India Taught Me a Deep Appreciation For Humanity

I’m somewhere in Kampala, Uganda, as I am writing this and I just feel a deep appreciation for this city, this country, but most importantly the people in it.

I can merely use the term “appreciation” to refer to that which is un-referable. Something so pure it can’t be expressed in any tongue — Human or not.

How do you describe the indescribable? Maybe it kicks up feelings of a warm embrace but deserts you soon as you scramble to assign meaning to it.

It deserts you not because it is disloyal or treacherous. No. It deserts you because its essence can only be felt. Any form of meaning dilutes it.

No, I refuse to call it love. That assignment comes with meanings that can be mapped person to person and my relationship with them.

I’d rather leave it vague. Simply referring to it as “appreciation”. I’d rather leave it vague. It's authentically pure that way.

If we are pointing fingers, I have all 10 straight at India. Can we throw in my toes too while we are at it?

I have them all pointed to the country in which my experience felt like a blissful trance— India.

I knew I wasn’t crazy when my Namibian friend told me that India was probably under some kind of peace-filling spell that protected the country.

Based on what he said, I’d like to think that he was talking about something similar to my experience. He just called it a spell.

Don’t be fooled. India was and still is far from peaceful. In fact, the time we were talking about this with him, the 2017 Jallikatu riots had us all on edge.

Like I said, what we were talking about is indescribable.

So, yes. I will point my fingers at India as to why I feel this way about people in my country and the world at large.

If you had met me before July 2014, you could have noticed how my actions were not anywhere close to what I am writing about.

This is because this feeling never existed.

I’m not a shmuck. Of course, I knew of and practiced appreciation as part of my courteous conduct. I was a seminarian after all. This was expected.

Also, my conversations with all my Indian friends point to the fact that they are oblivious to this effect. I’m going on a whim here to say, all Indians are.

They don’t notice this. They don’t know this. But most, if not all manifest it within their ways of life.

It's most evident mainly in the way they think about their country. The pride they have in being Indians. This is not your average description of pride.

Like I said, what I’m talking about is indescribable.

As a non-Indian living in India, you are first exposed to this feeling through the normal channels of feeling like you don’t belong there.

Provided you are not in a tourist bubble of sorts, exposure to Indian cultures quickly shows you why Indians are so proud of their cultures.

It's those stories, the history, the beliefs. Its everything. Everything is strung together in threads of patriotism and conviction.

Even those who disagree do so in silence knowing that they are merely rebelling but not standing for the truth because there is no other truth.

This is why if an Indian talks shit about his/her country or culture, it is a terrible idea to join them. Don’t do it. Just shut up and listen. Don’t do it.

An opposition means nothing. It may be a general dissatisfaction but it is not a cry for alternatives. I’m glad I didn’t find this out as a first-person experience.

For my friends that did though, it was something sorry to watch. The pessimist is the most patriotic.

You can feel the significance and substance of a salutation such as “Jai Hind”.

It is complete. Even though you normally hear it being used to mean “long live India”. Do not be fooled. It is much more complex. It's indescribable.

For an outsider looking in, when statements like that are said, you can feel how strongly Indians rally behind their flag.

They don’t do it for money. They don’t do it for clout. They just do it for India.

This passion and intensity with which they rally behind their country are so intense that for a few seconds if you are looking, everything falls away.

In those moments, you can see how unified they are. You can see that thing that I am struggling to explain here.

And once you notice it, you can’t unsee it.

Even long after the moments have passed, you still feel it.

When you see them treating each other horribly, you just want to go show them this truth. But words escape you. You are just feeling it.

I noticed it through the flag. But my Namibian friend noticed it through their day-to-day lives. Others notice it through their spiritual journeys to India.

I don’t smoke or drink but my Namibian friend does. I think being high has nothing to do with it.

Anyway, exposure to this feeling reprograms your mind a lot. It makes you look at people differently.

Even long after you have left India, you see the same thing in people from your communities. Everywhere you go. You feel it. It's beautiful.

If it hits you strong enough, people you live with can notice the difference in you.

They see it through the way you act. You may care little about the things that bother many. You have some form of confidence in sticking to your path.

You quietly celebrate people, you marvel at small things in the world. These are just some of the many.

You soon realize that explaining it to people won’t make sense so instead, you commune with it frequently through meditation and/or reflection and try to act the part.

Maybe other parts of the world have it. I found it in India.