culture so different from the Western culture, inviting, colourful and artistic, but also a mystery for many. Not least are people of Indian origin, many of whom do not understand their own culture. It is a vast culture, but there are simple and effective ways of explaining it using modern methods of communication. However, the mediator needs to know the culture as well as the audience, and there are very few people today who can do that. In Universities, India, if it is taught at all, is confined to departments of religion. In schools, there is rarely any engagement with the culture and heritage of India in a substantive way. As the West reaches for the East, there is an opportunity for the East to connect and perhaps transform the West, especially through its vast heritage and experience of non-violence (ahimsa).